Why cook with wood?
Outdoor kitchens have exploded in popularity — from fully equipped patio set-ups to simple pizza ovens and BBQ grills. And while gas and charcoal are common fuels, nothing beats the flavour and experience of cooking with real wood.
Whether you're grilling steaks, roasting vegetables or baking a Neapolitan pizza, cooking with hardwood gives you intense, even heat and incredible natural aromas. The key is using the right type of wood — and knowing how to handle it.
The best types of wood for cooking
Not all firewood is safe or suitable for cooking. Softwoods like pine release sticky resins and acrid smoke — which can taint your food and damage your oven or grill. You want to use clean, kiln dried hardwoods that burn hot and slow, with no additives.
At The Logsmith, we recommend:
Birch
Fast to light, clean-burning and subtly sweet, birch is ideal for quick-cook sessions like searing steaks or firing up pizza ovens. It reaches high temperatures quickly and gives a lovely light smoke.
Ash
Ash is incredibly stable and burns evenly, making it a great all-rounder. It’s perfect for longer sessions like roasting meat or baking breads in a retained-heat oven.
Oak
The heavyweight of cooking woods. Oak burns the longest and delivers a rich, smoky flavour — especially good for low and slow BBQ or deep roasting. It does need more time to ignite but rewards you with steady heat.
All our cooking wood is ultra kiln dried to below 15% moisture, so it lights quickly, burns cleanly, and meets Ready to Burn standards — safe for cooking indoors or out.
How to light your cooking fire
For wood-fired cooking, you want a strong initial flame and controlled heat afterwards. Here's a quick method:
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Stack kindling in a criss-cross pyramid shape inside your oven, BBQ or fire pit
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Place one of our natural firestarters underneath
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Light the firestarter and leave the door slightly open to allow airflow
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Once kindling is burning well, add 1–2 small logs
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Let the chamber come up to temperature — then top up with your chosen hardwood as needed
Our briquettes can also be used for long, stable heat if you're not looking for wood flavour — they burn hot and consistently, great for maintaining temperature on grills.
Temperature matters
Different foods need different heat levels. Here’s a quick guide for wood-fired cooking:
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Pizza ovens: 350–500°C for Neapolitan style
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BBQs: 150–300°C depending on grill type
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Smokers: 95–120°C for low-and-slow
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Bread ovens: 200–250°C
Our kiln dried wood helps you hit those temperatures efficiently, without waiting for wet or smoky logs to catch.
Avoid chemicals and additives
Never use firelighters with paraffin, accelerants or strong-smelling fuels — especially in enclosed ovens. Our natural firestarters are chemical-free, odourless and made from renewable plant-based materials, so your food stays pure.
How much wood do I need?
That depends on your cooking time and oven size — but for most domestic outdoor kitchen setups, a few boxes of wood can last you the whole season. Our logs are delivered in stackable cardboard boxes (21.4 × 39.1 × 26 cm), so they’re easy to store by your grill or pizza oven.
The Logsmith approach to cooking wood
We supply top-grade kiln dried oak, ash and birch — packed plastic-free, dried to under 15% moisture, and suitable for any cooking setup. Whether you're a first-time wood-fired cook or an experienced grill master, our wood is ready to perform.