Seconds
Flame
The open end of the hearth, fed with split oak through the night's service. We sear here, blister bread and finish anything that needs a crust.
On the menu Sirloin, flatbread, half chickens
Onefire,litat seven
The fire
No gas line and no grill station. One long hearth, four kinds of heat and a day that starts before the bread is mixed.
The hearth
Built for one fire
A brick hearth runs the length of the kitchen, open to the dining room behind a glass wall. Everything we serve passes over it.
It took a winter to build and a spring to learn. The fire is lit at seven by whoever opens, fed through the day and split into four kinds of heat before service. At night it is banked, never put out, so the ash is still warm when the bread goes in.
Fuel
Split oak, birch and apple wood
Lit
Seven every morning
Banked
After the last plate
Gas
None in the kitchen
Four kinds of heat
Flame, embers, smoke and ash
One fire, read from the hot end to the cool one. Each cook works a part of the hearth, and each dish on the menu belongs to one of them.
Minutes
Embers
A bed of birch coals raked under an iron grate that winds up and down on a chain. Close, even heat for fish, shellfish and chops.
On the menu Bream, scallops, lamb, mackerel
Hours
Smoke
Racks hung above the fire catch the rising heat and the smoke of apple wood. Mushrooms, trout and beef fat take their time up there.
On the menu Mushrooms, trout, potatoes
Overnight
Ash
Grey ash at the far end holds its heat until morning. Roots and fruit are buried in it, and the bread oven above uses what is left.
On the menu Carrots, beetroot, quince, bread
The wood store
Three woods, seasoned two years
Cut and split by a coppice twenty minutes away, stacked under cover behind the kitchen and burned in the order it was cut.
For heat
Oak
Dense and slow. It builds the bed of coals and holds the flame end through a full service.
Burns long, steady
For a clean flame
Birch
Quick to catch, bright and nearly smokeless. We use it under fish so nothing tastes of the fire but the fire.
Burns fast, clean
For the smoke
Apple
Prunings from the orchard on the hill. Sweet smoke for the racks, and a few sticks under the lamb.
Burns sweet, soft
The fire's day
Lit at seven, banked at night
The hearth is never fully out. This is a Saturday, from the first match to the last shovel of ash.
07:00
Light the hearth
Oak kindling at the flame end, and the first coffee boiled on it.
09:00
Bread into the oven
Dough shaped the night before goes into the swept oven as the flames die back.
11:00
Stock on the coals
Bones roasted overnight in the ash become the stock for the week.
14:00
Roots into the ash
Carrots, beetroot and potatoes are buried for the evening.
16:30
Family meal
The cooks eat together, usually whatever the morning boat had too much of.
17:30
Rake for service
The fire is split into flame, embers, smoke and ash. Ten quiet minutes.
18:00
First tables
The pass opens and the four seats at the hearth counter fill first.
22:30
Bank the fire
Coals pushed together under ash. The quince goes in for tomorrow.
The producers
Six suppliers, bought whole
We buy the whole fish, the whole crate and the windfalls too, and plan the week around what arrives. These are the people we rely on, described by what they do.
i.
40 minutes
A day boat off the north point
Bream, mackerel, scallops and crab, landed the same morning and driven over whole.
Fish goes on the embers the day it lands. Bones and heads go to stock.
ii.
Under an hour
Two market gardens up the valley
Leeks, roots, brassicas and salad leaves, picked to order twice a week.
Roots into the ash, leeks charred on the flame, the rest raw.
iii.
Where she walks
A forager we have known for years
Ceps and chanterelles in autumn, wild garlic and sea herbs in spring.
Mushrooms on the smoke racks, garlic into the flatbread oil.
iv.
30 minutes
A small dairy by the river
Butter, curd and cream from a herd that grazes the water meadows.
Butter cultured in-house, curd whipped for the carrots.
v.
The next valley
An orchard on the hill
Apples, quince, dry cider and the winter prunings we burn.
Fruit into the ash overnight, prunings onto the smoke.
vi.
20 minutes
A coppice and a sawmill
Oak, birch and apple wood, cut in winter and seasoned for two years.
All of it into the hearth, nothing to waste.
What we leave out
A kitchen with fewer things
Cooking on one fire means doing without. Four things you will not find behind the pass.
A gas line
Nothing in the kitchen burns anything but wood.
A fryer
Crisp comes from the iron and beef fat.
A freezer for fish
Fish arrives whole, and is cooked or cured within two days.
Herbs out of season
In winter we cook with what keeps: roots, smoke, preserved fruit.
Bookings
A table by the fire
Tables open sixty days ahead, at noon. Book online or call the pass, and tell us about allergies when you book so the kitchen can plan the fire around you.
Walk-ins
Four seats at the hearth counter are kept back every night.
Seven or more
Larger groups dine in the Long Room. Write to events@example.com.
Changes
Call from 2 pm on the day. We hold a table for fifteen minutes.