[.ca] Magic Of Fire (ISBN 1580084532)

From Amazon.com:
Why cook by the hearth when our modern stoves offer such convenience? William Rubel's remarkable The Magic of Fire provides unexpected answers to the question, not immediately apparent to those interested in pursuing live-fire cooking and the intense flavors it produces. To be sure, the book is definitive in its exploration of open-hearth technique; readers learn everything they need to know about equipment, methods (including ash baking, ember roasting, and hearthside grilling, among others), and even about fire itself (it has various life stages, each best for a particular cooking task). Rubel also provides 100 delicious hearthside recipes for fundamental foods like roasted red peppers, ember-baked fish, pot roasts, and desserts, including bread pudding and baked apples--formulas he conscientiously walks us through. But the book's greatest--and most exciting--virtue lies in its presentation of fire cooking not merely as a "hobbyist" project but as a means for understanding cooking itself. It does this by revealing the relationship of fire to the things it cooks; in learning, for example, that a hearthside frittata requires "a moderately mature fire with gentle to moderate flames" to cook while simple toast needs "a new to moderately mature fire with moderate to high flames," we begin to see just how cooking works. For anyone interested in this everyday but still magical feat, this is thrilling stuff. With over 100 color illustrations of the required fires (whose preparation is thoroughly detailed); a discussion of alternative cooking "venues," including campsites; and a useful food glossary, this guide, both practical and illuminating, is an unexpected treasure. --Arthur Boehm

The Magic of Fire: One Hundred Recipes for the Fireplace:
I purchased this book from Amazon.com last month, and am I glad I did! It is fantastic. I have spent years cooking over fires while camping, backpacking, backyard barbecuing and more recently, demonstrating cooking over the fire in historic sites. This book contains what none of the other books on hearth cooking do--how to work with the fire. I have shelves of cookbooks that talk about recipes from colonial times, but not one of them tells you how to actually use the fire to prepare the meal. To begin, it is a BEAUTIFUL book. The illustrations are worthy of their own frames for hanging. The book is well organized, and you can chose to read first about food and then about fire, or the reverse. The author instructs us in the proper use of equipment, but makes it clear that the average kitchen contains the necessary implements to get started. Mr. Rubel has obviously done a lot of traveling, because he brings us delicious food from all over the world. The recipes are clearly described and easy to follow. You feel you know the author personally after reading the book, because he tells you when he first encountered the food, and why he loves it. The range of recipes is wonderful. You can start with flat unleavened bread cooked directly on the coals (yes! you can do this in your living room!) and progress to Pot au-feu. There are menus for every taste and palate. I have made quite a few of the recipes, and they have all been resounding successes. What is so deceptive about this book is its elegant simplicity. You might think a mere onion, thrown onto the coals is just a cooked onion. But it is not! ROASTED food tastes very different from baked, and this is true for all vegetables and meats. The carmelization that takes place over the fire cannot be duplicated by any other heat source, and that is literally the MAGIC of fire.

The Magic of Fire: A Very Special Book:
I literally gasped when I first saw William Rubel's book, The Magic of Fire. Beautiful to look at and to old, a pleasure to read, erudite and original, I know I'm not the only person who read it and though, "I wish I had written this!" This ibrilliant book brims with wisdom, passion and practicality, for it does teach us to cook in the most fundamental of ways -in the hearth. Step away from the eight-burner range and look to your fireplace -with book in hand, of course-to discover the real hearth in the home. Congratulations and many many thanks to William Rubel for this genuine treasure.

Makes me want to live in a cabin with just bare essentials!:
This is *THE* most beautiful and romantic book I have ever read. I am in process of reading it cover to cover currently, and am relishing every moment. The author is well educated on his subject and adds his own personal touch to each recipe. His stories bring each dish to life and add an unimaginable depth to what might have turned out to be "just a cookbook." This book is the best and cruelest tool for would-be hearth cooks. It sweeps us away to a time that we modern day folk still feel in our blood. It's a perfect combination of practicality and base information, and romanticism in cooking. You'll never look at Ramen the same again!

A magical presentation of an advanced yet natural topic:
The Editorial Review provided above by Amazon is a very good technical description of the book contents; much practical and detailed information is indeed contained on this advanced cooking technique. I say "advanced" rather than "primitive" because open fire cooking offers a much greater variety of possibilities for combinations of convective, radiative, and thermal processing of food. This science, once understood, can then be mastered and ultimately become a creative form of art. Besides an artistic creation using basic materials that appeal to all, resulting in a delicious meal, there is a far more important element that is addressed in this magnificent book - aptly indicated in its title, namely: "Magic". Fire is rather magical in itself; many are fascinated by it - thus the general appeal of campfires and fireplaces, as examples. Combining the inherent magic and kinetic art of the fire with cooking brings this magic into the food itself. One produces not only savory nourishment superior in taste to the same food cooked by different means, but the presentation adds the element of magic. I recommend that guests be present for part of the ceremonial preparation of the meal, be served near the fire, experiencing its presence during and after their repast. The book itself, with its rhetoric and marvelous illustrations is a work of art. I found myself handling it very carefully, immediately becoming a cherished object that I read slowly and thoughtfully. Please don't hesitate to buy this book - and buy it new (few will sell this once they own it and even if they do, the parting price will never be low). Certainly in the top five books I have ever owned.

A Guide to Successful and Delicious Cooking With Fire:
"The Magic of Fire" reveals the secrets of successful and delicious cooking with fire. It is a beautiful book, illustrated with absolutely lovely drawings. But it is so much more than just a coffee table cookbook. It offers the novice hearth cook practical advice about how to get started and how to succeed. It offers the experienced hearth cook an opportunity to both refine and expand techniques and repertoire. The title, "The Magic of Fire", clues the reader to the other dimension of this book: the spiritual aspect of cooking over an open fire. Open fire cooking links us with cooks through tens of thousands of years. "The Magic of Fire" manages well the delicate balance of being both pragmatic and inspiring. Recipes range from the traditional, such as skillet corn bread and chicken roasted on a string, to the more unusual, such as grilled porcini mushrooms and ember-roasted brisket, fish, and vegetables. Each recipe usefully indicates which open-fire methods are suitable. And best of all, the recipes, when used, yield delicious results! "The Magic of Fire" is a book that informs the mind, refreshes the spirit, and takes the palate on an adventure.