Fire equipment for lighting and cooking over an open fire

Fire equipment for lighting fires and cooking over a fire - both in the wilderness and at home in the garden

A good fire pit is essential for creating a cozy campsite. And there’s not much more delicious than food cooked over a fire. The crackling warmth from the fire is both cozy and ideal when preparing food – and with the right fire equipment, you can create the tastiest and most flavorful dishes over the fire.

The fire pit is where people gather in the camp. The warmth and light from the flames are both cozy, and it’s so practical that you can simultaneously prepare nourishing and tasty food.

Get the fire going

Of course, you don’t have to cook food over a fire just because you make a fire pit. Many can spend hours simply relaxing by the fire and enjoying the warmth from the embers while watching the flames. But it’s important to get the fire going well, and we have the right fire gear for that. Once you’ve gathered sticks and firewood, you can help the flames start with a sturdy fire steel, spirit tablets, or a fire blower tube. You can also get the Fire-in-a-Box fire starter set, a small tin box containing all the tools you need to start a fire without using a lighter or matches.

Food over fire - authentic wilderness cooking

Nature provides the perfect setting for cooking wilderness food over a fire, and there’s definitely more peace and quiet than in a busy kitchen at home. And once you have the fire going, you don’t need much fire equipment to start cooking over the fire.

Fire pot, fire pan, and fire kettle

Fire pots are practical and necessary to bring when you want to cook more than just pancakes or freshly caught fish in a pan. You need to have a fire pot in your range of cooking tools for the fire, but it can be hard to find the perfect one because the selection is so large. First and foremost, you should consider how big a pot you need. How many people will be fed from the contents of the fire pot? Is it just you and your partner, or is the rest of the family often invited along?

We have chosen to stock a selection of fire pots in stainless steel and cast iron, as these materials are safe for cooking food on, and they are durable and can withstand use. Fire pots can look like regular pots or bushpots. There are some important features to look for in a fire pot: a good handle for hanging on, for example, a fire stand; the handle should preferably be lockable; and a fire pot should have good heat distribution to ensure even cooking of the food.

Dutch Oven - cast iron fire pot:

A Dutch Oven for fire, also called a Dutch oven, is a tightly sealed pot ideal for baking, roasting, and simmering dishes. Often, a Dutch Oven is made of cast iron, which makes it significantly heavier than pots made of sheet metal. This makes the pot more suitable for use at a fire pit in the garden than on an outdoor trip, although you can of course also use it in the classic way as a fire pot. On the other hand, a Dutch Oven is perfect for those who want to master simmered food and baking over a fire. With a Dutch oven, you can bake pizza, bread, and even cinnamon rolls when cooking over the fire. Cast iron has exceptional heat distribution, which gives cooking over a fire a whole new dimension.

Since a Dutch Oven can be used as a fire pot, frying pan, and oven, it has undoubtedly become a hit among outdoor enthusiasts, and interest in it continues to grow. This also means there are countless recipes available online if you need inspiration for cooking over a fire.

You can make a lot of delicious food with a fire pot, but nothing beats being able to fry your fish to perfection so it’s crispy and delicious on the outside but still soft and juicy inside. To get the best result, you need to use a fire pan.

A fire pan is available in solid cast iron, wrought iron, and in lighter, more portable versions in stainless steel, for example with folding handles. What they have in common is that they give you great opportunities to cook fire food like eggs, bacon, pancakes, and everything else that needs to be fried in a pan over high heat.

Tip: It’s always good to have a pair of good fire gloves handy when using fire pans. The handle almost always gets hot!

Fire pans require little maintenance. All you need to do is wash them with warm water, and the fire pan is ready for next time.

With a fire kettle, you no longer need to use your fire pot to heat water. In the fire kettle, you can heat water for whatever you prefer while cooking food in your fire pot or on the fire pan. Fire kettles come in various sizes but are typically between 1-2 liters, which is a suitable amount of water to boil whether you’re making coffee, tea, hot cocoa, or cooking a little food in it. The possibilities are many with a fire kettle. The important thing in a fire kettle is the material, and we absolutely recommend stainless steel, such as this fire kettle from Cuma Gear. Stainless steel releases no harmful substances, has good heat distribution, and is easy to clean. Additionally, a fire kettle should have a good spout and a sturdy handle for hanging and transport.

Fire stand and fire grill

A fire stand makes it possible to hang fire equipment such as a grill grate, fire pot, and hangpots over the fire. A fire stand can be designed in several ways, for example as a tripod, a fire bridge – a bridge over the fire, or a fire anchor from which you can hang your fire gear over the fire at different heights.

A fire stand is ideal for those who like to have several elements cooking at once. The fire stand allows you to have a soup or other simmering dish hanging and gently boiling in a pot from the hook on the stand, while you focus on frying meat or vegetables on a hanging fire grill. With a fire stand, you get a great opportunity to make lots of delicious fire food.

You can also place a solid fire grill or fire grate with legs over the embers, giving you a good and stable place to cook over an open flame. On the fire grill, you can place pans or pots for preparing fire food.

Fire bowl for multiple purposes

Petromax fire bowl can be used, as the name almost suggests, as a fire bowl – and the best of its kind, if you ask us – but also as a fire pan. We think it’s the best fire bowl because it’s quite flat, ensuring optimal oxygen supply to the flames. But you can also use it as the fire pan that you place over your fire – allowing you to fry and cook fish, pancakes, eggs, bacon, steaks, or whatever you dream of.

Fire accessories – all the fire gear you didn’t know you needed
There are also lots of great tools that make cooking over a fire a bit more fun – it’s not necessary, but it’s cool to be able to make waffles on a waffle iron, fry fish and vegetables in a grill net, roast marshmallows on a grill stick with a telescopic handle, and bake bread in a loaf pan. So take a look at all our fire accessories – there’s lots of exciting gear for cooking over an open flame.

Maintenance of fire equipment

Of course, there are differences in how the gear is designed and what materials it’s made from. Stainless steel products can advantageously be put in the dishwasher after use. However, we recommend removing the worst soot from your fire gear before placing it in the machine. Tip: If you’re at a beach, you can advantageously use sand, saltwater, and a tuft of reed to wash the gear. The same applies to burnt-on food residues.

Cast iron pots should be cleaned with warm water and a dish brush immediately after use. If food residues are hard to remove, you can boil water in the cast iron pot or pan to loosen it. Then dry thoroughly and optionally rub with vegetable oil.