Kiwi could u give me some advice please ?

How do i cook a hangi ?
Many times as a kid we would have them but i never seen how they do it because it was always real early in the morning at my uncles farm.Say for about 6 - 10 people like how big should the hole be and what rocks or coals are best to use.All i remember really are alot of cabbagas lol.Im craving some food cooked that way and i cant contact my dad to ask him how to do it hes a hard man to track down.If you could give me a few pointers it would be great so i can start digging lol or anyone i thought kiwi might know thats all.It takes like 10 hours hey ?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangi

here is a generic link to give some info. Im not sure if its exactly what you are looking for or not but I had 0.16 seconds to kill so I googled it.
:)

http://www.maorifood.com/hangi.htm
here is another one

Thanks that second one was helpful

Yea once I actually read the various links from the first link I saw that it wasnt a very practicle description. I started reading around and found the second one and decided to do that myself . Seems like a great way to cook the food and a cultural lesson at the same time. A great dinner party idea! Hmmmm time to start looking for an occasion.

Jacquelyne,

cooking that stuff will give you B/O

LOL

:D Its a very traditional meal with my hubbys family cos they all maori (native NZer). To start with you need to get some good wood, not treated or anything like that, we just Ti Tree over here. You need enuf wood to burn a good outside fire for about 3 hours. Next you will need either steels or rocks, with rocks it is hard to find the ones that don't explode in the fire, so we use steels off a old train track or another good one is the old teeth off a excuvators bucket. It is fire burn time of 3 hours then cook in ground for another 3. You will need a steel basket for the food to be in when it goes in the ground, and 2 old white sheets, and bout 4 of those brown feed saks that grain merchants use.......bet now you think......"shit that alot to do",lol. I will continue in a mo, just need a smoke.

:D I just had a quick look at that link and it is all pretty much what i trying to tell you. BTW....putting a hungi down is the man job. The hole needs to be a bit digger than the basket with the food in, and about twince in the deepth. Once you heat the steels or stones and you drag them into the hole, they need to have a quick dust off with a wet sheet or large rag, the last thing you want is for too much ash to go into the hole or your food will taste YUK. BTW....line the food basket with tin foil so the food not fall out. The food basket goes directly on top of the hot steels, then a wet sheet, over the food , then the saks, then the soil. This needs to be done as fast as poss cos you need the steam to cook the food. Someone needs to stay near the hole while it is covered cos you will get lil leaks of steam that need more soil patted down onto it
:D

i actually had hangi for lunch on saturday wasn't the most nicest ive ever had but still its allways good to have a hangi

Thankyou kiwi i knew you could help.Im starving and tomorrow or friday im diggin theres alot of preperation.We got good hardwood here so thats fine ti tree too.Lucky for me the fella is a boilermaker so we can get plenty of metal.I got the metal baskets You see kiwi i will dig it all and get the food and fire ready and put it in and let the men sit around and drink and watch for leaks lol.My partner has no clue he said its too hard so i will show the turd and once its in he will take over and make out he did the whole thing lol.I love food cooked that way its tasty but yea garden knowm it does smell like bo lol.

:D My hubby just read your post reply and he is laughing away here to himself. I hope it all goes well and be sure to let us know how it turned out. With a women on the job I'm sure everything will be kae te pai.....xxxx :D

I will kiwi i just soaked the ground the soils a bit hard and i got a cheap ass shovel lol.I might soak it once more then get digging.

Ok i have dug fkn hard work.Uthink it looks alright ? I cant get railway steel but i got some other stuff that fits in that hole perfect and its solid steel very heavy.Theres gonna be another basket on the top also but it wont reach quite the top of the hole.Should i go deeper or does it look deep enough once the dirt and stuff goes on i am thinking just a bit deeper because some of the room at the bottom will be taken up by steel and wood.Actually i have no clue it better work lol.I hope i dont cause a bushfire lol its pretty close to some big trees.Yea i got the hubby out there diggin too he felt sorry for me lol i think he only helped so i dont go into labour yet.

I seen some people looking down from the big hill ot top of my yard and i hope they dont think its a burial plot or something lol (the kids would fit in nicely).lol