THE RUDIMENTS OF PIT COOKERY

Image Gallery [1] Choose a brush-free site for your pit. [2] Flat stones for cooking line the oven. [3] Lay a tinder base to start your fire. [4] Keep a small blaze going for an hour.

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Cook mouthwateringly delicious meals without an oven, without electricity, without a flame of any kind, and without effort: That's what the accompanying report by Richard H. johnson is all about.

Have you ever stopped to think what you'd do if—for one reason or another—electricity and natural gas suddenly became unavailable (or intolerably expensive)? Right away, of course, you'd have to learn new, non energy-intensive ways of performing old duties (cooking, washing, and so on). And in all probability, the "new ways" you'd adopt would actually be ancient, primitive techniques that have served humankind well for thousands of years.

For instance, our family—for many seasons—has been using a "primitive" ovenless baking procedure ... a procedure that requires only a few handfuls of kindling to cook an entire meal. I'm talking, of course, about the "steaming pit" method of cookery that native Americans (and other peoples around the world) have been using successfully for more than 10,000 years.

HOW IT WORKS

The pit cookery technique involves little more than the slow, even release of heat (from firescorched rocks, or—sometimes—coals) within a sealed (underground) enclosure to cook food. Victuals prepared by this method are cooked slowly and evenly, and—as a result—the food's natural juices and flavors are sealed in rather than driven out. Also, since no combustion occurs during the actual cooking process, there is no danger of the vittles being burned.

MAKE YOUR OWN "PIT OVEN"

Step one in constructing an underground oven: Select an area free of dry brush and other fire hazards, and dig a hole measuring two feet wide by three feet long by a foot deep. Try to keep the pit's walls fairly vertical, and pile the excavated dirt as near the hole as possible without allowing it to fall back in. (You'll need the dirt later.)

Next, line both the pit's bottom and sides with fairly flat rocks... (Round stones can be used if necessary . . . the only problem is that they take up more room in the pit than flat ones do. Consequently, you may want to enlarge your "oven" a bit if you end up using oddshaped rocks.) Whatever you do, don't use stones from a stream bed: Such rocks tend (because of the moisture that's trapped inside them) to explode when they're subjected to extreme heat.

After you've completely "tiled" the floor and walls of your pit, it's time to build a small fire to heat the rocks. (Before going any further, check with local authorities to see that you are not violating any ordinances. If a fire permit is required, by all means get one!) Lay the blaze so it will heat the entire length and width of the pit, and keep the flames relatively small. (Remember, you're only trying to heat the rocks . . . not all outdoors.) Use hardwood twigs and branches if at all possible: They'll produce the best bed of coals and will burn the hottest and longest.

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