From bonfires on the beach to s’mores shared on a damp, woodsy retreat, some of my strongest memories are from evenings spent around a fire. It’s a deeply sensory experience, communing around a flame, and a ritual as old as mankind itself. And today, many chefs are harnessing its primal power for a contemporary take on an ancient tradition: cooking over open fire. Francis Mallmann, the renowned Argentinian chef behind 1884, is perhaps the best-known adopter of open-flame cooking; Dan Barber, Danny Meyer, and other American chefs have also joined the trend.

A challenge of the technique is the variation in heating from an open flame, as opposed to the predictable glow of a gas source. But there’s other magic to work with: among them, a range of smoky flavors from the burning logs. “You can create minor miracles with fire, smoke, ashes, and wood,” Niklas Ekstedt, a Swedish restaurateur, told Diners Club. (Ekstedt’s Stockholm restaurant, Ekstedt, exclusively features a wood-burning fire in its kitchen.)

From bonfires on the beach to s’mores shared on a damp, woodsy retreat, some of my strongest memories are from evenings spent around a fire. It’s a deeply sensory experience, communing around a flame, and a ritual as old as mankind itself. And today, many chefs are harnessing its primal power for a contemporary take on an ancient tradition: cooking over open fire. Francis Mallmann, the renowned Argentinian chef behind 1884, is perhaps the best-known adopter of open-flame cooking; Dan Barber, Danny Meyer, and other American chefs have also joined the trend.

A challenge of the technique is the variation in heating from an open flame, as opposed to the predictable glow of a gas source. But there’s other magic to work with: among them, a range of smoky flavors from the burning logs. “You can create minor miracles with fire, smoke, ashes, and wood,” Niklas Ekstedt, a Swedish restaurateur, told Diners Club. (Ekstedt’s Stockholm restaurant, Ekstedt, exclusively features a wood-burning fire in its kitchen.)