eating geology How to cook a Maori Hangi What to do: 1. Dig pit or Hangi. 2. Fill with branches and large, flat stones. 3. Set fire to wood. 4. Collect heated stones and line hangi.   5. Wrap the food in soaking calico (and a banana leaf if you can find one!) and close off the bundle of food with chicken wire or sturdy rope. You can use pork, chicken, kumara (sweet potato) pumpkin, cabbage, whatever you like really! 6. The Hangi cooking method works by pressure steaming as well as just cooking with the heat retained in the rocks, so throw some water in (careful of the instant steam!) before you carefully lower the food in. 7. Cover food with large leaves, more damp sacking or similar and shovel earth over the lot to keep the heat and steam in. Chill out for the afternoon - play football, sunbathe etc then break open the Hangi and tuck in. Knives and forks optional. More! Volcanic rocks are the best as they are porous and have air pockets trapped inside them which allow the rocks to heat up to great temperatures.. You can see a step by step guide to a great Aussie Hangi outback afternoon on this 4 Wheel Drive site http://www.pps.net.au/skips4x4/trippics/ xmas_hangi2001/. They didn't have rocks here but substituted iron railway tracks. Looks like a cool way to spend a day mate! You will also be able to search for the term "Pit Cooking" if you want to look up more about this ancient art on the web. One site suggests only using veggies that can't be over cooked (?) and that they should go in at the same time as the meat element, but on top with a layer of insulation between them and the meat, so they are a little removed form the full blast of heat. << Go Back