Green Fire: Extraordinary Ways to Grill Fruits and Vegetables, from the Master of Live-Fire Cooking

by Francis Mallmann, Peter Kaminsky (Primary Contributor), Donna Gelb (Primary Contributor)

A groundbreaking new approach to grilling vegetables and fruit from the author of  Seven Fires  and  Mallmann on Fire

Green Fire is an extraordinary vegetarian cookbook, as Mallmann brings his techniques, creativity, instinct for bold flavors, and decades of experience to the idea of cooking vegetables and fruits over live fire. Blistered tomatoes reinvigorate a classic Caprese salad. Eggplants are buried whole in the coals—a technique called rescoldo—then dance that fine line between burned and incinerated until they yield an ineffable creaminess made irresistible with a slather of parsley, chile, and aioli. Brussels sprout leaves are scorched and served with walnuts; whole cabbages are sliced thick, grilled like steaks, and rubbed with spice for a mustard-fennel crust. Corn, fennel, artichokes, beets, squash, even beans—this is the vegetable kingdom, on fire.

The celebrated Patagonian chef, known for his mastery of flame and meat, the chef who romanced the food world with an iconic image of a whole cow dressed and splayed out over licking flames, is returning to the place where his storied career began—the garden and all its bounty. It’s his new the transformation wrought by flame, coals, and smoke on a carrot or peach is nothing short of alchemy.

And just as he’s discovered that a smoky, crackling-crusted potato cooked on the plancha is as sublime as the rib-eye he used to serve it next to, Mallmann’s also inspired by another we all need to cut down on consuming animals to ensure a healthier future for both people and the planet. Time to turn the fire “green.”

The fruit desserts alone confirm live fire’s ability to transform and elevate any ingredient. Mallmann roasts whole pineapples, grills grapes, chars cherries, and then finds just the right unexpected match—melted cheese, toasted hazelnuts, Campari granita—to turn each into a simple yet utterly entrancing dish.

Cooking with fire demands both simplicity and perfection. But the results are pure magic. By using this oldest of cooking techniques, you’ll discover fruits and vegetables pushed to such a peak of flavor it’s as if they’d never been truly tasted before.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Food and Drink

312 pages, Hardcover

Published May 10, 2022

Reviews

[Bernadette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tasty, innovative, mostly easily prepared collection of grilling recipes starring vegetables! Highlights traditional Patagonia methods for outdoor cooking, with suggested ways to modify for cooking indoors. Great pictures, & the very detailed descriptions are mouthwatering!
Awesome potato dishes, other root vegetables, with the roasted beet recipes being my favorite.

[Dylan Verdun Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars – A Love Letter to Fire, Food, and Freedom

Green Fire is nothing short of poetic. Francis Mallmann once again proves he’s not just a chef—he’s a philosopher of flame. In this beautifully crafted book, he invites us into the wild, where cooking becomes communion and fire becomes language.

What sets Green Fire apart is its raw intimacy with nature. Mallmann’s approach to vegetables and open-fire cooking isn’t about trends—it’s about truth. He shows how cooking outdoors, slowly and deliberately, connects us to something ancient, grounding, and deeply human. Each page flickers with the essence of woodsmoke, wilderness, and wonder.

The recipes are rustic, seasonal, and soul-stirring—designed not for convenience, but for connection. You’ll find charred beets, ash-roasted onions, fire-baked breads—dishes that come alive through patience and flame. But it’s his storytelling, philosophy, and reflections on solitude and simplicity that ignite the real magic here.

Mallmann reminds us that food is not just sustenance—it’s ritual, rebellion, and romance. Green Fire is a manifesto for anyone who finds joy in slow living, wild places, and the primal beauty of cooking with fire.

Highly recommended for dreamers, outdoor cooks, and anyone looking to rediscover the art of food through the eyes of a true fire poet.

[emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

And to my way of thinking, there is nothing more satisfying than a sublimely creamy sweet potato roasted in the embers of a campfire, its charred skin sliced open with a knife and its flesh baptised in butter.

Take this how you will, but Mallmann’s obviously better at handling meat than veg… Decent writing and pretty pics though. And a hefty 5* for effort, surely— especially impressive and well admirable for an Argentine chef of his calibre to promote eating more veg. I’m not vegan/vegetarian, but I am simply always curious about cooking/appreciating vegetables in different/new ways. So far, I think I’m most impressed with how it’s done or rather how it’s ‘approached’ in some Buddhist temples. Personally I think that their respect for the ‘produce’ is almost unrivalled.

[Jeff Guillory · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read. Great photos. I prefer Mr. Mallmann's other Books such as Seven Fires... and On Fire... His stories within the book are always good reading. However, I am not likely to make any of the recipes in this book, as they are not really my kind of food.

[Matthew Latourette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best cookbook I’ve read that focuses solely on cooking vegetables with fire. Easy and unique recipes

[Vladimir Semenov · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much focus on the plancha, in my opinion.
Recipes are pretty simple and good for the homcooking, but not that interesting or inspiring for a professional.