Over a Flame, Under the Sun

Find a new source of heat this summer

’Tis the season to taste, smell, and experience cooking in a new way. Let’s move this all outside. You don’t need a fancy grill and outdoor refrigerator—just fire and iron. Homemade rocket stoves, fire rings, a pile of dry sticks from the woods out back. Start a small fire in the backyard, or just take advantage of your resident grill master’s hot coals.

All you need to do is commandeer a lonely corner of the grill and add some local vegetables (fruits are great too!) or a cast-iron pan filled with oil to fry some succulent hush puppies or a few flatbreads.

Kick that kitchen routine to the curb and get outside to enjoy these beautiful summer evenings. Skip the heat altogether and try cold soups, quick pickling, slow-brew teas, and sun-dried anything. Embrace your inner primitive—swap your stove for the sun and start solar “cooking” with garden sun tea and sun-dried mushrooms, to get you hooked.

We’ve all spent a lot of time inside over the past year, so spend the summer looking up—what better way to get reacquainted with the trees, birds, and bats than with a kombucha mocktail in your hand?

If you’re feeling skeptical, don’t just take our word for it — tune in to Andreas Viestad’s much-loved PBS show New Scandinavian Cooking for some outdoor-cooking inspiration. With episode descriptions like “Weeds and Beef,” how can you go wrong?

For these recipes we didn’t turn the oven on once. But you might need a few ice cubes.