Outdoor cooking with a chiminea

They're the perfect outdoor heat source in the cooler spring and autumn months, but that's far from all that a chiminea is useful for. With the right technique it's possible to cook almost anything you'd put in the oven outdors in your chimenea. But get it wrong and you could find your sausages charred and your chicken pink, so read on for our top tips!

Pick your cooking fuel carefully

Coals or charcoals are the easiest fuels to use in a chiminea, largely because they're what we're used to. If you've been in charge of a normal coal or charcoal barbecue then you probably have a good idea of how they'll cook your meat, and what the coals look like when they're ready.

Allow flames to die down and cook over the embers for an evenly distributed heat, but remember that the enclosed nature of a chiminea retains more heat than a traditional barbie and will cook your meat more quickly.

For a smokier and more distinctive taste, try wood for cooking, our kiln dried logs are ideal. The same principle of allowing flames to die down and cooking over the embers applies, though it might be trickier to get a fire going. Avoid using accelerants, as they can cause explosions in closed cooking spaces.

Our chimenea specific fuel is also a completely natural product, so can be used safely for cooking.

You can even go all haute cuisine and use flavoured fruit woods to cook with — Please call us for details.

Choose your meat

Although you can cook pizzas, waffles and pies in a chiminea with the right equipment, there is one thing to avoid: it's tricky to cook beef in this way without making it dry and tough, so stick to chicken, pork and lamb. If you're cooking a larger piece of meat that may take more time, wrap it in tin-foil to avoid the classic raw-inside-burnt-outside scenario!

Don't limit yourself

Finally, don't limit yourself to classic BBQ foods: as we mentioned previously, there's so much more to chiminea cooking. Invest in a waffle iron or pie iron for delicious al fresco deserts or grab a pizza stone for some to-die-for authentic wood fired pizzas.

Wrap potatoes or sweet potatoes in foil to cook in the embers, or char aubergines in the flames for a smoky baba ganoush that guests won't be able to resist!