The oven is prepared close to where the catch has been made. A pit up to sixty centimetres deep is dug and the fire is set balancing over the hole, stones are placed on top of the fire. As the fire burns, the red-hot stones fall into the pit, along with ash and coals. The ash and coals are quickly swept out, leaving as far as possible, a clean bed of hot stones lining the pit. Meat, fish, vegetables and turtles are all cooked this way.
Sometime food is wrapped in paperbark bundles and placed straight on the stones.
Although the procedure for earth oven cooking may appear relatively straightforward, variables such as the size of the game or vegetables determine the size of the pit, the number of stones and the cooking time. In many areas these purely traditional cooking methods are improved with modern inventions. Food is sometimes wrapped in aluminium foil before being placed in the pit. In most Aboriginal communities the local store sells billies and large aluminium boilers which enable large quantities of meat and other foods to be boiled. Consequently ground ovens are not made as frequently and daily meals are now more commonly provided from the boiler.