BARBECUE PIT 



J.HE barbecue pit offers the simplest means 

 of maintaining the necessary degree of heat 

 for barbecuing. The Indians and the early 

 settlers discovered long ago that a hastily dug 

 hole or trench, in the bottom of which wore 

 placed large stones, and on the top of which 

 had been built a hot fire, was an excellent 

 means of cooking large portions of meat. 



Wherever the ground is sufficiently well 

 drained to make practical the construction of a 

 pit, the barbecue pit is preferable to the barbe- 

 cue oven, because the natural ground serves 

 to insulate the area surrounding the pit and 

 preserves the maximum amount of heat. 



The walls of the pit may be made of concrete 

 or stone masonry and the sides of the pit lined 

 with fire-clay brick, as shown in plate XVI. 

 The floor of the pit should be of pervious soil to 

 provide ready drainage and, if desirable, to 

 imbed in this soil a few larger stones, in order to 

 retain some of the heat in the bottom of the 

 pit. 



A fire may readily be made in the pit by 

 inserting one or two posts in an upright posi- 

 tion, and heaping the wood around these 

 posts. After the wood has been put in place, 

 the posts are then withdrawn and a small 

 amount of kerosene or other oil may be poured 

 into the hole, and the wood ignited by a burning 

 torch dropped into the hole. 



This fire thus started in the pit (depending 

 upon the size of the pit) should be kept burning 

 for a period of 8 or 12 hours or longer, in order 

 to thoroughly heat the bottom and side walls, 

 and to create a bed of ashes over the bottom 

 of the pit. 



After the fire thus maintained has thoroughly 

 heated the pit, the carcass or chunks of meat 

 are put into place in a wire basket, as shown in 

 figures 1 and 5 of the accompanying plate. The 

 cover to the pit may consist of a pair of hinged 



boiler-plate doors, reinforced with 2- by 3-inch 

 angles to prevent any sagging of the doors. 



As shown in the drawing, these doors have 

 large handles through which a pole may be 

 inserted to facilitate lifting. Free standing posts 

 support the doors when the pit is open and 

 prevent straining of the hinges. 



The basket is made of woven wire and is sus- 

 pended from two pipes, which rest in grooves at 

 the ends of the wall, as shown in figures 2 and 3. 



After the meat is put in place, the covers to 

 the pit are closed and earth is banked over the 

 top of the covers to prevent any unnecessary 

 loss of heat and to increase the airtight con- 

 dition of the pit. 



When the pit is not in operation, provisions 

 should be made so that the covers may be 

 locked, in order to prevent vandaHsm and to 

 avoid accidents. 



In many places in the western part of the 

 country, food is cooked in a "dutch" oven, 

 which is a small unit (pi. XI-A), operaHng on 

 the principle of the barbeque pit. The con- 

 tainer, which resembles a large kettle, is made 

 of cast iron and has a tight fitting cover. A fire 

 is built, and a liberal bed of live coals is pro- 

 duced by burning the fire for the desired length 

 of time to produce enough coals so that this 

 "dutch" oven may be partly buried in the coals 

 and the remainder of the coals may then be 

 heaped against the sides and over the top of 

 this container in which the food is placed. This 

 method of cooking requires considerable skill 

 to know the length of time which will be re- 

 quired in order io properly cook different kinds 

 of meat and other food. The "dutch" oven, so- 

 called, can usually be purchased from hard- 

 ware stores in the western part of the country, 

 and it is in general use by the sheep-herders 

 and others who wish to have an efficient and 

 compact unit in which to cook food. 



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