Beans Cooked in the Ground

[Valerie]

From "The New Cookin' with Home Storage"

This is an old pioneer recipe.

Dig a hole about 18" square. Make a fire in the hole and let it burn down to hot coals. Place a pot of beans in the hole with plenty of water, in the pot, salt, pepper, and 1-2 pieces of bacon. Cover tightly. Place coals and ashes around pot and cover with dirt. Cook 6-8 hours.

* Sounds like a good non-electric alternative to the crockpot!

[Sheila]

Oh thanks Valerie were going camping in a couple of weeks going to try this.

[Granny Smith]

You can cook lots of things this way, meat, vegetables, soups, stews, even breads. Of course, you'll need to adjust the cooking times depending on what you're cooking.

[Valerie]

Sounds pretty much like the same technique used for cooking next to a fire above ground, just longer and slower.

[Granny Smith]

I've read that meat comes out very tender using this method, like a crockpot. Start it in the morning, and it's ready by suppertime.

[explorer]

A Dutch Oven with campfire coals will give the same results in shorter time.

[Valerie]

I think beans need to cook the longer time, though, to be soft and good.

[steve]

Maybe I am doing something wrong cause nobody ever showed me how to cook beans. I recently canned 24 quarts of beans & cooked them for about 5 hours with minced onions, garlic, celery, black pepper, hot sauce & salt pork. Everyone seems to like em so thats what really matters in the end.

When I finish the area around the shop I just built I am gonna have a fire pit so I can just go out into the back yard & try some stuff like the beans in the ground.

[thruhiker12]

I used to cook in the fireplace with a dutch oven. It always came out really good!