Hot Stone
Alright I admit it – I’m a total granite geek! Last weekend some fellow PGC employees and I were preparing our Imu and I saw something pretty cool – actually pretty hot. But first, let me explain what an Imu is. An Imu is a pit in the ground created for cooking. It is most often associated with a Luau – that is a Hawaiian Barbecue. We were cooking a pig Hawaiian style, under the ground in our Imu. The Imu was about 3′ wide x 6′ long x 3′ deep. We start with about 1/3 of a cord of hardwood (4′ x 4′x 32″) along with about 25 fieldstones 4″-8″ in diameter (which of course, are granite). We light it and wait about 2.5 hours for it to turn to hot coals (and hot stones). We took out about 5 stones and placed them in the chest cavity of the pig, and then added about 4″ of whole fresh corn stalks over the stones in the Imu. Next comes the 116 pound pig slashed, seasoned, and wrapped in chicken wire. Then comes about another 3″ of corn, wet burlap, a tarp, and finally just enough dirt to stop steam from escaping. 10 hours later…dig it up and eat it!
Anyway, in the 2.5 hours of waiting for the fire to turn to coals, and drinking a few beers, I realized that some of the stones were a blaze orange, like when you heat metal with a torch, or the burners on an electric oven set at 500 degrees. I have been working with granite countertops for almost 13 years and had no idea that you could heat a piece of granite up until it was blaze orange without it exploding, or disintegrating. I guess I never realized how incredibly well granite can withstand the heat! Of course my sometimes deviant mind made me laugh when I thought it would be funny to throw a piece of what they call “Natural Quartz” countertop next to the granite boulder and watch the plastic burn, but who would want to ruin a wonderfully tasting roasted hog!
Following are a few photos from the event:
Peace!
Chris
Posted in Granite on August 6th, 2007 by Chris | |
on August 6th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Who is the good looking guy with the safari hat?
[Reply]
on August 24th, 2007 at 8:01 am
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