Chef Chris Cosentino on Cooking with Fire and the Mibrasa Charcoal Oven
Chef Chris Cosentino has been cooking in the Bay Area since 1996. He spent almost 14 years at Incanto in San Francisco, won Top Chef Masters, and has appeared across food television. Today he runs a restaurant project in Maui called Koast with two of his former employees. He is also a Mibrasa Home ambassador.
We filmed with Chris to talk about where his cooking comes from, how he thinks about fire, and why he cooks on a Mibrasa charcoal oven.
Growing up around food
Chris grew up between two families with very different kitchens. His father’s side was Italian, and his mother’s side was English, and a lot of their cooking naturally crossed over. Food was part of everyday life from the start.
Cooking with Bay Area produce
For Chris, the Bay Area’s biggest advantage is the produce. San Francisco was the center of what was happening in food when he started cooking, and the quality of what’s available still means a chef doesn’t have to do much to it.
“Buy well. Treat it with respect, and you’re going to have a great meal. I feel really fortunate to be in an area like this.”
Fire as a living thing
Chris talks about fire as something you work with over time.
“Fire is a living organism, and I don’t think people take it that way. Fire can be scary. If you’re not comfortable with fire, fire wins. If you learn to become comfortable with fire, you can create a relationship with it to build flavor, to really caramelize, to accentuate, to give unique flavors.”
He sees it as learning to work with the fire rather than against it. He also points out what guests feel when they watch someone cook this way, something close to sitting around a fireplace at home.
Primal cooking, with technique
Cooking over charcoal is one of the oldest ways to cook, but Chris wants more from it than that.
“As primal as cooking with fire is in the Mibrasa, there’s also this next level that we can take it to. As caveman as I want to be, I don’t want to cook like a caveman. I want to cook with technique. I want to cook with finesse. And once you figure out the finesse in the Mibrasa, it’s endless.”
Why Chris chose a Mibrasa charcoal oven
“Getting a Mibrasa oven for me was about craftsmanship, reliability, and just pure amazing firepower.”
The first thing he noticed when he started cooking with it was how the heat moved.
“It was cooking like a convection oven. It naturally circulates the heat. There’s no fan inside. And to me, that was amazing.”
One oven for grilling, roasting and searing
In a single service, Chris rotates food through the oven to grill, roast, cook directly over the heat, or cook straight on the charcoal.
“Is it an oven? Is it a grill? It’s all of the above. And to me, that’s what makes it so great. I have one tool that does everything for me. It allows me to ebb and flow and play, while at the same time giving great flavor, depth, and character to meats, fish, and vegetables.”
Once the oven is very hot, he also uses the open door as a searing surface. “Once I open that door, I can sear right on top of that door.”
Cooking in front of guests
Because everything happens in one place, Chris doesn’t have to leave the fire to finish a dish.
“I don’t have to walk away. I can stand there, talk to my guests, work in the oven, and literally pull from the oven and plate right there.”
Built to last for generations
For Chris, how long the oven lasts matters as much as how it cooks.
“The Mibrasa is something that’s going to go generation to generation. I know it’s going to last a lifetime.”
And, as he puts it, chefs collect cool toys. “This is a really cool toy.”