How to Cook a Goat in a Pit
Astound your friends with a barbecue they will remember for a lifetime when you cook a whole goat in an underground pit. Traditionally, indigenous people around the world would use flat rocks to store heat for slow cooking, but iron has better heat retaining properties and encourages more even cooking. Many cooks, and even some governments, encourage the use of iron rebar as a replacement for cooking stones in earth ovens and cooking pits. Buy small sections of iron bar from your local home improvement store, and the fire will sanitize them. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Shovel
- Rake
- 1/2 cubic foot of gravel
- 50 sections of iron rebar, 2 foot long
- Newspaper
- Hardwood and kindling
- Aluminum foil
- Canvas tarp
- Large tub
- Whole goat, cleaned and ready to cook
- Herbs
- Spices
- Salt
- Onions
- Vegetables
- Piece of sheet metal large enough to fit the hole
Instructions
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Notify your local fire department and neighbors at least 2 days before your planned event. Get a permit for an outdoor fire, if required. Cooking in a pit requires a large fire and generates a large quantity of steam as it cooks. Giving your fire department proper notice prevents sudden excitement when they arrive ready to put an end to a dangerous fire.
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Dig a pit at least 3 feet long, 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep. Check the size of the pit to make sure the sheet metal fits inside, covering the entire inside of the pit Line the bottom of the pit with a 1-inch layer of gravel. Cover the gravel with a layer of crumpled newspaper then begin adding small kindling. Work your way up to larger branches and eventually split oak logs. Arrange your wood evenly and neatly in rows.
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Place 2-foot pieces of iron rebar across the layer of logs just below the top of the pit. Place another bar every 3/4 of an inch until you reach the far end of the pit. Arrange another two layers of wood on top of the iron bars.
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Light the fire by lighting the newspaper at the bottom. Tend the fire as needed until the larger logs are lit.
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Soak the canvas tarp in a large tub filled with water.
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Prepare your goat for cooking according to your recipe. Fill the abdominal cavity with desired herbs, halved onions, garlic and spices. Rub the outer surfaces generously with salt and any seasoning blend you desire. Wrap the goat in foil, then in the soaked tarp. Wrap vegetables in foil; carrots, potatoes and corn cook particularly well with this method.
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Allow the fire to burn down naturally, this will take several hours. Rake out the ashes from the wood, leaving live coals and the iron bars. Use extreme caution, the iron bars will burn flesh instantly. Do not touch the bars even with gloves; use a rake or shovel to rearrange the bars to roughly their original position.
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Assemble the cooking pit, laying aromatic herbs or wood chips in the center with the foil wrapped vegetables around the outside. Top with the canvas-wrapped goat.
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Cover the goat with the sheet of metal followed by several inches of sand or soil on top. Allow the pit to cook for at least 20 minutes per pound of goat. Longer cooking tenderizes the meat for a juicy meal that melts in your mouth. Cook for 6 to 8 hours for goats under 50 lb.
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Uncover the pit when cooking time is complete and check the internal temperature of the goat with a meat thermometer. The meat is done when it has reached a minimum of 145 degrees Fahrenheit. If the meat is not done, replace it in the pit and cover with the sheet metal or finish it in a 325 F oven.
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Tips & Warnings
Meat may take longer to cook when the weather is particularly cold.
References
- Photo Credit Seiya Kawamoto/Lifesize/Getty Images
