8/13/2002: Cooking with lava
 

http://cellar.org/2002/lavacook.jpg

Some folks at the Dolphin Bay Hotel, which is on a Hawaiian island right next to Mt. Kilauea, have come up with a unique new way to cook... with molten lava. Here they have taken a bit of 2000-degree F rock, and have placed a game hen wrapped in leaves on it...

http://cellar.org/2002/lavacook2.jpg

...and covered it all with a second piece of 2000-degree lava.

After 45 minutes the lava has dropped to 450 and has hardened; they bust it open with a shovel and eat the cooked meat inside.

I believe that it works and all, but I would rather not have to wash volcanic dust off my entree.

http://members.bellatlantic.net/~vze2dxch/spiffy.gif !

I can't wait for people to try this in their home kitchens!

Cooking with Java
 

And here I thought this was another one of those <a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/2/19442.html" target=_new>"Run Java on your toaster"</a> articles.

So how does a game hen cooked for 45 min, starting at 2000 deg F remain unlava? It must be a mighty leaf wrap.

Not to mention the Mighty Potholders for to carry the second piece of lava around.

I suspect the leaves are wet and the game hen is actually being steamed, at least at first. Perhaps it only browns on the outside when the leaves have charred and can no longer protect it.
I have a kiln that heats to 2000 degrees and could try this with hot rocks, but I'm not going to for fear of harming the kiln.

Game hen?
 

Perhaps the game hens are very tough?

Cyborg avians that consume asbestos chips?

Water does have a high thermal mass compared to most things but still, that's mighty hot!

Enough of this speculating, I've started a fund to send me there in order to answer all our questions. Contact me for information on how to donate...this is science folks!!