SC - Fw: [EXP] Fw: Coffee, Tea, and Sugar

[Alderton, Philippa]

- ---pkl at absaroka.obgyn.ks.se wrote:
> On Sun, 4 Jan 1998, Mike C. Baker wrote:
> > The evidence from "modern primitives" / "aboriginal peoples" 
> > for the equivalent to wrapping in foil and tossing into the 
> > coals is to coat with clay / mud / ash paste / other substances
> > and toss into the
> If the food doesn't have a natural covering of its own I recommend
> starting off with a layer of leaves, and then the clay. Keeps 
> the grit out of your food. Burdock is my favourite.

Which brings up three or four other methods I may have left out of
the first list: cooking in a buried pot (see below), cooking ON
plant leaves, ON a shaved plank, and IN leaves.

True "Polynesian"/"Hawaiian" luau uses taro leaves to wrap the pork
carcass, I believe, in addition to stuffing the pig with red hot
rocks (apologies if memory is faulty). I've used mulberry leaves "in
the field" to cook ground beef patties (hamburgers), and seen
cabbage leaves used to wrap potato or carrot. 

A variation on the "wrap&bury" produces something lovingly referred
to as "bean holey beans": beans, water, ham pieces or bacon, any
other desired veggies, and spices plus a very little salt put into a
tightly-coverable container (ideally with NO expansion room for
steam -- fill COMPLETELY with liquid, with ideally at least 2 or 3
inches above the solid contents of the pot). Use a fire built in an
earthen pit (good igneous or metamorphic riverstones added if
available), reduce to coals (and heated stones). Shovel aside fire
and the bean pot is lowered into the pit, usually inside a larger
metal container which has an inch or so of sand in the bottom and
wet leaves or sacking (burlap) packed around the beanpot
(loose-fitting lid on this outer can), (stones packed around pot),
good cover of green wood or metal put in place, put coals back in
pit on top of and around covered pot / can, tightly cover the
fire-filled with a layer of dry sand over which planks or more earth
is packed. Leave to cook 8-12 hours more or less, preferably more.

Family traditions say the pit-fire should be started around
midafternoon the first day in camp to have beans ready for evening
meal the second day, noon meal day 2 if the coal-bed is ready soon
enough. Requires additional fuel for wet ground; bottom of pit must
be above water table (or at most minimal seepage -- gravel or sand
bars in a river bottom aren't always the best choice for this
firepit...).

(There are MANY variations upon this theme, and the attempts I've
been involved with involving beans were less than satisfactory for
the amount of labor involved. Of course, those are the memories of a
child who was satisfied with beans straight from the can... and did
not care for the small white beans being used. I suspect that this
might make a very good cooking process for fava beans, applying mild
pressure and extended steam-cooking.) 
 
<snip>

> > niceities for using a tripod in the field. Cauldron cooking is not
> > for the weak of back or faint of heart, and requires nearly
> > *constant* attention. (For all that, Papa, the Three Kings
> If you have a long chain for hanging your pot you can even set 
> it to simmer by letting it swing in and out of the fire. Not 
> recommended for really heavy pots unless you have a *very* 
> sturdy setup.

Probably better suited to a (semi-)permanent installation than the
standard field tripod, particularly for a cauldron on the scale this
experience related to. A good fire shovel and enough room to move
coals around / out from under / back under the cauldron should give
sufficient temp control for most purposes.

===
Adieu -- Amra / Pax ... Kihe / TTFN -- Mike
(al-Sayyid) Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra  /
Kihe Blackeagle (the Dreamsinger Bard) / 
Mike C. Baker: My opinions are my own -- no one else would want them!
Homepage: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/8661
Alt. e-mail: KiheBard at aol.com, MikeCBaker at aol.com

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