Earth oven

Earth ovens are pits where food using heated stones in the fire to be cooked. They allowed gentle, moist cooking before the invention of pottery - the preparation of food is among the world after grilling and roasting in an earth oven of the oldest cooking techniques and is regionally practiced today, for example, in New Guinea, New Zealand and North African Bedouins in the Andes in the form of Watia.

Cooking in open soil pits observed George Catlin in the 19th century at the North American Assiniboinen:

A slightly different, closed method in which the food is steamed or stewed rather than boiled, Axel Steenberg described in the 1970s in New Guinea:

Even larger animals have been prepared in whole or wrapped portions into large sheets and placed between the hot stones, a technique which is also known from other parts of the world.

The special importance of cooking in an earth oven and related techniques is that it allowed for the first time, various dry and wet ingredients and spices to cook together and thereby create new flavor combinations. Similar modern method are the preparation of soups and stews, casseroles and stews, and especially cooking in aluminum foil and in the Roman pot.

Earth ovens are today as a simple ovens ( Tannur ) is used: given a cylindrical shaft is dug in the ground, lined with mud or clay, and kindled a fire on the ground. If it goes out, flat breads are baked on the walls.