South Sea Islander and Pacific Northwest Earth Ovens.

[hzenk at PDX.EDU]

While there may be variations in the Northwest/Plateau earth-oven, the way I've
always heard the camas oven described:  dig a pit; build a fire nearby; heat
rocks in the fire till glowing, then (using stick tongs) lay the hot rocks in
the bottom of the pit; lay leaves over the rocks, then a layer of camas roots,
then another layer of leaves, then dirt over the top.  The camas needs two or
three days to get properly cooked (unproperly cooked camas tastes very starchy;
properly cooked is sweet to the taste).  I am told that women at Warm Springs
have their own recipes regarding which leaves to put in:  apparently the leaves
impart flavor.  Some accounts also mention building a fire on top of the pit
while the camas is cooking (maybe it gets done faster that way).

Colin's remarks have forced me to take another look at that word p'i7nEs (also:
munk-p'i7nEs; other speakers say p'ins) recorded by Jacobs as 'bake'.  We have
it in our dictionary as 'to bake in ashes; to bake'.  Maybe those two meanings
should be distinguished as sense 1) and sense 2), as baking in ashes does not
sound like the same thing as baking in a pit-oven (or other oven).  The Demers
1871 dictionary has ppens 'to cook under the ashes' (pp occurs rarely in
Demers; when it does, it corresponds to ejective p' in other sources).  Perhaps
others on the list will have knowledge to add to the above.  Henry

Quoting Colin Bruce <cbruce at SMARTLINE.COM.AU>:

> South Sea Islanders have a beautiful way of cooking they call "umu."  Rocks
> are heated in a fire
> pit.  The burned wood is removed and food is placed on banana leaves covered
> with leaves and then
> earth.  It tastes like it has been smoked and steamed at the same time.  I
> understand that this
> cooking style was practiced in the Pacific Northwest.
> My CJ question is:  Is that the "pinEs" style of cooking found in Jacob's
> transcriptions and is
> there anyone who still enjoys cooking this way in the Pacific Northwest? It's
> delicious but I've
> never seen or heard of it still being done in Canada or the US.
>