Food by Fire: Grilling and BBQ with Derek Wolf of Over the Fire Cooking

This book is only for beginners. If you have been cooking by fire you would have already learned all of this. You also will realize that seasoned wood may be good for a fire, 1-3 month old wood is more for flavoring the meat. Cast iron is for rookies, because woks are so much more friendly to fire cooking. Also maybe I missed it, but where are cowboy style steaks? Cooking directly on the coals is amazing.

This book will help you start, but that’s about it.

My background. I’ve been smoking and cooking by fire for 10-12 years. I also went to culinary school and worked as a chef for a couple years until I found marine engineering.

Excellent book that delivers on what it promises. So far, I've done a half dozen or so of the recipes in the book and even combined a couple of recipes with very good results. When I say that many of the recipes are practical, I mean that for the ones I used, the ingredients were relatively easy to find, the techniques were easy enough that even I could pull them off on the first try, and the delicious results were quite rewarding. Tried some on the grill, several on open fire either with indirect heat or directly on the coals. This book makes me want to get back to the fire and try some of the same recipes again and tackle some of the more challenging ones. This made outdoor cooking fun. Bravo.

SO excited to finally receive the cookbook today - pre-purchased it in February knowing it was coming in May so it was a very cool surprise! Have followed Derek's instagram page for a while now but have yet to get my feet wet in FIRE but the summer is here! This was exactly what I was hoping for - not just recipes but the whole story including equipment, best wood to use for fires, how to gage the heat of the fire and so much more. If you love to grill this is the next level and I promise you'll be salivating all the way through. Very cool to read how Derek and his wife turned a passion into a resource for all of us!

I am a BGEr for 20 years easy. I’ve owned and given away 4 to my kids and friends (or tipped one once… ahem) So, I have a little experience with grill book recipes.
I only buy books for family/friends I haven’t already purchased after lots of review reading from multiple sites.
So… there’s not a snowballs chance in the Amazon that these marinades make the quantity stated in the recipes.
The recipes are REALLY interesting and all look delicious. So, you have to add at least 3/4 to a full cup of EVOO or whatever oil you typically use.
But, I’m buying the book for myself because the recipes are really nice. (I read my bro-in-laws Christmas book over the holidays).
Want a recommendation for the best grill recipe book I’ve owned? Adam Perry Lang’s Serious Barbecue. Almost every recipe page has stains from over use. Hard to find (you can find it used) but I have gifted at least a half dozen after hoarding it for several years. Ha
He’s making the spatchcock brick pressed lemon-chili chicken tonight. Looking forward to that.
4 stars because I haven’t bought it for myself and worked the recipes but very high expectations based on my initial read/review

The good is that their are some very good recipes that I look forward to cooking, but the book is way too wordy and not enough pics. I’m a hands on and visual person so I was really hoping for more pics and straight to the point instructions, but the book kind of deters me from making the items because I just don’t want to read all the jargon. I should also note the font size is VERY small. A definite imbalance between reading material and space provided. This could have been better balanced by simply making the text font bigger. Derek, don’t make the same mistakes on the next book.

I stumbled across Derek Wolf's videos on YouTube and I became an instant fan. I ended up ordering this book and have enjoyed it. I have started cooking exclusively with lump charcoal and wood (instead of charcoal briquettes) due to his videos. The book has great tips if you are a novice to cooking with firewood. I highly recommend picking up this book if you're interested in taking your BBQ/grilling to another level.

This is an awesome Read! Very Informative! Lots of great fire / heat methods and recipes! My only complain is the lettering is very small to Read! But other than that I say get one, you will be glad you did!

Been a big fan of Derek’s blog for a while so I grabbed this for my old man for Father’s Day (showed him overthefirecooking about a year ago and he checks it almost everyday). Figured I’d copy a handful of recipes before giving it to him but I’d run out of space on my phone! Long story short, I bought and copy for myself and an extra for a friend. Thanks Derek for all the great content over the years!!

What a beautiful book. Superb pictures and the recipes are so well explained. Derek gives great tips and ideas.

I have a lot of cooking books but I was really impressed with this. The pictures are great and the recipes 🤤. I haven’t made a dish yet but I already have a bunch lined up from this book.

I like that it also takes you back to basics with insight into cooking with fire, smoke and skillet etc. it’s to the point and explained each step well , for the most part. There is a recipe in their that requires coffee and it’s not clear about how to start or what to do with the grounds (I’ve never cooked with coffee before 🤷🏻‍♀️) other than that this book is a winner !