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Cooking in the Ashes
THE SIMPLEST WAY in the world to cook comes down from the earliest use of fire by man. It's done without benefit of any implement; just by heat itself. And it is a mighty handy method for sportsmen and vacationers, for they can bury their Irish potatoes or sweets deep in the ashes of an old fire that has well heated the earth and be sure they'll be ready when they come back with fish, game or bought supplies to go with the spuds.
Chestnuts, onions, acorn squash and apples keep potatoes good company. A small cross should be cut in each chestnut shell at the stem end so the nuts will not explode when heat expands them, and also to shell easier; but the skins of the other ash-roasts are not broken. Both sweet and field corn are best roasted-just pull off a few outer husks and roast but a short time.
Bananas follow an old tropical tradition when baked in their skins. They cook in short order, too, and after the ashes are dusted off they're just slit open a crack so the flesh can be sprinkled well with sugar and cinnamon and dug out with a spoon before the contents get cold; for a cold cooked banana is as terrible as a cold potato.
This is a method rather than a measured recipe, and the whole of it depends on the state of the fire: you want a deep bed of hot ash and buried embers over ground that has been heated for at least an hour, not a fire still burning.
- Ashes, not flamesLet the fire burn down until the flames are gone and the ash is grey with embers beneath. Food set into live flame chars before the centre warms, which is the usual reason ash-roasting gets a bad name.
- Burn clean fuel onlyBury food only in ash from untreated hardwood or driftwood-free deadfall. Ash from painted or pressure-treated lumber, charcoal briquettes with binders, or a fire that has had rubbish in it will taint the food and can leave metal or chemical residue on the skins.
- Timings the original leaves outThe original gives none, so these are rough guides only: a medium baking potato perhaps 45 to 60 minutes buried in hot ash, sweet potatoes somewhat less, onions in their skins about the same as a potato, apples less again, chestnuts and bananas quickest of all. Note that the original leaves the skins unbroken, so the squash goes in whole and will take longer than a halved one. Test with a skewer rather than trusting the clock, since ash beds vary enormously.
- Corn wants a short roastThe original says only "roast but a short time" and gives no figure; a few minutes, turning once, is the sense of it, and over-long roasting dries and toughens the kernels. Leave two or three layers of husk on. The book names both sweet and field corn; modern sweet corn is tender, so err short.
- Score the chestnutsThe cross cut in the shell is not optional. An unscored chestnut traps steam and bursts, throwing hot ash. Cut through the shell and the brown inner skin at the stem end, as the original directs.
- Peel, do not eat, the skinsPotato and squash skins that have sat in ash will carry grit and ash alkali. Dust them off well and eat the flesh from inside the skin rather than the jacket itself.
- Serve straight off the fireThe note about a cold cooked banana is sound advice for all of it. Ash-roasted food has no fat or liquid to hold heat and goes leaden within minutes, so open and eat as it comes out.
- Retrieving the foodLong tongs and a heavy glove, not a stick. The buried embers under a well-heated ash bed stay hot enough to burn for hours after the surface looks dead.