Chapter 189

"Just fashion something that will hold one of the larger bean pots my mates already have and make sure there is enough contact so that heat is transferred to the pots. You might as well go ahead and make bean pots with a slightly different size specifically for these cookers. If you do no one will be tempted to use them for anything else and they will always be with the cookers."

"I see - that won't pose any problems. Is everything else satisfactory?" he asked.

"More than satisfactory - it is probably the best slow cooker I've ever seen. Can you estimate how many we will need to cook enough meat for everyone?"

"We think eight will be plenty to cook for those in your camp," he told me.

"Good. How soon can they be ready?"

"We will put them in the celebration cave within the hour," he said.

"Wonderful. It will give me plenty of time to get some hickory split and get the fires going."

"We have taken the liberty of getting the hickory wood prepared. We will put some near each cooker when we place them," he said.

"Excellent. Thank you for this."

I left the office and went back to the table to drink more coffee. A few people had already come in for breakfast and we talked about today's plans for a while. Daaggo came in a few minutes later and I could see he was anxious to eat and get over so he could get back to work on the tables.

It would be a busy day, but there was nothing wrong with it. I was hoping tonight's celebration would help me forget the last one we'd had. I also hoped it would keep me from thinking about the upcoming argument I was sure I'd soon be having with Argent.

When Daaggo left for the sawmill I went with him. When we were inside he showed me a few extra saws had been provided for them. There was a big industrial strength table saw and two really nice radial arm saws along with four electric miter-box type saws.

We didn't have any need I could foresee for cutting miters, but this type of saw was also excellent for cutting 2x4s and 2x6s to length and I assumed they had been put there for that very reason.

I soon saw I was right when Mundo came in and began cutting up pieces for the tables with one of them. I was surprised again when I saw he was using a tape rule and a carpenter's pencil to mark the lengths.

I had to ask and when I did he told me Ralph had told them where to find them and explained all about their use to him before he'd cut up the parts for the first table.

I asked him what he thought about it and he was very enthusiastic. Of course the pencil probably wasn't very hard to catch onto, but the tape was probably completely foreign to him.

He admitted it, but said it hadn't been very hard to learn. He said he was sure it would be helpful for many other things too, and it saved a lot of guesswork when he could measure what length something needed to be instead of estimating and then checking to see if it fit. He also showed me a fold up pocketknife he'd found and Ralph had told him was for sharpening the pencil.

Ralph had made Mundo's whole week with these things and I could tell he was tired of talking about them and wanted to get to using them. I got out of his way and let him at it.

The day was underway faster than I had expected. I could see Daaggo directing three different groups as they worked on separate tables already. They would have plenty to do though so I got out of there and headed for the horse cave.

Danlo was hitching a pair of Clydesdales to a sleigh and I wondered what he was up too.

"Racaato asked me if I'd take him down near the logging site this morning. He said he saw a lot of sign for megaceros the other day while he was scouting the cat for you. He wants to go and see if he can get some fresh meat for the celebration," he told me.

"It's a great idea. I think I'll go ask him if I can come along. You won't mind will you?"

"Of course not, and I'm sure Racaato will be glad for you to come," he said.

I went back to my cave and nearly bumped into Racaato as he was coming out. I asked him about the hunt and he said I was welcome to come along.

"I should tell you we don't really need the meat. I just thought it would be good to get away while so many are starting the cooking and such," he said.

"I had nearly forgotten about the cooking. I can't go because I have to get started on the new cooking. I'll leave it to you then, be sure to tell Danlo why I couldn't come."

"I will," he said, as he left.

Well shit. I had no one to blame but myself for shooting off my mouth about the cooking. It wouldn't be so bad though, and I was looking forward to checking out hickory-smoked mammoth.

In fact I might enjoy teaching a few cooking lessons. At first I'd intended to show the men how to do the grillwork, but what did I want to do that for? The men wouldn't expect to do it, and I could spend a large part of the day with most of the women in camp.

Looked like in this time and place the women were about to become the guardians of the Bar-B-Que.

When I went into the celebration cave I found all the smokers were in place along the back wall. No one else was in here yet so I went to the closest one to look it over. I was happy to discover Ralph and the guys had studied more than just the cookers. Near each of them was a nice metal table with wheels which would serve as a good place to prepare the meat to go on the grill.

The table was stocked with salt and pepper shakers, a large dispenser for aluminum foil, four different kinds of Bar-B-Que sauce, plus tongs, long handled forks, and thick cooking gloves for handling things after they were hot.

Everything was ready for a good meat smoking demo. All I needed now was some meat and an audience. I went back into my cave and to the table so I could sit down and have some coffee while I waited for my mates to receive their lesson.

Gema brought me a mug of coffee and I pulled her into my lap after she set it down.

"When will we get to see this new cooking John?" she asked.

"As soon as you are all ready. Everything is ready for the demonstration except the meat to be cooked."

"We have already brought the meat in here, all we have to do is take some with us," she said.

"Good, is everybody ready?"

"Not quite, but we will be in a few minutes," she said, then got up and went back to the kitchen to tell the others.

By the time my coffee was finished they were ready to go so I got up and we went to the celebration cave. I had the full crew with me today including Failiela, Jalieta, and even Deimeta.

"Are you ready to start cooking lessons, Deimeta?"

"I'm not so interested in the lessons as I am in seeing you cook. A man cooking will be a first for me and I'm not sure you will be able to do a good job. I guess I'm coming along to make sure the food is fit to eat after you're done with it," she said, and then laughed a little.

"You can't fool me, you're with us hoping to get the first taste."

"That isn't such a bad idea, I hope. We'll see how you do," she said.

"I'll do fine, wait and see."

They set the meat down on the table at the first cooker and then examined the setup. There were plenty of questions before we could get started and I did my best to explain everything to them. Finally I got a chance to build a fire in the firebox.

"Why does the fire go down there when the meat will be up here?" Shelalliea asked.

"The heat and the smoke rise through this hole at the top of the firebox and into the cooker. Look inside it and you'll see there is a metal plate under the cooking area so the heat only cooks indirectly.