CHICKEN IN A HOLE

whole chicken, cleaned and gutted
chicken spices - your favorite
garlic, onion - as you like
cabbage leaves (optional)
cheesecloth (optional)
heavy duty aluminum foil

Wipe the chicken. Push cloves of garlic (we've used up to 20 per chicken) between the skin and the flesh of the chicken. Stuff an onion into the cavity of the chicken. (We don't like stuffing, so we use an onion - but stuffing is quite acceptable.) Sprinkle your favorite chicken spices inside and outside the chicken. Wrap cabbage leaves around the chicken. This is optional - they help prevent burning of the chicken skin, if we forget about the meal. If you want the chicken skin to remove easily after cooking, cheesecloth wrapped around the chicken will do that. It also will help prevent the burning to a crisp of a forgotten chicken. Wrap two or three layers of aluminum foil around the chicken and freeze it for later use at the campsite.
At the campsite: Take out the chicken to thaw. Meanwhile, prepare the cooking hole. Dig a hole about a meter deep and about a half meter square for one chicken. If you are cooking more than one chicken at a time, then make a proportionally bigger hole. Line the walls of the hole with wood. Put hot coals in the bottom of the hole, or make a fire in the bottom of the hole. The wood along the walls should burn down to coals, leaving hot walls and a pile of hot coals at the bottom of the hole. Sprinkle dry sand lightly over the coals at the bottom of the hole. Put in the chicken(s). Sprinkle dry sand and hot coals around the chicken. These may come from the pile of coals at the bottom of the hole or from a fire built adjacent to the hole. Cover the chicken with a light layer of dry sand. Put hot coals on top of the chicken. Put dry sand on top of these hot coals. Fill in the hole. Put a marker to indicate where the hole is (sometimes it gets lost). Go away for a game drive or other activity for about 3 - 4 hours. When you come back, find the hole, dig up the chicken, and eat it.

Serves 4.

country : Botswana

course : poultry dish

source : Atham Z [IRE_tag]