How to Dig a Barbecue Pit

If you want to make some great barbecue, skip the expensive outdoor grills and bulky smokers. Cook your meat the way that people all over the world have been doing it since prehistoric times. Just get a shovel and dig a pit.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Shovel
• Wood chips or charcoal
• Grill, bricks or pan
• Cover
• Water source

1. Dig a pit in the ground. For a small family barbecue, it should be about 3 feet on each side and 3-feet deep. If you're having people over, you'll need a wider pit, but not a deeper one. Making it deeper makes the pit more difficult--and dangerous--to work with.

2. Find something to cover the pit. A sheet of plywood or a metal plate works well, and may already be sitting around in the garage or back yard.

3. Fill the pit with wood chips or charcoal and start the fire. It will take at least a couple of hours to get a good bed of coals, adding more fuel as it burns down, until you have a depth of at least 2 feet.

4. Spread the coals evenly and put something on top to hold the meat. You can use branches of green wood arranged in a lattice pattern, fire bricks, a metal pan or a grill.

5. Wrap your meat in unwaxed butcher paper and then in wet newspaper. Set it inside the pit. Cover the meat and roast it for 16 to 20 hours.

6. Uncover the pit, take out the meat, unwrap it and serve.

Tips & Warnings

• If you don't have a sheet of plywood or other cover handy, buying a cover at a lumber or hardware store will only cost a few dollars.
• In general, the fattier the cut of meat you barbecue, the happier you are going to be with the result.
• For a smoky flavor, add some wet wood chips to the top of the coals before adding the meat.
• Don't allow the meat to come into direct contact with the coals.
• Monitor your fire closely, using water if needed to control the fire. Take care that your fire doesn't throw off sparks that might ignite objects near the pit. Clear the area, keep the fire under control, and wet the grass around the pit to keep it from burning.
• Carefully supervise any children (or anyone who might be a bit unsteady on their feet) who are around when you are building the fire in the barbecue pit or after you open it to remove the cooked meat. A party can become a tragedy very quickly if someone falls into the pit.

Resources

• Visit BBQ Recipe Secrets for more advice on barbecuing.

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