Wood Fire Cooking: Ember and Flame Technique

Chez Panisse installed a wood-burning hearth in 1980 and it has been central to the kitchen's identity ever since. Waters and her chefs developed a sophisticated understanding of wood fire cooking — the different heat stages of a wood fire, the specific flavours produced by different wood types, and the techniques unique to cooking over embers versus open flame. This knowledge is rarely documented because it was transmitted through kitchen apprenticeship rather than text.

Cooking over a wood fire using three distinct heat environments produced by the fire's stages: open flame (maximum heat, Maillard development), glowing coals (radiant heat, even cooking), and deep embers (gentle heat, slow roasting and steaming beneath ash).

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