How to Make a Bean Hole

[Guest guest]

How to make a Bean Hole

 

1. Dig a hole a foot wider and a foot deeper than the covered pot or

Dutch oven that you plan to use.

2. Line the hole with non-exploding stones. Then lay a platform of dry

logs across the hole and build a large fire on top, starting with a

Basic A or Teepee. As the fire burns down, the coals will drop in the

hole.

3. Keep the fire burning 1 to 2 hours by adding kindling and fuel

until the stones are very hot and there is a bed of glowing coals in

the bottom of the hole.

4. When the coals and the food are ready, rake or shovel half of the

coals aside.

5. Set the tightly-covered pot in the hole and pack the remaining

coals around and over the pot. Keep hot stones from touching the pot

or they will burn the food inside.

6. Cover the hole with damp burlap or heavy canvas and then with a

layer of earth so seam and heat cannot escape. It is the steam that

helps to tenderize (or cook) the food.

7. Mark the spot with rocks.

8. Dig out the pot after the necessary cooking time (4 to 6 hours) has

passed and open carefully to avoid getting dirt in the pot.

 

If you want beans for lunch or oatmeal for breakfast, you can enjoy

the fire as a fine campfire the evening before. If it's a dinner menu

you're planning, you would start on the fire at breakfast time, having

dug the hole and gathered the wood the day before.