Method

1. SITE:

The selection of the site will depend on -
a) Access to water for soaking bags and cloths to create steam.

b) Tillage of soil for ease of digging the pit.
Arrange to dig your hole in a piece of wasteland rather than in somebody's pride and joy lawn.  If the hole is to be dug in a lawn, remove the top layer of grass and put it back afterwards.

c) Wind direction which could blow over the stack or endanger buildings. Keep a watchful eye on your fire and make sure it is well away from buildings, trees or anything that which may catch a flying spark. Make sure it is at least 3 metres away from the nearest object and nowhere near any overhead obstructions.

d) Check with your Local Council/Borough if you need special permits to light fires etc PRIOR to doing your hangi and with plenty of notice. 

2. MATERIALS :

• The preparation of the food is the same as preparing food to be cooked on an electric stove. The food should be prepared and put in containers that should be placed within easy reach of the hangi before the pit is cleaned out.
• Sides of meat, (mutton, beef, lamb, pork), poultry (chicken wrapped in foil, duck, turkey etc), potatoes (2 per person), kumara, pumpkin (1-2 each), taro, salt pepper, carrots, kamokamo (marrow), chokos, onions, butternut and cabbage can all be cooked in the hangi.

• The number of stones necessary will depend on the type of stone and size. For up to a party of 75 persons, you will need sufficient to fill a hole approximately 0.5 metres deep. Tapering from approximately 1 metre in diameter at the bottom (see below "making the hole").  The stones must be thoroughly dried out before use.

Newspaper and Kindling

Food Baskets.  Depending on what you serve and how many people you want to feed, you will probably need about three food baskets or containers - one large basket for meat, one smaller basket for kumaras and potatoes and another for other vegetables.  DON'T PUT ALL YOUR VEGETABLES IN ONE BASKET.

• You can make the baskets from small mesh chicken netting by cutting a square and folding the corners up. Remember to allow for good sides when you are working out the size of the baskets.  Good size baskets are one 30 cm square and two smaller ones 22 cm square. (Alternatively, bakers wire-bread baskets can be used if obtainable).
• If the food is to be served from a kitchen, the potatoes and kumaras are placed in one large basket.  If the food is to be served from tables outside, several smaller baskets depending on the number of tables, will prove more convenient.
• Local variations can range from elaborately welded perforated steel containers to mutton cloths.
  
• For special dishes where the use of wines or other "trimmings" are intended, the food can be wrapped in foil.  Steam puddings and stuffings can be put into mutton cloths.

Covering:

• A much heavier covering (sack) is needed to keep the soil from getting into the food once the food has been put on the heated rocks.  You will need 3-5 pieces of sacking for this; to lay over the food and down the baskets sides, and one for each end of the holes.
• Before this heavy cover goes over the food, it must be thoroughly soaked - very important! (The Maori way of cooking uses steam while most Pacific Islanders raod the food dry.)

Other Gear:

Three long handled shovels, file, sharpening stone, mutton cloth, pitchforks, buckets, axe, saw, hatchet, carving boards, cleaver, knives, forks, serving plates, newsprint (to lay prepared vegetables on while waiting for the fire to burn down), aluminium foil, aprons, 6-10 tea towels, washhand basin, soap, towels, fly spreay, trestle table (if serving outside), wire cutters, 9-12 sugar bags or sacks, hose pipe.

Timetable:

Here is a suggested timetable for cooking times: 

For numbers of people above these, it is preferable to use two hangi holes, one for meat and one for vegetables, because the vegetables cook more quickly.  Allow two hours for the vegetables, two and a half hours for the meat.  Otherwise use one larger hole and ensure you have sufficient rocks/irons and wood.

Preparation:

• Hangi takes a long time to prepare, so do everything possible the day before. Prepare the meat and vegetables the night before or early morning, place wood and stones by the site, make the baskets.
• When all preparation is done, dig the hole.  The size of the hole depends on the size of the food basket(s).
• Put the largest basket on the ground and mark out the ground around the basket, leaving at least four inches of clearance around the outside edges of the basket.
• The depth of the pit is also determined by the number of stones used.  It should only be as deep as is necessary to accommodate the stones and yet leave them slightly more than flush with the earth's surface.  If the pit is too deep, the soil from the side will taint the food.  If the pit is too shallow, more soil than is necessary will be needed to cover the food. 

• You don't need a very deep hole either - cooking is just as quick and efficient if a hangi bin is used.  This is a large round bottomless cylinder (it can part of a metal or wooden washing machine tub) .75m in diameter and about .6m deep, with a close fitting, deep lid to retain the heat and cover the part above ground.  This hole must also be well covered with wet sacks, soil and turf.
• Crumple sheets of newspaper one at a time and put them in the hole.  Save one double piece and roll it up like a wick. Put it in the hole near one edge (you will need this to light the paper after you have put in the the wood and rocks).  Put the kindling in, then start building a pyre by putting the bigger wood on. After the wood reaches ground level, it must be placed in a special way.  The pyre should be built over the pit by placing alternate layers of wood at right angles to the layer below it.  Lay the pieces of wood side by side across the top of the hole, leaving a half-inch gap between each piece until the hole is covered. On top of this layer put another row, laying it in the opposite direction.  As the pyre is being erected, the stones should be placed in three or four layers at regular intervals throughout it in a pyramid shape.  Build the fire very solidly.  It has to burn for an hour or so without being replenished and must have plenty of body.
• Light the newspaper wick. Keep a constant eye on your fire.
• The rocks will begin to change colour when they are hot. (the volcanic rock will go nearly white.  Before long the wood will burn down and the heated rocks fall into the hole. As the pyre burns down, replenish it after the first hour with more wood and return any displaced stones to it. (don't forget the fire should burn for two to three hours in total).
• Now is the time to fill the food baskets arranging the bottom layer carefully. (If you seal the meat this option is available below).  Meat should be laid at the bottom of the largest basket with poultry on top, season by sprinkling salt over the food.  Place the smaller baskets filled with the vegetables (potatoe and kumara on the bottom of the smaller baskets, pumpkin, kamokamo on top or in another basket and a layer of cabbage).  Place the steamed pudding and stuffing individually wrapped up in muslin cloth on top of the veges or inside the smaller baskets, cover with the white cotton cloth. Put the food baskets near the hole with the wet sacking near the hole.
• After 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 hours the pit should be covered in ashes and stones as the fire has burnt through.  At this stage clean the pit.  If the pit is not cleaned properly, the ash will spread through the hangi when the water is applied to create steam.  (Few people like the smokey taste of meat cooked with the embers left in the hole). Remove all the unburnt pieces of wood, raking the hot rocks to one side of the hangi hole with a long handled shovel. 
  
• Because of the heat, some workers at this stage protect their head and shoulders with wet towels and gum boots stuffed with cabbage leaves!  (At this stage also the hangi-bin is placed over the stones and into the hole.)
• Make a flat bed out of the rocks and throw about two handfuls of cold water on the rocks. The jet of steam will carry the ash away. The stones should be left laying on the embers.
  

• SEAL MEAT OPTION:  Place the baskets of food onto the hot rocks and throw about two handfuls of cold water on the rocks.  The jet of steam will carry the ash away.  The stones should then be left laying on the embers.  Using a pitchfork, for the heat is intense, place the raw meat on the stones to singe, as each piece "browns" it is put on a tray until all the meat has been treated in the same way. THIS SHOULD BE DONE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE TO CONSERVE THE HEAT.
• When this is completed, a wire mesh, sufficient to cover the pit is laid over the stones.  The mesh is covered with cabbage leaves and the partly cooked meat is placed over the leaves.  Make sure the the white cotton covering the food is wet. Over the steam and food, place layers of wet mutton cloth or an old table cloth to keep the steam in.
  
• It is essential to start from the base of the food pile and spread the cloth to ensure the soil does not come into contact with the food. The cloth must cover all the food in the hangi.  A layer of wet sacks are used to cover the cloth.  Again the sacks should be thoroughly soaked and again the covering should begin at the bottom of the food pile, the sacks being put over, one piece each end and one in the centre, in that order. Throughout the covering process, water should be sprinkled to create steam. MOVE FAST. 

• The sacks must not have contained chemicals!  The soil is then spread over the sacks forming a dome shaped mound. Begin, again from the bottom and build towards the top. Watch for any steam escaping and cover the cracks.
  
• THE SUCCESS OF THE HANGI DEPENDS UPON THE SPEED IN WHICH THE STEPS CAN BE CARRIED OUT.
• It should take about 15 - 20 minutes and then you can take a well deserved liquid refreshment.
  
• Leave the food for 2- 3 hours before digging it out to serve.  Peel the soil off the hangi from the top to the bottom and do like wise with the sacks and cloths.
  
• All eyes peer hungrily at the food as the smell of cooked food rises in the evening air. Is it cooked?.  It is. I t can rarely be overcooked.  Let the hangi begin.

OVEN HANGI