What to cook on a firepit

You can cook almost everything that you can cook on a conventional barbecue. But, do remember that the firepit does not have a lid that can close and trap in heat, acting like an oven of sorts. Keep in mind that smaller cuts of meat cook best on a firepit. Chicken fillet is ideal; darker thigh meat, with lines of fat, is ideal. You can, of course, use chicken breast fillet, but I personally find this too dry and not as flavoursome as thigh. Cute little trimmed lamb cutlets are perfect. The bone is all ready to use as a utensil to hold the chop and wolf down the tender meat. Pork and beef cutlets are good, too, as are most fillets of red meat: lamb, beef and pork.

While larger bits of meat can be cooked on the firepit, they do require more attention and patience. To ensure large dense cuts of meat are cooked through, a good tip is to wrap the seared meat in foil and move to the edge of the firepit. Here the heat is less intense and the meat can cook through without burning.

Many vegetables are perfect for cooking on the firepit. Whole or thickly sliced eggplant (aubergine) and capsicum (pepper) are ideal; so too are root vegetables like sweet potato and potato, wrapped in foil and ready to be smothered in butter, sour cream, yoghurt or labneh. Sweetcorn, too, cooks to perfection on the firepit. Patiently turn the corn over the heat until the kernels burst with a golden flavour that’s hard to beat.

With seafood, large prawns and lobsters fair well, especially when left in their shell, which acts as a natural protective armour. Delicate white fish fillets are best wrapped in a foil parcel, and need very little cooking time. For drama, the firepit is the way to go for cooking your favourite whole fi sh. Again, whole fish is best wrapped in some sort of parcel made of baking paper with an outside layer of foil (the paper-thin skin of many fish will stick to cooking foil and it can prove very tricky to peel off once the fish is cooked; hence the baking paper on the inside.) These sturdy parcels also make it easier to transfer the fish from the firepit to a serving platter.