A smoke pit requires some effort.
If barbecues mean charred sausages with a side of chewy chops to you, then it might be time to learn make a smoke pit. For barbecued food that tastes as it should, nothing beats a smoke pit that slowly cooks the food to perfection. Although the cooking process is long --15 to 20 -- hours, the results are well worth the effort and wait. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Instructions
1. Dig a hole at least 3 feet wide and 3 feet deep in an open space. Make the hole larger if you plan to feed a very large number of people. Place the soil you remove nearby to make it easier to cover the smoke pit later.
2. Find a rigid panel that is slightly larger than the hole to use as a cover. The panel must cover the opening completely with a few inches to spare all the way around the hole. The cover can be sheet metal or wood; its size is more important its material.
3. Fill the bottom of the hole with dry hardwood "coals," such as oak or maple, the day before you want to eat. Use newspaper and kindling to light the coals, and then continue to add more coals until about 2 feet of glowing coals are in the bottom of the pit. This process takes about 2 hours.
4. Hose down the area directly around the smoke pit with plenty of water to douse sparks that might spit out of the hole while the coals of wood heat. A bucket instead of a garden hose can be used to wet the area.
5. Harvest a young sapling to obtain "green wood." Cut it into four evenly sized pieces of about 2 foot each. Soak them in a bucket of water while you prepare the food. This moist wood will be used as a rack for the food and is the key to giving the barbecued food a real smoky taste.
6. Wrap the meat you want to cook tightly in wax-free paper, such as a brown paper shopping bag. Cover the paper with an additional layer of soaking wet newspaper.
7. Smooth out the coals in the smoke pit, add the green wood as a rack and lay the parcels of meat on top. Place the cover over the pit, and heap the excavated soil over the top. Add an old blanket to help retain heat.
8. Put on protective goggles and gloves. Sweep aside the blanket, the layer of soil and open the cover about 15 hours later. Pull out the meat bundles, and unwrap them. The meat is ready to be eaten.
Tags: about hours, barbecued food, green wood, hole cover