Nothing compares with the taste of food cooked slowly in the earth. This is no 30-minute meal technique. It takes organization and effort - but the results justify the labor. What follows is my experience the first time I ever participated in preparing and eating a steam-pit cooked meal. I cannot wait for another opportunity to try this again.

Digging a pit big enough to feed a dozen people is no small task - I didn't measure it, but it seemed huge, maybe 3 feet deep and a couple of feet across - or larger.

We accumulated smooth, dense rocks ranging in from fist size to grapefruit size. I didn't count them, but there were enough to cover the bottom of the pit and the top of the layers. We built a fire in a separate fire pit and heated the rocks until they glowed red. That probably took two hours.

While the fire was heating, we gathered huge heaps of tall dried grasses [any fibrous plant will work] - probably about 2 armloads for every person, and set them next to the mound of earth dug out of the hole. These would need to be soaked for an hour or so before we added them to the steam pit.

We transferred half the rocks (using a pick or sturdy shovel) into the cooking pit. Then we covered the rocks with half of the soaked dried grasses. We put an old towel on top of the grass layer and then added our food. We covered the food with another old towel, covered that with the rest of the grass, then transferred the remaining hot rocks on top of that. We capped this all with bark slabs and covered t

he whole thing with dirt.

The steam pit cooking technique only works if the pit is thoroughly sealed. If air gets in, the food will burn. So we had to really cover this up until we were sure we could not see steam or smoke coming from the pit. The general rule is to allow 15 minutes of cooking time for every pound of food in the pit. I think cooking took 4 or 5 hours that day.

When the food was cooked, we uncovered the pit. There are no words to describe the aroma of the steam as the dirt, grasses and towel are removed. There is no prayer strong enough to express the sense of nourishment and gratitude I got from tasting food infused with the flavors of herbs, wood, and warm earth.

It was one of the most labor-intensive Thanksgivings I ever spent, but it will stand out in my mind as one of the best days of my life. Maybe next Thanksgiving will be a steam pit Thanksgiving.

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