It is no coincidence that the words hearth and heart are so similar. The hearth has always been the heart of a home. Not only does the fire heat us and awaken our senses, the smell and taste of wood-fired food is indelible.

Using stones, bricks, and/or mud, the people in what is now known as the Czech Republic were using wood-burning bakeovens about 20,000 years ago. They enclosed fires with any material that had mass and would not burn. The basics of those ovens are still true today though modern materials like insulation and firebrick allow ovens to operate more efficiently.

Cooked in three different forms of heat, the taste of food from a
wood-fired brick oven is incomparable. With direct contact on the 400
to 600? brick hearth, food is cooked from the bottom up through
conduction. The steamy air in the oven cooks through convection while
the fire burning in the rear of the oven cooks through radiant heat.

While these traditional ovens have been used for centuries, in
recent history they have been put aside for more convenient and modern
forms of energy, which we are learning is expensive in many ways. It’s
not surprising that there is a rising interest in wood-burning
bakeovens. It is not just because masonry ovens burn locally abundant
and renewable firewood, or that it is such an ancient and satisfying
method of cooking. It’s the taste! The flavor imparted to food by the
combination of intense fire, and the steamy and smoky environment
within the oven, is far superior to any fossil fuel “fired” oven.

Patrick Manley has built wood-burning
bakeovens for many Maine restaurants including Fore Street and Primo.
He is also the founder of Masons on a Mission, a non-profit project that builds cookstoves to replace open fires for the Maya of Guatemala.