Why we cook over fire
Karim Benali · · 4 min read
Oak, olive wood and a lot of patience: how head chef Karim Benali built the kitchen around a single hearth, and what it taught him about restraint.
When we rebuilt the kitchen at Olive & Ash, the first thing Karim drew was the hearth. Everything else, the pass, the cold room, the pastry corner, was placed around it.
We burn oak for heat and olive prunings for smoke. The olive wood comes from a grove near the coast that prunes every winter; it would otherwise be burnt in the field.
Cooking over fire means giving up some control. A burrata warmed next to the embers, a chicken that rests longer than any recipe says. Karim calls it cooking with the door open: you listen to the fire as much as to the order tickets.