ELI5. How does those undeground turkish barbecues work? Wont the lack of oxygen put out the fire?

Question

I was watching this Burak Ozdemir gif and he hermetically closed the top of the pit, how the fuck does this work?

In: Physics

Answer 1

The fire heats up the pit walls, which are typically made of brick or stone, and then the heat stored in the bricks/stone cooks the meat with a relatively even temperature. When they close the pit, the fire WILL go out due to lack of oxygen, but the heat accumulated in the bricks and the coal embers will then dissipate slowly into the meat, cooking it with an even temperature.

Dry dirt (what the pit is dug into) is a good insulator and will keep the heat in, and bricks / stones have a relatively high heat capacity so they can absorb and hold quite a bit of heat, and release it slowly over time.

EDIT: Same principle as a [terracotta pizza oven](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0053/2486/5639/products/Pizzaioli_Built_in_400x.png?v=1555424786).