West Cork chef plans unique pit roast

It’s a far cry from stainless steel and hi-tech kitchen gadgetry. One West Cork restaurant chef is to dig a large pit, line it with stone, build a blazing bonfire and cook a bullock.

The unique pit roast, in which half a Black Angus bullock will be butchered, wrapped in damp hessian, and roasted for up to 15 hours underground in a 2m-deep hole lined with stone slabs and covered by clay, is the centrepiece of a new festival.

Later this month, the first ever West Cork Angus Beef Festival will be celebrated in Bandon, and the pit roast — an underground cooking method whose roots stretch back to the Bronze Age — will be the centrepiece.

This is the most eye-catching of the events during the Chapel Steps Restaurant’s inaugural festival, which celebrates Irish Black Angus Beef and runs from Wednesday, June 25, to the following Sunday.

First, the hole, measuring 2m by 1m, will be dug at a secret location in the town, and lined with stone.

On Saturday night, 32-year-old restaurant head chef Kevin O’Regan and three helpers will gather to light a bonfire which will be allowed to burn down until the coals are white-hot.

“We’ll be starting it on the Saturday night around 9pm or 10pm,” says Kevin.

“We should be able to serve up to 200 people, but it will be a case of first come, first served,” he says. who says he’s a big fan of Black Angus, which he believes is one of the best types of beef in the world. Funds will be raised during the week for the Deirdre O’Reilly Trust Fund, which aims to raise money for the treatment of the mother of two, who recently suffered a stroke.

lchapelsteps.ie