Barro Especial..

This recipe seems to be the best we’ve found to create a layer of special mud (‘barro especial’) inside the combustion chamber of the cookstove.  It takes about 8 days to dry solid but after which the user of the cocina has a great surface to burn whatever size fire they’d like.  Lasts quite awhile as well, since using this for over a year in our area we have yet to run into problems.  Being that there’s no trade secrets here in Peru, I present to you the secret recipe.

1. 1/2 large bucket (‘Cil’ or Oil bucket, 20L) of smooth clay soil (‘Greda’).. make sure it’s smooth and kneaded and you remove by hand all rocks.

Here’s a good spot along the trail that you can find some ‘greda’ or clay.

Right where the cows have been stomping and mashing up.

You’ll find smooth, pasty like soil that’s a perfect base for the special mud.

Remove all small rocks by hand and knead until a uniform consistency.

2. 1/2 large bucket of fresh cow poop, or better yet, older cow poop that’s been humid or sitting in water for at least a couple weeks (mix into the smooth soil).

Yup, that’s the real deal. Fresh from the source and into the mix.

Mix together well by hand.

3. 1/2 large bucket of sand, make sure to sieve to remove any large chunks or rocks.

Yup, sand.

4. 1/3 large bucket of ash, from their regular stove; this you also want to sieve because they’re often be nails from the wood or large chunks of ‘carbon’ or charcoal chunks.

Pure ash is hard to come by, ditch the carbon chunks and metal pieces.

5. 4 tops of chancaca , make sure to melt this ahead of time with 1L of water to have a ‘miel’ or honey or liquid to pour into the mix hot (keep mixing by hand to have a smooth uniform paste).

In the pot, ready to cook with water.

Melted until all chucks are melted.

Pour it in hot.

Mix it in, will warm things up and produce a sweet aroma.

6. 1kg (or 1L, or 1/4 of a small bucket) of wood glue, you can often find this ‘cola’ for about 20 soles a bucket and this little amount is enough for one cocina.

Dump in just a bit, 1/4 of small pale is all you need.

7. 1/3 large bucket of clippings or sawdust from a chainsaw, this is important that it’s the thick cuttings and NOT sawdust.  These clippings are to substitute for the hay or ‘paja’ and will spread out in the mix easier then anything else.

Clippings from a chainsaw. Nice and thick.

Several handfuls should do it. Enough to see the clippings in the mix.

Once all prepped, toss this on the inside of the cocina anywhere heat will be exposed and save a bit of the excess to give to the family.

Make a smooth, thick layer over the bricks on the base, and along the inside walls.

Wet, but will dry within the week and family will be cooking in no time.

While drying the inside of the cocina will start to split a little bit and the family can use the excess to patch or smooth out the small cracks.  As mentioned, in 8 days it should be dry and solid enough to fire up and start enjoying the cocina mejorada.