Fire to Fork: Cooking Over A Flame for a Living

By Harry Fisher

IF YOU HAD told 18-year-old me that I would be making a living cooking over campfires in the wilderness—we Aussies call it the bush—he would have been slightly appalled. (He was such a snob!) Back then, I was on track to become an investment banker and make millions. I imagined that by the time I was 30, I’d probably be living in Sydney or New York, driving an Aston Martin, and living in a mansion. I only liked camping and overlanding because I didn’t have the money to live the high life yet, right?

I finished college and went to work as a big-shot accountant, wearing a suit and tie every day. I enjoyed it, but whenever a rural file would come in, I would jump on it. Any excuse to get away to the bush!

I also found myself camping more than ever. I’d spend all week dreaming of Friday, when I would sneak out as early as possible to find a good spot to cook a meal and sleep under the stars. Nothing made me happier than camping and having a beer with mates around a fire.

On these trips I was always in charge of the food, whether the others liked it or not. All week I would read blogs and recipe books, brainstorming things I had never cooked before that I could try to make on the campfire.

In May 2017, I was at Desert Queen Baths in the Pilbara (remote Western Australia) with a mate of mine, Ronny Dahl. Ronny was an ironworker who was obsessed with making YouTube videos. One night by the fire, Ronny told me he was impressed that on a 10-day trip, I had cooked everything over a fire (even when he brought us into camp at 11 p.m.), and I hadn’t cooked the same meal twice. He suggested I start an Instagram page and YouTube channel about my cooking.

The Instagram page sounded easy enough—I had worked as a photographer in college, and I had a bit of gear and some ideas—but I hated video editing, so YouTube was never going to happen … until I got bored on one camping trip. I launched Fire to Fork, and people seemed to be into it, but it was always going to be secondary to my career. I was getting that Aston Martin!

Then in 2019, the small software company I was working for changed direction. I decided to resign and take a month or two to assess my options and find another job. I definitely didn’t want to do Fire to Fork full time, partially because I thought I would start to hate camping and cooking if it became work. Well, I never did get that new job. I gave up entirely on my Aston, married my girlfriend, Sam, and have never loved cooking or camping more. The recipes in my book are the highlights of that journey. This recipe — with steak, fire, salt, and a basic sauce — is my favorite meal to cook when I’m camping solo and just want something easy and super tasty. It’s what I’m cooking on the front cover of my book.

RECIPE: Steak and Chimichurri

Serves: 2

Prep: 10 mins

Cook: 15 mins

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, diced or crushed

1 chili finely chopped (optional)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp. red wine vinegar

2 steaks of your choice, I recommend bone-in ribeye

1/2 tsp. rock salt

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. Dice the parsley, garlic, and chili and combine in a bowl with the oil and vinegar to make the chimichurri. Set aside.

2. If the steak you’re using is thick, reverse sear it by slowly cooking it offset from the fire until the internal temperature is about 15 degrees from its ideal doneness, being sure to regularly check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer.

3. Once your thick, thin, or somewhere-in-between steak is nearly done, it’s time to do the most important, but also easiest, bit—the sear. First, pat the steak dry with a paper towel and season it generously with cracked pepper and salt flakes or rock salt. This should be the last thing you do before you put it on the grill to sear it.

4. The surface itself doesn’t matter too much; you can use a cast iron frying pan, a grill basket, a hotplate, or simply lay the steak straight on the coals. Whatever you do, it should be scorching hot and burning cleanly without too much smoke.

5. Sear the steak until it has a nice brown crust all over it—this can take anywhere from 90 seconds to 10 minutes, depending on your fire. Ideally, you’re aiming for about two to five minutes of total cook time, depending on the size of the steak. Thick steaks take longer because you need to sear the sides, too. Grill until it has a nice crust and is the correct doneness for your liking.

6. Cut the steak into thin slices and spoon the chimichurri over it. Enjoy!

Harry shares more delicious cooking inspiration on Instagram @firetofork

Photo credit: Grace Picot @shotbygrace

Fire to Fork is published by Exploring Eden Media. Get a copy from from exploringedenbooks.com