Is it possible to cook chicken by burying it underground and leaving it there for a while?

Question

I once heard this from a boyscout and am curious if this is true. If so, can someone explain what process it gets cooked? Keep in mind there are no outside heat sources (such as coal).

Answer 1

Yes, but there is a fire involved. There is an old Boy Scout recipe for this.

Answer 2

It is not possible to cook chicken in the ground without an external heat source. Chicken requires an internal temperature of at least 165F to be safely cooked. Excluding extreme circumstances, i.e. a volcanically active area, placing a chicken in a 2-foot-deep hole will not cook a chicken. The ground and the chicken will come to thermal equilibrium over the course of a few hours and since the mass of the earth is so much greater than the chicken, the chicken will become the same temperature as the surrounding dirt about 60F on an average day. Even on a beach in direct sunlight, the temperature a couple of feet down will not be anywhere near that on the surface. Why? Because sand is an excellent insulator - evidenced by the slow-cooking method employed in Hawai'i to roast a pig. Hot coals are placed in the ground and the meat and more sand is placed on top of it, trapping the heat of the coals against the meat.

Answer 3

This is quite an ambiguous question, obviously if there are say, natural heat vents nearby, perhaps because the area has increased volcanic activity, then of course the standard cooking process will work, and with the increased insulation of being encased in soil it will have an oven effect.
Geothermal energy is acheived by pumping water deep into the ground and having it return at a slightly higher temperature. This may also be considered the process used, depends how deep you bury it.
Generally, the cooking process has an effect on the structural integrity of the item being cooked, i.e. by breaking down proteins and other biological macromolecules or altering their composition.
Since this can also be achieved by ageing, freezing and other environmental effects, technically the item can still have been 'cooked'. Have you noticed how meats can go brown after prolonged periods in a deep freeze?
Tough meats, like loin and steaks are left to age for up to a month by a butcher to allow the enzymes to break down the fibrous tissues, and make them more tender and so more appetising to consume.
Proteins are denatured by severe differences in temperature, both high and low.

Answer 4

Many cultures do use heated rocks to roast meats which have been buried ... also, from the web:
Many cultures have historically fermented foods by burying them underground, producing a rotted, yet edible delicacy. The Chinese buried eggs; Islandic communities interred shark meat in the sand; Scandinavians fermented fish in the ground, along with cheese and a traditional liquor; the Scottish buried kegs of butter in peat bogs, slowly fermenting it for seven years before eating it; the Inuit people still bury whale and seagull meat. -Exploratorium.edu

Answer 5

Well, its kind of like that...I think someone was
pulling your chain. We'd build a fire, and when
it was mostly coals, put in this, but it was like
roast beef. Took aluminum foil and put in cut
up white potato, sliced carrots, and onions
and bell peppers(oww). Then wrap the meat
and potatoes and vegetables up in the foil,
push the bob(shiskabob, hello UK) down into the coals.

Hope this was compressed enough for Stukker
in room 213.


...

Answer 6

Perhaps like a pig roast? If you heat rocks and place them in a hole in the ground, wrap the chicken in foil, and cook it...?

Answer 7

So you mean that if the road workers dig the earth, they'd be roasted in a few minutes?!! WAHAHAHAHA