How to use your Swing Frame – Firemasters

My Favourite Cooking Accessory

The swing frame is my go-to cooking accessory. The reasons for this are:

1. I can swing it out of the heat to manage my food.
2. I can change the height to match my ember base
3. It’s fun!

It really is the simplest way to cook, and for the beginner, the best accessory to start cooking with.

Here’s my top tips to using the Swing Frame

1. Get your fire warm
   Take the time to get your concrete outdoor fireplace warm, this produces a stable cooking environment and makes sure everyone hanging around is staying warm.
2. Clean your gear
   When using the swing frame, you can quickly get dirty hands if your gear isn’t clean. The great thing with the swing frame is it’s easy to remove, take to your garden hose and clean with water and detergent.
3. Adjust your swing frame
   Adjust the height you cook at depending on the food you are cooking. If you want the food you are cooking cooked at a lower temp, go for the top height. Or, if you haven’t got a big ember base and you need more heat, lower the ember base. If you need to adjust height mid-cook, you might need thermal gloves to save burning your hands.
4. Keep the fire going
   Drag some embers under your swing frame and then place some more wood on the other side of your fire to keep it going. This keeps the area and the people gathered warm, and also keeps producing embers for your cook.
5. Cook over embers
   A bit of flame won’t hurt, and can add a bit of spice to the cook but embers produce the real heat. You can chuck in some Manuka sawdust or another piece of nice wood to produce some smoke while you cook. You might even choose to cook using a grill rather then a plate, to allow more of the smokey flavour touch the food. This is great for steak, but with fish, you simply want a hot plate and butter.

Mike Edwards – CEO and Firemaster

I hope these tips and tricks are helpful for all you Firemasters out there. Any questions, just yell out. You can email me here.