I seem to remember a TV programme years ago that showed an Island culture that cooked whole pigs wrapped in grass of some kind and then tied up with reeds over very large vine leaves. Hot stones were then taken from a camp fire and placed in a pit, then some sand on top and then the entombed pig, then more sand until everything was buried. I think it took a few days but it looked very tasty when it was all dug out and cleaned up. I think it may have been Maori or Pacific Islander...?? The meat looked very tender and moist. Mike
Yes, pit cooking is another form. Handy if you have 50 or more to feed and several days to do it. The wrapping material is chosen to keep moisture in and add flavor. The flavor tends to be very pure and highly nuanced. The most difficult thing is not to peek. "If you're looking, you're not cooking." You have to be patient and trust that things will work out in the end.
hi norwegian coockers That the way we cooked mission people in Africa regards When hiking put your eggs in a pan cover with water make it to boil cut the fire put a cover and leave it for 12 minutes your eggs are hard boiled with the minimum of fuel
Regarding heat packs/add water cookers, I did come across several offerings currently available. They tend mostly to come from the UK. It appears that the basic ingredients are quicklime and water. When the correct amount of water is added, the resulting reaction gives a heat level very close to boiling, the duration of which is dependent on quantity. It appears that this would be a cheap thing to home-brew, given a source of quicklime, which is still common among farmers and axe murderers. The issue is to keep the stuff very dry until it's wet, if that makes sense. https://www.trekmates.co.uk/flameless-cook-system
Hey, how's your Quebcoise? Damned difficult dialect, even for native Francophones. They talk fast up in Quebec, so their words don't freeze. That being said, I tend to take my missionaries on the rare side with a spoon or two of horseradish. No use overcooking them, they just get stringy.
Pacific islands call this an umu Maori call it a hangi. Still used for traditional events and tastes very nice.
Same theory on a New England clambake. Hot rocks in a pit, assorted shellfish, covered with seaweed and then tarps. Really a great way to cook as long as the seaweed comes from a really clean source.
This is going off the original topic a bit (sorry !!), but I have just found out that my local fried chicken shop, whose entire menu I really do enjoy, uses some kind of very long life fat that is hydrogenated with preservatives. This yucky chemical cocktail yields trans fat and high cholesterol and god knows what else into your food. Seems to be about the worst way to cook just about anything !! I know this because I sold an old engine to a gentleman who turned out to be the collection driver for a bio fuel company and in his work he collects spent cooking oil from almost every fast food place in my county. He told me that all these places save money on their oil by using the same long life product which is, apparently, more difficult to process into new bio fuel than basic vegetable oils. Looks like my days of enjoying junk fast food have suddenly come to an abrupt end I wonder if such a thing as healthy "junk food" exists. I did once date a lovely lady who was a fully vegan but it got to the stage where I could not deal with bacon denial any more or the removal of prime juicy stakes !! I "cheated" on her at my local cafe and often had sneaky bacon sandwiches there. Goodbye fried chicked....thanks for all the happy memories Mike
I know what else it adds to your food...FLAVOR! Which is why you really do enjoy their entire menu. "All things in moderation" is my motto. Now if only I could stick to it. Ben
When I was a kid, we used to butcher our own hogs and render lard. The "wisdom" that came along at some point was that eating lard was like sticking a gun in your mouth. Procter and Gamble came out with a synthetic fat (Olestra) that WAS like sticking a gun in your mouth. Several deaths and big lawsuits later, Olestra disappeared from the market. Lard hasn't. I am not afraid of lard, but I use olive oil for most things. We don't eat enough fast food to make it an item of concern. Once every six months, perhaps.
The entire reason to hydrogenate veg oils is to solidify them. It does render them unsuitable as a frying medium and few preservitives would survive the heat of a deep fryer. I believe your informer is mistaken about what they use. In any case it would be so highly contaminated with chicken fat that it would still need replacing on a regular basis. Just think if the corner chippy can do this why doesnt the woulds biggest seller of pressure cooked fried chicken (complete with batter and a handful of herbs and spices to hide the grease) Your situation is different to here but here all the fish and chip shops use either soy oil or beef lard
just a joke for Italian speaking people. Are they really putting preservatives in cooking fats? ("preservativo" in Italian means condom)
Actually, hydrogenation increases the frying stability of oil. Deep frying with Crisco shortening works fine or you could use one of the solid shortenings specifically sold for deep frying like ProFry. The more saturated the better. This explains why corn oil with less unsaturated fatty acid is a better frying oil than soybean or canola oils with more unsaturated fatty acids. Ben
Hydrogenated oils are nowdays treated to remove as much transf fat as possible but there is still some. Margarine from the 70s could be as high as 8% trans fat nowdays 0.08% is more typical but its still bad for you
