Ox Roast

The process begins with 5,000 pounds of Round Roast. On Sunday morning, these roasts are unwrapped and seasoned with “Rudy’s Secret Recipe” in the high school cafeteria kitchen. They are then rewrapped in heavy foil and loaded onto a refrigerated truck for delivery to the Pit Area. Simultaneously, Buckeye Septic digs a 140-foot-long, 4-foot-wide, and 4-foot-deep pit. Nearby, 30 tons of slab wood are prepared to be loaded into the pit for burning, creating a bed of coals for cooking. At 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, the pit is officially lit. The wood burns for approximately two hours before volunteers add more wood to continue burning for another two hours. Around 9:30 p.m., additional wood is added to create a bed of coals about two feet deep. By 11:30 p.m., large wood chunks are removed, and the remaining coals are leveled with heavy-duty rakes. The coals are then covered with a thin layer of sand—30 tons of it. Next, the seasoned roasts are placed directly on the sand in the pit. To create an oven-like environment, the pit is covered with fence posts and sheet metal, which are further insulated with additional sand. Finally, a tarp is placed over the sheet metal and secured with more sand around the edges. This entire process, completed by volunteers using hand shovels, takes about two hours. The meat cooks overnight for approximately 12 hours until it is checked for doneness around 11:30 a.m. on Monday. Once approved by the Madison County Health Department, the roasts are removed from the pit and taken to the prep tent. Here, they are opened, drained of juice, any excess fat is trimmed, and then they are sliced by six slicers. The slices are then transferred to the sandwich-making area, where they are assembled into large sandwiches and served to the public