Sierra Gorda Pit Barbacoa (Barbacoa de Hoyo)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •30 to 36 inch stone-lined earth pit
• •Dry volcanic stones or fire bricks
• •Large heatproof clay olla for the consomé
• •Clean metal grate or green hardwood crosspieces
• •Long-handled shovel and heavy tongs
• •Cast iron comal for toasting chiles and warming tortillas
• •Blender or volcanic stone molcajete for salsa borracha
• •Wide terracotta platter and small clay bowls for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Salt the lamb

   The night before cooking, rub the lamb pieces with the coarse sea salt, Mexican oregano, black pepper, smashed garlic, and sliced onions. Cover and refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours. This is not marinade for decoration. The salt needs time to reach the bone, especially in the shoulder and neck pieces.

2. 2

   Roast the pencas

   Trim the thorns from the pencas de maguey and rinse off dust or grit. Pass each penca over a clean live fire or hot comal until the green darkens in patches and the leaf bends without snapping, usually 2 to 4 minutes per side depending on thickness. The leaf should smell grassy and mineral. Banana leaf will not do this job.

   Buy pencas meant for cooking, not ornamental agave leaves sprayed in a garden. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado. They know who sells clean pencas.
3. 3

   Heat the pit

   Three hours before cooking, prepare a stone-lined pit about 30 to 36 inches deep and wide. Line it with dry volcanic stones or fire bricks, then build a strong fire with carbón de encino or mesquite until the stones are very hot and the fire has collapsed into red coals. This is the oven. Treat it with respect.

   Do not use wet river stones. They can crack violently in a fire. Use dry volcanic stones, fire bricks, or a pit already built for barbacoa.
4. 4

   Build the consomé

   In a heatproof clay olla, combine the water, soaked garbanzos, rinsed rice, toasted guajillos, quartered onion, smashed garlic, carrots, epazote, hierbabuena, and kosher salt. The rice will soften until it thickens the broth. That is expected. Leave the olla uncovered because it must catch the lamb drippings.

5. 5

   Set the olla

   Rake the coals to create a stable center and nestle the olla into the pit so it sits firmly but not on the fiercest direct fire. Set a clean metal grate or green hardwood crosspieces above the olla. Lay roasted maguey pencas over the grate with the wide ends overlapping and the tips hanging over the edge of the pit.

6. 6

   Wrap the lamb

   Arrange the salted lamb over the pencas, placing the fattier pieces above the leaner ones so the rendered lamb fat runs through the meat and into the olla. Scatter the onions and garlic from the salting bowl over the lamb. Fold the pencas tightly over the meat, then lay more pencas on top until no meat is exposed. The leaves are the seal and the seasoning.

7. 7

   Seal the hoyo

   Cover the folded pencas with clean sheet metal or a heavy comal, then cover that with damp burlap and 4 to 6 inches of earth. Pack mud around the edges if you see gaps. A leaking pit gives you tough lamb and a thin consomé. Seal it well. Así se hace y punto.

   Once sealed, leave it alone. Opening the pit to check progress is how nervous cooks ruin barbacoa.
8. 8

   Cook overnight

   Let the lamb cook undisturbed for 10 to 12 hours. Ten hours is the minimum for younger lamb and smaller pieces. Twelve hours is better for shoulder, neck, and shank. The meat is ready when it pulls away from the bone with almost no effort and the leaf has stained the surface deep olive-brown.

9. 9

   Open the pit

   Scrape away the earth carefully and lift the metal cover away from your body. Open the maguey leaves with tongs. Transfer the lamb to a wide terracotta platter and let it rest for 20 minutes before pulling it apart. Do not throw away the soft onion and garlic caught in the leaves. Fold them into the meat.

10. 10

    Finish the consomé

    Lift the clay olla from the pit with heavy gloves or tongs. Remove the spent epazote, hierbabuena stems, onion, and chiles. Taste for salt. Skim only the excess fat, not all of it. A golden lamb-fat sheen belongs on this broth. Ladle the garbanzos, rice, carrots, and consomé into small clay bowls.

11. 11

    Make salsa borracha

    Toast the chile pasilla mexicano and chile ancho on a dry comal for 20 to 30 seconds per side, just until they puff and smell deep, not burned. Toast the unpeeled garlic and onion until spotted. Soak the chiles in hot water, not boiling, for 15 minutes, then blend them with the peeled garlic, onion, pulque, sal de grano, and enough chile soaking water to make a pourable salsa. Stir in the diced white onion and crumbled queso añejo or queso fresco after blending.

    Pulque gives the salsa its sour, fermented edge. If you cannot find it, use chile soaking water with a spoonful of apple cider vinegar. That is a compromise, not the same thing.
12. 12

    Serve the barbacoa

    Pull the lamb into rough pieces by hand, leaving some chunks whole for the people who like the bone. Serve with warm hand-pressed corn tortillas, salsa borracha, diced white onion, cilantro, lime wedges, and bowls of consomé. The tortilla gets lamb and salsa. The clay bowl gets consomé. The table gets quiet for the first few bites. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.

Chef Tips

• •Maguey pencas are essential. They are not banana leaves and they are not parchment paper. If you cannot get pencas, cook another lamb dish. This one is barbacoa de hoyo because of the pit and the maguey.
• •Use bone-in lamb with shoulder, ribs, neck, and shanks. Boneless leg is tidy and wrong for this job. The bones and connective tissue give the consomé its body.
• •Do not overclean the consomé. Skim the heavy pools of fat if you must, but leave the lamb-fat shine. That fat carries the maguey and chile flavor.
• •The salsa uses chile pasilla mexicano, not chile poblano and not chile negro from a confused supermarket label. A good pasilla smells like raisins, tobacco, and dried fruit.
• •If your city will not let you dig a pit, a covered roasting pan lined with roasted pencas in a 275F oven will give you tender lamb. It will not be barbacoa de hoyo. Say the truth and cook anyway.

Advance Preparation

• •Salt the lamb and soak the garbanzos the night before. This is a two-day dish. Do not pretend otherwise.
• •The pencas can be trimmed and rinsed the afternoon before, but roast them close to cooking time so they stay flexible.
• •Salsa borracha can be blended one day ahead and refrigerated. Stir in the diced onion and cheese only when serving.
• •Leftover barbacoa keeps for three days refrigerated. Reheat it gently with a spoonful of consomé so the lamb does not dry out.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 520g)