Mastering the Art of Asado: Getting Started with Your AX Live Fire Grill

There’s something profoundly satisfying about cooking over a live fire. The crackling wood, the glowing embers, and the incomparable flavour they impart to food connect us to our culinary heritage. If you’ve recently acquired an AX live fire grill, you’re about to embark on a remarkable journey into the world of Asado cooking.

Begin by understanding the heart of Asado: the fire itself. With your AX grill, start with quality hardwoods like oak, beech, or fruitwood, which burn consistently and impart subtle flavours. Build your fire on one side of the grill, allowing it to burn down to embers over about 45 minutes. This creates different temperature zones across your cooking surface—an essential technique for controlling how quickly your food cooks. The heavy-gauge British steel of your AX grill will maintain these temperature gradients beautifully, giving you remarkable control over your cooking.

Patience is the cornerstone of proper Asado. Unlike quick grilling, this method celebrates slow cooking and the social experience that unfolds around it. Use the adjustable height mechanism on your AX grill to raise food higher above the heat for slower cooking, or lower it for a quick sear. Remember that the goal isn’t speed, but rather developing complex flavours and textures that only time and wood fire can create. As your confidence grows, experiment with different woods and cooking heights, but always maintain that essential unhurried approach that makes Asado not just a cooking method, but a way of life.