Baking In Coals From A Burn Pile

[brahmburgers]

I like baked squash. Half the reason I buy it is because I can say 'Fak Tong' out loud in

the marketplace. Seriously though, it's an excellent vege for taste, nutrition - and it's

good the next day - plus it can be mixed with all sorts of things, even peanut butter and

natural sweet things.

Not having a kitchen oven (about as common here in Thailand as yard sales) - I resort to

burn piles on my property. Ordinarily, I wrap the squash in aluminium foil (Yanks call it

tin foil) and place it snug in a nice pile of hot coals outside.

In order to save on metal foil, I tried wrapping the squash in banana leaves before

putting it snug in the coals. Maybe the coals weren't hot enough, but the banana leaves

seemed to insulate too much, so I got an unevenly cooked result - though the leaf was

pretty much intact. Foil-wrapped squash alongside cooked perfectly. Next time, I'll try

just one leaf wrapped around, rather than three (it was a big chunk of squash). As for

using foil; it can be re-used. Next morning, a stray cat was contentedly lying alongside

the spent coals - soaking in the last bit of heat.

It got me thinking about the Hawaiian tradition of Luaow (sp?) where they dig a big pit,

partially fill it with hot coals, and leave a complete pig in there to cook all night (or

all day?). The probably place bunches of squash and other veges all around. In my mini-

Luaow, I also bake whole sweet peppers, sweet potatoes/yams, whole cabbages, onions,

potatoes, tomatos and garlic. Could probably cook bake bananas and a lot of other things

also - though I'm not big on cooking meat. Baking is better than boiling, because the

vitamins aren't lost in the hot water - plus you get more flavor than with boiling.

[suegha]

Very interesting post. I'd like to know how you get on with the singular leaf. I wouldn't have thought anthing was as good (or reliable) as foil.

You can bake virtually anything this way, experiment and enjoy. Re reusing the foil. A good way is to make a parcel shapped like a cornish pasty soo that it easily folds over at the top. This has the added advantage of an air pocket. You can also add liquid or sauce and reuse it adding to the flavour with each use.

Here's a good onr if you want to use meat. You may not be able to match this exactly but substitute with something else. A large chicken breast, Stuff the chicken breast with you favourite pate, (I actually use a chunky vegggy pate) wrap the stuffed breast in 2-3 stips of smoked streaky bacon nice and tight. Depending on your fire this could take 30+ mins. Here's the good bit, when cooked you have a load of ready made gravy from the juices!

Enjoy

[Cuban]

..also interested to hear results of your experiments, I was considering making up an oven from a large former oil can (about 40-50 litre size) then building a fire around it - a bit hit and miss but a for runner of building a pizza oven outside.