Now that the summer is properly here in the UK, what could be more primal that cooking dinner outside over a wood fire? OK, I admit I cheated by starting it off inside on the hob, but hey! We aim for aim for 100% but if we achieve 80% primal-ness, that feels like a victory to me. 

Here is the cheating phase, browning the beef and frying off the vegetables..

As this is a goulash it needs plenty of red peppers plus sweet paprika and cayenne pepper too that also needs frying off a bit to take off the rawness of the spice. Then whatever herbs you have in the garden.

Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme were in my garden (but I wasn’t going to Scarborough Fair). They all got wrapped up between two sticks of celery for easy removal later.

And in the pot with red wine and good strong homemade beef stock.

Then to make the fire on my outdoor cooking rig

And when the fire is going well, the goulash goes over it for 2 hours. Checking it hasn’t got too dry every 30 minutes.

And after about 2-3 hours the beef is perfectly tender and the spices have developed a deep flavour.

And here’s my pretty messy plate of goulash served with some salad leaves from the garden and soured cream. Outdoor cooking is simple and simply tastes better. Give it a go!