BACKWOODS BAKING OR GRILLING

Another very simple way of baking or grilling is to use a large log which has been partly burned through in the center. Turn it upside down and place the food on the hot ground under the glowing arch.

A Maori oven is made by digging a hole one and a half to two ft. deep in the ground and lining it with medium - sized stone ( flat stone if possible). In this hole, make a fire and build it up to just above ground level with hard wood. When it has burn down, scrape out the ashes and either stand the pot on the stone or line the stone with large leaves and put the food directly on top of these. From another fire take some more already heated stone to place on top. Cover the hole with damped material, green timber or slabs of stone and rake at lease twelves inches of dirt over the top. This is a very slow method of cooking, but ideal for cooking breakfast overnight or for leaving a meal to cook when you want to be away from camp all day. After five or six hour out and about you can come to camp tried and hungry, open up the oven, and there is your meal luscious and piping hot. If you use the Maori oven to cook something in a pot like porridge stew bring the contents to a biol before placing in the oven.