Join Me Chez Panisse
I am roasting artichokes and garlic on the embers
for the Chez Panisse “Magic of Fire Dinner.”
Alice Waters wrote of my book, The Magic of Fire, “There is something fundamental about cooking over an open fire. I love the flames, I love the smells, and of course, I love the taste. William Rubel’s ‘The Magic of Fire’ is an indispensable guide to this lost art.” Alice Waters hosted a Magic of Fire dinner at her restaurant, Chez Panisse, shortly after my book was published. As a lover of fire, there is a large fireplace in the Chez Panisse kitchen, one of the few working traditional fireplaces in any American restaurant kitchen.
Ember-roasted artichokes are one of the delights of the open hearth. It is one of the classic Mediterranean rustic hearth dishes. It is known in Spain, France, and also in Italy. The yellowish sleeve you see on my right arm is something I bought at a welding supply store to protect my arm from the heat of the embers.
Hearth cooking demonstration
What I want to emphasize with this photograph is that the orderly rows of roasting artichokes. I first built up a substantial bed of embers. Make deep furrows in the embers and then place the artichokes in the furrows. If you have fireproof and heat resistant gloves — foil lined Kevlar gloves would be an example — you can place the artichokes by hand. Otherwise, you may want to use a pair of long-handled tongs. The outer leaves of the artichokes burn and are removed before serving. This dish works equally well outdoors, or in a barbecue or grill. If you work in a restaurant with a charcoal grill you could make them there.
Garlic is delicate. If roast garlic too hot the bulbs burst and ooze, so always keep garlic on the perimeter of the fire, and turn them often.
Ember roasted artichokes in preparation
This photograph of one of the Chez Panisse chefs preparing he artichokes for the fire shows the extent to which the top of the artichoke is cut off. Once cut, I press the artichoke, cut-side down, against the table in order to open the leaves so that they can be filled with garlic, oregano, salt, and olive oil. In addition to trimming the top of the artichoke, standardize the stems. But do leave stem because this helps stabilize the artichokes when they are in the fire. Even when working with a few artichokes, but especially on a restaurant scale, line up all the artichokes in a pan — a restaurant hotel pan is perfect — and then — when they are all firmly in place in the pan — pour the olive oil into the choke. From this point on, try to keep the oil from spilling out.
Ember roasted artichokes hearth cooking demonstration
Ember-roasting often leaves you with something that looks like it is a mess, even a hopeless mess. In these hotel trays you see artichokes and on the left a few ember-roasted onions. Ember-roasting is the hearth method that develops the most caramelization. The high temperature of the embers lets you create flavors that you cannot create in a modern kitchen. The burned portions of the artichoke are easily trimmed off, as is the outer charred layer of the onions. The intrinsic flavor of ember-roasted vegetables is so lovely, so clean, and so pure, that sauces are not necessary.