The firepit was in the middle of the round house. It was about 3′ diameter, dug into the earth about 6 inches, and lined with stones.
2002-07-07 Spit roasting
Two chicken legs are on one spit, and four sausages each are on two spits. Two more chicken
legs are in a mud “egg” in the middle of the fire (see mud baking, below). The egg is covered with coals.
The chicken cooked for about 3 hours, often at low temperatures (200 degrees or so), and turned out very tender. The
sausage took more heat to cook through, and was a little tougher.
2002-07-07 Mud baking
We also did some mud baking, Two chicken legs were wrapped in burdock, then a 1 inch layer of mud. Straw was
mixed with the mud for strength. This mud “egg” was baked for 6 hours, turning once. It was placed on coals, and
covered with coals for even heat on all sides.
This was a good learning experience. It took 6 hours of firewood to cook two chicken legs! Not the best conservation
of energy.
The egg after opening. The top was flipped off, exposing the chicken on the left. The green on the right is the
burdock leaf, which used to cover the chicken, and which now covers the top half of the egg. Weekend of 7/4.
2002-07-28 Jerky and roast chicken
London broil was sliced into thin strips, 1/4″ or less. The strips were hung on
sticks 3′-4′ above the fire for two days to dry.
Two sticks were put through the chicken to keep it from sliding back when rotated. It was tied to the sticks to keep
the wings from hanging down into the fire.