For obvious reasons, we’ve been singing the praises of cooking over wood fire for as long as Memphis Grills has been in existence. It’s glad to see major publications like The New York Times pick up on it.
Returning Wood to the Cooking Fire
Forget the barbecue pits and tiled pizza ovens popping up like sparks in a tinderbox — wood-fired grills are poised to become the new face of flame. A growing number of chefs are using them to elevate wood cookery to new heights, making food that is light-years from barbecue.
…Indeed, the chefs who have taken to doing so much of their cooking on the grill aren’t discovering something new so much as exploring the ancient. Wood-fired cooking, after all, is the oldest kind there is, and Spaniards and South Americans have been using similar, albeit more rustic, grills for centuries.
Chefs are able to make wood cookery feel fresh by incorporating smoke into their food with a subtle hand. They are also constantly exploring new uses for the grill. The Spanish chef Victor Arguinzoniz has been hugely influential in this respect, drawing visitors from all over the world to his restaurant in the Basque region of Spain, Asador Etxebarri, where everything (caviar, smoked goat-milk ice cream) is either cooked directly on a big-wheeled grill or touched by smoke or flame.
The only thing they did wrong is not mention Memphis Wood Fire Grills! We’re obviously kidding, but we can tell you firsthand that our grills are popping up in more restaurants every day. And who knows – maybe that next expensive meal at fancy restaurant might have been cooked on a grill you could have in your own backyard. Happy grilling (and smoking and baking)!