Salt & EmberGet the cookbook

A wood-fired cookbook

Fire, salt and sixty weeknight dinners.

Salt & Ember brings the smoke and char of a wood-fired kitchen to your Tuesday night, with recipes that take 45 minutes or less on a grill or in a home oven.

Get the cookbook, $19Try 5 free recipes
Grilled meat with herbs, cucumber and a creamy sauce on a stone board

  • 60 recipes

    Starters, mains, sides and sweets

  • 45 minutes or less

    Built for real weeknights

  • Any heat source

    Grill, oven or open fire

The recipe index

What is cooking

A taste of the sixty recipes inside. Pick a course to see what is on the menu.

  • Charred leeks with hazelnut romesco25 minp.14
  • Smoked burrata and blistered tomatoes15 minp.18
  • Flatbreads baked on the embers40 minp.22
  • Ember-roasted chicken, lemon and fennel45 minp.48
  • Lamb chops with green salsa verde30 minp.54
  • Whole grilled sea bream with capers35 minp.60
  • Coal-baked squash, brown butter and sage45 minp.66
  • Fire-kissed new potatoes30 minp.92
  • Grilled greens with anchovy butter15 minp.96
  • Smoky white beans with rosemary25 minp.100
  • Grilled peaches with honey and thyme15 minp.124
  • Skillet olive oil cake40 minp.130

A peek inside

Page 48, a reader favorite

Every recipe gets a full spread: a story, a clear ingredient list, short steps and a note on what to do with the leftovers.

Mains

Serves 445 min

Ember-roasted chicken with lemon and fennel

The dish I make when friends arrive early and hungry. The lemons blister and go jammy, the fennel turns sweet, and the whole thing smells like summer.

You will need

  • 8 bone-in chicken thighs, skin on
  • 2 fennel bulbs, cut into wedges
  • 2 lemons, halved
  • 6 garlic cloves, lightly smashed
  • 3 tbsp good olive oil
  • 1 tbsp flaky sea salt
  • 1 tsp chili flakes
  • A handful of parsley, chopped

Method

  1. 1Light the fire or heat the oven to 220C. You want the coals glowing and grey, not flaming.
  2. 2Salt the chicken well on both sides and leave it at room temperature for 20 minutes.
  3. 3Toss the fennel, garlic and lemons in the oil and chili, then nestle the chicken on top, skin up.
  4. 4Roast for 35 minutes until the skin is deep gold. Squeeze over the charred lemons, scatter the parsley and bring the pan to the table.
Chef Luca Romano in a white uniform standing in his kitchen beside a stack of firewood

Meet the chef

Twelve years at the fire, one simple rule.

Luca Romano grew up in his grandmother's kitchen in Puglia and spent twelve years cooking over wood in restaurants from Lecce to London. His rule is simple: good salt, real heat and patience will make anything taste like a celebration.

Luca Romano

From readers

Cooked, loved, splattered

The first cookbook in years that I actually cook from on a Tuesday. The leeks have become a standing order in our house.

Hannah Clarke

Home cook, Bristol

Luca explains fire like a friend standing next to you. I finally understand when to stop poking the coals.

Daniel Okoro

Weekend griller

Every recipe worked the first time, even in my tiny apartment oven. The shopping lists are a gift.

Sofia Marquez

Food blogger

Bring it home

Choose your edition

Digital cookbook

Every recipe, beautifully laid out for tablet and phone.

$19

  • 60 recipes with full-page photos
  • Printable shopping lists
  • Works on tablet, phone and computer
Choose this edition

Chef's pick

Cookbook and video lessons

Cook alongside Luca with step-by-step lessons.

$39

  • Everything in the digital cookbook
  • 8 video lessons on fire and heat
  • Seasonal menu planner
  • Bonus chapter: 10 sauces and dressings
Choose this edition

Questions from the kitchen

Do I need a wood-fired oven?

Not at all. Every recipe has instructions for a charcoal grill, a gas grill and a regular home oven, tested in each.

How will I receive the cookbook?

You get a beautifully laid out PDF made for tablets, plus a phone-friendly version and printable shopping lists.

Are there vegetarian recipes?

Yes. 24 of the 60 recipes are vegetarian, and many of the mains include a vegetable swap.

What are the video lessons?

Eight short lessons filmed in Luca's kitchen covering lighting a fire, reading heat, resting meat and cooking whole vegetables in the coals.

Start with five free recipes.

Get the free sampler with the leeks, the flatbreads and three more favorites, or order the full cookbook and we will send your secure payment link.

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