Cooking Over Fire & Earth
Before dials and thermostats, cooks coaxed extraordinary food from fire, stone, earth and time. Discover earth ovens across the Pacific, the great Russian pech, the seafaring rations of Vikings and Age-of-Sail sailors, and ancient techniques still worth trying today.
Frequently asked questions
- How does an earth oven work?
- An earth oven — like the Pacific umu or hangi — is a pit lined with fire-heated stones. Food is wrapped, laid on the stones, covered with leaves and earth, and left to steam-roast for hours, giving a smoky, tender result no metal oven matches.
- What was the Russian pech?
- The pech was a massive masonry stove at the heart of a peasant home. It heated the house, dried grain, warmed sleepers on top and, holding its heat for hours, slow-cooked the soups, porridges and baked dishes of Russian country food.
- What did Vikings and sailors eat on long voyages?
- Voyage food was preservation at its most extreme: dried fish and meat, hard bread or biscuit, fermented and salted stores, and grain — rations chosen to survive months at sea, and ingenious for it.