[sparctek]

I cook on an open fire pit quite a bit, and I have had my share of failures over the years. What I have learned is the big flare up is grease burning which to me, does cause an acrid, sooty taste. If you look closely at the tips of the flames you will probably see black plumes streaming from them; that's what gives that acrid, sooty flavor.

What I do now is grill my steaks over the coals as normal until I see that the grease rendering from the meat is starting to burn. Then I move the coals around to create a little pocket under the steaks that doesn't have a lot of coal. You still get high heat radiating around the steaks and underneath but you don't have a lot of coals directly under the meat to catch the grease on fire.

Once I went to this method both my wife and I were much happier with the taste.