There are actually three types of traditional Irekei 'oven', or hirino. The one shown here is used for grilling and smoking meats (and, in some coastal areas, fish) and making jerki. A second, more dome-shaped and enclosed type is used for baking breads; the third type can be sealed almost air-tight around an extremely hot fire and is used for firing pottery-- in other words, a kiln. Where there is only one of the first two kinds, the are used interchangably with some ingenuity on the part of the cook.

The wood shown burning here is a precious and scarce resource, and probably represents the foraged contributions of every family permanently resident in Khar Th'Sekt. Soon the wrought-iron grill will be crowded with portions of meat and root vegetables that require cooking, side-by-side in their palm leaf wrappings, each marked with a family's name in hieratic script, and with covered pots.