Welcome to Hot Off the Grill, the Feast & Fire Co. newsletter. Short, useful, and written by an actual human who smells like mesquite. New editions land here and in your inbox if you join the email list at the bottom of any page.
Who we are, in one breath
Feast & Fire Co. is a veteran-owned outdoor living shop in Tuttle, Oklahoma, and an authorized Cal Flame dealer. Every island, grill, fireplace, and fire pit we sell is built to order at Cal Flame's factory in Pomona, California, and ships free to your curb anywhere in the contiguous United States. No warehouse full of dusty crates, no gray market anything. You pick the finishes, the factory builds it, a freight truck brings it.
New in the shop this week
Manuals moved up front. Every official Cal Flame owner's manual, installation guide, and care document now lives one click away under Manuals in the main menu. Sixteen documents, straight from the manufacturer, free to read before you spend a dime. We put them there because we would rather you buy the right unit than just buy a unit.
Build it your way. The Finishes & Colors page shows all 32 factory finish options, and Options & Upgrades covers everything the factory can add to your build, from rock crushers to beer taps. Since every unit is made to order, this is the fun part of the homework.
The Feature: fire pits, the gateway drug
A fire pit is the cheapest way to turn a backyard into a place people actually stay. Not a spot they walk past on the way to the pool. A place they sit down in and forget what time it is. The Cal Flame fire pit lineup runs on gas, so there is no hauling wood, no smelling like a campfire, and no waiting twenty minutes on coals. Turn it on and the night keeps going. And if you have been wondering whether a full outdoor kitchen fits your budget, the Bel Air Q island is the answer we point people to first.
The Cook: steakhouse crust at home
Steakhouse crust comes down to three things: screaming heat, dry meat, and leaving it the hell alone.
Salt thick steaks and let them sit uncovered in the fridge a few hours so the surface dries, because wet meat steams instead of searing. Rip the grate hot, lay them straight over the fire, and do not touch them until a hard dark bark forms. Flip once, pull at 125 for medium rare, rest a full ten minutes.
Bark like that does not come from a marinade. It comes from fire and patience.
The Pour: the Smoked Old Fashioned
This is the drink we hand people the first time they sit down by the fire.
Two ounces of bourbon. One ounce of old fashioned syrup. Two dashes of Angostura bitters and one dash of orange bitters. One big rock of ice. Then the part that makes it ours: twenty to thirty seconds of applewood smoke over the glass before you build the drink. Smoke the glass, not the drink, so the aroma lands before the whiskey does.
Best made outdoors, ten feet from something already on fire.
The one thing to read before any island ships
Cal Flame publishes a Pre-Delivery Guide covering foundations, utility stub-ups, and access planning. Ten minutes with that PDF before you order saves you from the two most expensive words in outdoor kitchens: wrong spot. Gas connections always go to a licensed plumber or certified gas tech, and that is not us being lawyerly, that is us wanting your brisket unexploded.
The Close
"The only real stumbling block is fear of failure." Julia Child said that about cooking. It travels just fine to the guy standing in his backyard with a tape measure, wondering whether to finally build the thing.
Build it.
Got a question about a build, a backyard, or whether a pizza oven is a good idea? (It is.) Call 405-362-2626 or email dustin@feastandfireco.com. Real people, real answers.
Your Backyard. Your Rules.
Newbomb
Feast & Fire Co.