Quote:
Originally Posted by headquarters
I was wondering if anyone on the boards had tried to cookin a pit - a hole lined with stones that you fire with wood for a few hours ,and then place a parcel of meat etc in and cover with dirt to cook on the residual heat .
I hear some also place pots with lids secured inside and dig over with dirt .
Other ways of cooking outdoors or with archaic methods are also of interest.
Any information would be useful to me - I actually want to try it out for fun .
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Look for a book called "Jack-knife Cookery" by James Austin Wilder, written by a "white kanaka" who grew up in Hawaii, was a Sea Scout, travelled the world on merchant ships, learned umpteen different ways to cook with little or no cookware--often just a knife, the food and whatever else nature had provided--leaves, sticks, seaweed, hot stones, tree bark, whatever.
My wife and I used several of the concepts cooking during various time periods of reenactments we've attended. Our favorite method was a "keyhole firepit". This is a rectangular shallow trench for the crossbar/spit, with an extension of the pit from one end where a cylindrical hole, just a bit larger than the diameter of our 6-quart cast iron 3-legged kettle. Make a good bed of coals while you're cooking on the spit or hanging pots from the bar, then scrape some coals into the hole, insert the covered kettle (filled with whatever you were going to cook), scrape some more coals on top, reinsert sod plug over the kettle. My wife made some killer potatoes (with onions and turmeric) overnight that were perfect for breakfast the next morning. You'll always find new "friends" on hand when your food starts perfuming the campsite.
We've cooked bread on sticks, baked potatoes in hot ashes, made apple cobbler out of dry stores and dehydrated apples. I've made impromptu cookpots out of coffee cans and heavy iron wire for bails. I love cooking over a campfire! It's a great way to teach kids about responsibility and economy--when you're hauling and cutting your own firewood that has to last for your entire stay, you learn not to waste it with huge conflagrations, and you learn that the fire gets taken care of before anyone goes off to play.