Ancient celtic style Pit roast.

Blub2k4

Hi guys, I did this exciting bit of cooking over the weekend because my brother and his gf were christening their first child and we had a massive hooley at home, garden party with kegs and over 100 people. It was a great party.
Originally my father wanted to spit roast a lamb but it was hard to get a spit so I decided to do it old style and pit roast the lamb. I had the butcher joint it down to small enough sizes so that I wouldn't have to cook it for a whole day.

Anyway what I did was to dig a large pit (this was the hardest part) then I lined that with stones and laid a fire on them, after a few hours of fire in the pit I dragged the embers aside and laid down a lot of damp straw before laying out my lamb which was heavily wrapped in tinfoil and in a basket type arrangement to allow lifting in and out of the pit, which was then laid into the pit on top of the straw. Then I laid more damp straw on top and then covered the pit with earth again.
It went on in the afternoon, at 11:00 that evening we dug it out and it was served by about 12.
This was without a doubt the most interesting way that I have ever cooked and I cant wait to do it again.
People raved about the lamb which came out beautiful and tender and moist, the bones were falling out of the meat it was that tender.
Half of the lamb was marinated in a rosemary, chili, garlic and olive oil marinade and the rest was left "au naturel" and it was fantastic.
I had had nightmares the night before about killing a hundred people :P but it was all good and a great experience.
Just thought I'd share that, If anyone would like to hire my services for the day, I am going to price up the job and possibly offer it as a party service, get in contact if you are interested.
I dont think anyone got any pics of it but if they did I'll gladly post them.

There are no exact details on how to do this here as I also dont want to feel responsible if anyone does it and it all goes pete tong, I have worked in gastronomy a lot and even though I had the nightmares I knew to a large extent what I was doing and also know when meat is cooked and safe, and have a number of health and safety courses related to gastronomy.

spudington16

A fulachta fia, if my memory of history class serves me. Used by the Celts, I believe? How did you get the idea for that? What size pit was required? Was it worth the time spent?

dudara

fulacht fia used water, into which they'd drop stones that had been heated in a fire.

Sounds yummy. I was at a meal once in Brittanny, where they cooked a whole pig on a spit. I don't ever remember eating anything so yummy

Blub2k4

spudington16 wrote:

A fulachta fia, if my memory of history class serves me. Used by the Celts, I believe? How did you get the idea for that? What size pit was required? Was it worth the time spent?

There are better descriptions on the web than this a bit of research with google will give you the answers you seek, there are two reasons for me not giving complete details, one is the fact that I dont want to feel any responsibility in case anyone tries to emulate and has problems and two being that I am considering this as a commercial venture and no one gives away their secrets .

It was most definitely 100% the most satisfying piece of cooking I have ever done and it was 100% worth the time spent.

<edit>I got the idea because we couldn't get a spit but I wanted to maintain the wow factor and make it a speactacle.

Blub2k4

I am aware that what I did was not 100% a Fulacht Fia, that entails water as dudara pointed out, it was very similar in any case and closer to a maori Hungie or a mumu.

dudara

Blub2k4 wrote:

closer to a maori Hungie or a mumu.

exactly what I was thinking of, just didn't know what they were called

peterk19

yea the maoris in New Zealand still cook this way for weddings and special occasions its called a hangi (Not sure of spelling) they heat up lots of rocks in a pit then wrap meat and vegtables in Leaves put it in the hole fill it in and 12 hours later one of the tastiest meals ive ever had
Pete

mycroft

Blub2k4 wrote:

I am aware that what I did was not 100% a Fulacht Fia, that entails water as dudara pointed out, it was very similar in any case and closer to a maori Hungie or a mumu.

I worked on a documentary where four new agers got to eat a ham cooked in one of those celtic historical parks. the meat was wrapped in straw, rocks were thrown into a pit, with mud in it. And then the ham was put inside.

They stood around sniffing going hmmmm its smell so fantastic, I'm sorry it's meat boiled in mud. The maori dish sounds far far superior,

Blub2k4

mycroft wrote:

I worked on a documentary where four new agers got to eat a ham cooked in one of those celtic historical parks. the meat was wrapped in straw, rocks were thrown into a pit, with mud in it. And then the ham was put inside.

They stood around sniffing going hmmmm its smell so fantastic, I'm sorry it's meat boiled in mud. The maori dish sounds far far superior,

I had thought of that one but I did also think of the health and safety issues and the mud idea was not one that appealed, I preferred the drier cooking method of only adding water to the straw to have a good head of steam for more even heat distribution without the mud.

Fantastic is the word

<off-topic> Richard whitely died of pneumonia? Is that the pneumonia that is usually used as a cover for AIDS in most African countries?

mycroft

Blub2k4 wrote:

I had thought of that one but I did also think of the health and safety issues and the mud idea was not one that appealed, I preferred the drier cooking method of only adding water to the straw to have a good head of steam for more even heat distribution without the mud.

Fantastic is the word

Boiling meat just gives you grey meat and meat flavoured mud.

<off-topic> Richard whitely died of pneumonia? Is that the pneumonia that is usually used as a cover for AIDS in most African countries?

:rolleyes:
No the pneumonia that is actually pneumonia.

Alanna

As far as I know, the Fulachta Fia was an operation where they did something similar to your pit roasted lamb and used the hot rocks from the pit to heat water in a seperate pit to boil other meats. This is the origin of the way that we serve boiled ham and roasted turkey together at Christmas time!

Degsy

Its a great way to cook grub.Its ceratainly called a Hangi bythe maori and you can cook vegetables in it as well.Its ideal for roasting a load of chickens or a pig or lamb if you have one.Yoou can joint it down so its easier to handle but for authenticity the beast should be whole.A pit about four feet long and three feet deep is ideal,build up a layer of logs then alayer of large stones then more logs then more stones,light the fire and leave for about an hour.The flames should have stopped and the rocks should be "shimmering" in the heat.Lay damp straw on the rocks and lay your food on top of that,cover with more straw and something like a blanket to make sure soil doesnt get into your food.Cover the whole lot over with earth and leave for about 4 hours.The meat should fall away from the bone...mmm!

Blub2k4

Degsy wrote:

Its a great way to cook grub.Its ceratainly called a Hangi bythe maori and you can cook vegetables in it as well.Its ideal for roasting a load of chickens or a pig or lamb if you have one.Yoou can joint it down so its easier to handle but for authenticity the beast should be whole.A pit about four feet long and three feet deep is ideal,build up a layer of logs then alayer of large stones then more logs then more stones,light the fire and leave for about an hour.The flames should have stopped and the rocks should be "shimmering" in the heat.Lay damp straw on the rocks and lay your food on top of that,cover with more straw and something like a blanket to make sure soil doesnt get into your food.Cover the whole lot over with earth and leave for about 4 hours.The meat should fall away from the bone...mmm!

4 hours for a whole lamb? See this is why I stayed away from specifics, I didn't want my information to kill anyone. I would not advise people to follow these time frames and possibly discover your own.

Degsy

As long as the fire is sufficiently hot to heat the stones to the required heat 4 hours is perfectly adequate.60lbs of stones or firebricks is plenty and enough wood to fill the pit when its lit.You dont really think anyone is going to pay you to dig a hole in thier back garden now do you??

Blub2k4

Degsy wrote:

As long as the fire is sufficiently hot to heat the stones to the required heat 4 hours is perfectly adequate.60lbs of stones or firebricks is plenty and enough wood to fill the pit when its lit.You dont really think anyone is going to pay you to dig a hole in thier back garden now do you??

Giving a whole party experience with all the bells and whistles yes, most definitely.

pickarooney

Sounds delicious and given teh current state of my garde, I don't think a pit would disimprove its appearance.

Degsy

Blub2k4 wrote:

Giving a whole party experience with all the bells and whistles yes, most definitely.

I'll say one thing for you,you're nothing if not optimistic..do you have some form of certifiaction in hole-digging as well?

Blub2k4

Degsy wrote:

I'll say one thing for you,you're nothing if not optimistic..do you have some form of certifiaction in hole-digging as well?

Yer a funny man, now go away and play with the buses.

Degsy

Blub2k4 wrote:

Yer a funny man, now go away and play with the buses.

Sure thing Mr gastronomy.You might want to employ a secretary to deal with your bookings...

Blub2k4

Degsy wrote:

Sure thing Mr gastronomy.You might want to employ a secretary to deal with your bookings...

Just a few questions:

Have you ever done the procedure I described?

How many years do you have of contract catering/gastronomical experience?

Have you ever worked in a kitchen?

Have you ever worked in a restaurant?

Degsy

Blub2k4 wrote:

Just a few questions:

Have you ever done the procedure I described?
About twenty times

How many years do you have of contract catering/gastronomical experience

Ten,i'm a qualified gourmet chef

Have you ever worked in a kitchen?

In several establishments

Have you ever worked in a restaurant?

Worked in,cooked in,managed


Same questions to you,with one of my own..do you think somebody is going to pay you to dig a hole in their back garden?

Blub2k4

Fair enough.

To make it so facile as to ask if you think someone would pay to dig a hole in their back garden suggests to me that you do not have the experience you claim this is why I asked.
Any gourmet chef (master chef?) that I know took 10 years to qualify but how and ever,
I have a little over 15 years experience mostly in Germany but also in the UK and Ireland, in many different establishments from a barman to waiter for a master chef in the North Sea to working as a chef in a fish restaurant.

I ask you, do you not think that people would pay for the "digging of the hole" :rolleyes: in combination with a full outdoor party experience, marquis, service, the lot?
It would be very seasonal.

pickarooney

It's a bit like asking a barbecue caterer if he thought someone would pay him to set fire to some sticks in his garden, in fairness. People will pay for anything if they enjoy it.

Gilgamesh

@ Degsy


WHY DON'T YOU JUST SHADDAAAPP???? PLEASE

Blub2k4

@the gourmet chef:
When you did the roasts 20 times, did you do it for free?
Did someone pay you to "dig a hole"?
Or did they pay for your "experience" and "expertise"?

The butcher that did the victualling told me he only heard of one other before that had disastrous results with a lot of sick people, that wasn't one of your 4 hour jobs was it?