The case for live-fire cooking at events

There is a reason a crowd gathers around a fire. Cooking over live flame is the oldest technique we have, and at an event it does something no convection oven ever will — it draws people in.

Flavour you cannot fake

Smoke, char and the slow render of fat over coals build a depth of flavour that is impossible to replicate indoors. Vegetables blister and sweeten; meats take on a perfume that fills the room before the first plate lands.

An open flame is theatre and technique at once — the guests eat with their eyes long before the food arrives.

It demands discipline: a fire is never the same twice, and reading it well is the work of years. But handled with care, it turns service into a spectacle.