Polynesian Style Hip of Beef [General]

2015 Jun 25
One of the more exciting things we've cooked at Big Strange Brew ... that lads in New Brunswick have been experimenting with this for a couple of years now and this one turned out perfectly.

We buried it for 18 hours.

Forum - BSNBB- Weekend Forgy




2015 Jun 27
How is it done? What are the important points in the process?

2015 Jun 27
Treat your beef the way you want - we poked holes all over and inserted garlic cloves, then rubbed it all in artisanal mustard. Cover it in several layers of heavy duty alu foil, then wrap it in a couple of layers of burlap. Soak the burlap before dropping it in.

You need to burn a fire all day to get your coals - notice the massive bed of coals. Ideally you want to line your pit with volcanic rocks if you can, or otherwise big riverbed rocks. Our pit was not ideal in that regard. But the fact that it was sand I think helped as that holds the heat well too. We had some gravel in there as well. Not ideal but worked well.

You want most of your coals underneath but also try to bury it in them. Do that as quickly as possible so as not to dry out and burn the burlap. Then cover in a sheet of metal and bury it well maybe 30 cm on top.

And standard food safety - you'll notice we checked it with a meat thermometer afterwards.

2015 Jun 27
Oh and outside the burlap it is wrapped in wire to hold it all together, and there are loops in the wire to poke the metal bar / shovel through to carry it and get it in and out of the pit.