Campfire

Cooking pit

A cooking pit is an old way of preparing food — dig a pit, build a fire, fill it with hot stones and cook meat underground for 2.5–4 hours. Remember to get the landowner's permission.

A cooking pit is a very old method of cooking in which you slow-cook meat and other food underground, using hot stones.

Used for: Cooking.

How to make a cooking pit

  1. Dig a pit.
  2. Put sand or stone in the bottom.
  3. Build a fire, and build it well — bring enough firewood.
  4. Add round stones and leave them there for at least an hour.
  5. Wrap the meat in at least 4 layers of heavy-duty aluminium foil.
  6. Take the stones out of the pit, lay the meat down and put the stones back over the meat. Use thick gloves or barbecue mitts — the stones are scorching hot.
  7. Put turf and soil back on top — make sure it is completely sealed.
  8. The meat needs to cook for 2.5–4 hours depending on how large the pieces of meat are.

When you dig the cooking pit up again, the meat has slow-cooked evenly and taken on a smoky flavour from the stones and the earth.

Learn more

Upside-down fire · Tipi fire · Long log fire (nying) · Swedish torch (kubben) · Log cabin fire / winter fire · Cooking on a campfire · Fire types (overview)

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Sources: Bjerke, T. (2016). Bål — Den ultimate boka om bålbrenning. · NDLA — Kokehullet.