Fire is a catalyst of transformation, playing a vital role in shaping our ecosystems and the food that graces our plates. For Chef Joshua Drage, fire is a key ingredient in his culinary creations but also an integral part of his very essence, from how he was raised to how he manages his team.

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Chef Drage for close to 15 years. We worked side-by-side at a luxury guest ranch for over a decade, and whether he would admit it or not, he was my mentor. He saw things in me that I didn’t. He approached me and other team members as if we were fires that he was tending. Fire requires three components: a heat source, fuel, and air. Drage could identify the ember burning inside of his staff, provided a foundation that acted as the tinder and allowed for air and space to experiment. He retained top staff on a guest ranch that was 14 miles from a town of 900 people because he continued to tend that fire. In the time we worked together, I witnessed him grow dishwashers into sous-chefs.

Drage was raised in an off-grid cabin outside of Anchorage, Alaska whose primary heat source was wood. The importance of fire as a tool was instilled in him by his grandmother and parents. “My grandma especially was really big into Dutch oven cooking.” said Drage “I’ve got these pictures where she’s literally doing 30 Dutch ovens at once.”

“ The secret recipe is your senses, slowing things down, paying attention and experimenting.”

On a cloudy day in early March, in the wildland-urban interface of the Pintler Mountains near Philipsburg, Montana, Drage prepares his outdoor kitchen. A fire ring that includes aspen wood, a couple of bricks and a metal grill grate. Off to the side, he has a low bench that he has shoveled the snow off of to accommodate today’s mise en place, the French culinary term for gathering ingredients before you start cooking. The meal he has planned draws directly from the land that surrounds us, and his ingredient choices are all deeply intertwined with fire: elk, huckleberries, juniper, morel mushrooms and aspen wood. 

Listen to our special On Land Podcast with Chef Drage

Drage starts by reducing elk stock and red wine into a saucepan which will be used to rehydrate the morel mushrooms from last summer’s harvest to make a rich, flavorful accompaniment to the elk. While the stock reduces, he moves on to create a marinade using huckleberries, juniper, olive oil, thyme and black pepper. “We’re using the tartness from the huckleberry, which will be a nice complement to the elk. I try to stay away from marinades that become overpowering to the meat,” he says, mortar and pestle working skillfully as he talks. “So, this way we’ll get a nice complement on the exterior of the meat, but you’ll still be able to taste the elk for what it is.” 

After marinating the sirloin and placing it over medium-high heat coals he mentions, “A key part of the seasoning to bring it all together is the addition of the aspen,” he says. Fire plays a crucial role in aspen ecology, creating openings for sunlight and promoting regeneration. When aspen burns it gives off a slightly sweet aroma. “The flavor is going to come alive from that caramelization and charred component.”

Drage emphasizes the importance of trusting one’s senses. “When I talk to people about cooking, they always want the secret recipe. That secret recipe is your senses, slowing things down, paying attention and experimenting. Recipes are a great source of inspiration.” When I asked him if he had ever prepared this meal before, he chuckled. “I’m not a very smart chef.  The other cooks always said to me, ‘Don’t you think you want to do this once before you do it for a hundred people?’” He told them, “No, no, no, we got this. Yeah, we can do this.” It’s clear that Drage values the spontaneity of cooking over an open fire, and the once-in-a-lifetime moment that every meal can be.

“When there’s some investment of quality into the ingredients [foraging, hunting or raising] that’s what people like to hear about. And that’s what originally got me into cooking, that becomes something we can share and that brings people together.”

When he tells me about the sources of the ingredients we’re cooking today, I fully understand that approach. These were more than just ingredients, they were memories brought to the table to share. The huckleberries, adapted to flourish post-fire by sprouting quickly from rhizomes or root crowns, were picked wild in an old burn scar with friends over the Fourth of July weekend. The elk was provided by cameraman Zach Altman, the product of his snowy first ever successful elk hunt. “When there’s some investment of quality into the ingredients [foraging, hunting or raising] that’s what people like to hear about. And that’s what originally got me into cooking, that becomes something we can share and that brings people together.”

Fire and food are timeless elements that unite us and this meal is no exception. We head inside and gather around the table to share this fire-kissed spread. In this moment, cooking is so much more than combining ingredients. This feast speaks volumes to the transformative power of fire and the resilience of nature. The fire is also an opportunity to rekindle my friendship with my mentor Chef Joshua Drage.

Chef Drage’s
Perfect Cooking Fire

Within his fire pit Chef Drage creates two zones.
Zone 1: the feeder fire, that continuously burns and provides coals for Zone 2.

And Zone 2: the cooking zone, where the grate sits on bricks above the coals. Zone 2 becomes a lower-intensity heat source that is more easily controlled by moving coals from the feeder fire as needed. 

Instructions

Bring your grill or cookfire to a medium-high heat and place your skirt steak. The steak should sizzle immediately. Grill the steak to your preferred doneness. Don’t walk away! This thin lean cut will cook quickly. 

Toward the end of the grilling, squeeze half a lime over the steak. Once the meat reaches your desired doneness, remove from heat and lightly cover, letting it rest for several minutes. Finally, thinly slice the steak against the grain and serve hot.

Forged and foraged stock

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Ingredients

4 cups elk or beef stock 

1/3 cup red wine 

1 cup dehydrated burn morel mushrooms 

1-2 lbs leeks, cut into coins and grilled over the fire

1 onion, halved 

2 Tbsp butter.

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Combine stock and red wine in a saucepan. 

Bring the mixture to a boil and cook on medium-high heat until the stock is reduced by half. 

Add morel mushrooms, cover, and allow them to cook and rehydrate for at least 30 minutes. Note: For more flavor, cook the mushrooms longer. 

Add half the leeks, plus the butter, to the stock and mushrooms. Simmer for 15 more minutes. Reserve the rest of the leeks to serve fresh with the elk steaks.

Grilled elk steaks with huckleberry, juniper & black pepper marinade

Fire Foods

Rocky Mountain Elk 

North America’s second largest native cervid (member of the deer family), elk are well adapted to thrive in fire-influenced landscapes. Post-fire environments often provide elk with abundant, high-quality forage, as fire releases nutrients into the soil and stimulates the growth of the grasses and shrubs they feed on.   

Huckleberries 

Following wildfires, huckleberries often flourish in the newly opened canopy, benefiting from increased sunlight and reduced competition. Some huckleberry species are adapted to survive and recover quickly after fire by sprouting from rhizomes or root crowns. 

Morel Mushrooms 

Some common species of this highly-prized mushroom send up their honeycombed spore stalks in response to chemical signals in the soil post-fire. These morel’s mycelium (the root-like network that is the foundation of fungal growth and reproduction) are symbiotic with the root systems of conifers and can live in the soil for decades until the right fire triggers them to fruit. 

Juniper 

Juniper berries, and the trees themselves, are rich in volatile oils, which makes them a fragrant and powerful flavorer of liquors and marinades, and a dangerously flammable fuel in wildland fire scenarios. Firefighters sometimes refer to juniper as gasoline bush! 

Aspen 

Fire plays a crucial role in aspen ecology, creating openings for sunlight and promoting regeneration. Following a wildfire, aspens often regenerate quickly, taking advantage of the newly available resources and their unique ability to resprout vigorously from the roots. Aspen firewood is prized by Chef Drage and others for its slightly sweet aroma