The lack of a metal top may have affected your cook, the metal would act as another thermal mass and radiate heat back in to the pit to give you a better cook. A stone top like a paving slab would maybe give you a similar result to metal. Great video though, love the dedication to trying out the traditional methods.

@luisguerrero86

5 ай бұрын

That and he didn't burn the fire for long enough. I make this all the time I have a pit set up in my backyard. When I was taught how to cook this they burned the fire for at last 4hrs preferably 6hrs. Especially with a new hole. The most important thing is to get as much of the moisture out of the ground and also heat the ground so it stay hot throughout the cook. It takes a lot of wood and patience.

@xVictorDavidx

5 ай бұрын

Totally agree, metal would have been a much better heat maintainer versus wood. And the fact that it rained made the situation worse since the wood absorbs moisture.

@N0FPV

4 ай бұрын

Wood insulates better than metal. Depending on the ambient temp mental could have cooled things off faster by transferring more heat to the surrounding air.

As a Mexican, I love that you went the extra mile to recreate this as best you could. Looks like it came out amazing. Would love to try this at my house one day. Great video and learning experience.

For future reference, banana leaves are also used for barbacoa in the south region of Mexico. You need to do the same treatment as the agave leaves for the banana leaves, roast them on an open fire will tender the leaves and remove any salvia residue may be linger on them. Also roast them will help with the maleability and ensuring the leaves do not dry during cooking. Overall good job on your first try! Definetly increase the heat with more wood before putting the pot and have a either a metal or concrete top to seal the heat :)

Couple of ideas for metal cover, a metal trash can lids or a metal saucer used for sled rides

So cool dude, your yard is beyond goals.

Similar to a Hawaiian imu except we use lava rock to retain the heat, banana leaves and stumps plus tea leaves. Kalua pig is a staple in the islands.

As a FYI, Rick Bayless does have an authentic Barbacoa pit at his Chicago home-I’ve been there and have seen it. I would expect that what he films for his online audience uses tools that the viewer has access to. Great video! Oh, and the tool you used is intended to dig round holes for wood fence posts.

@user-fn6bs7nz4l

5 ай бұрын

I am a subscriber of his channel for a few years now and Rick’s videos are indeed made with tools thatthe audience has but still having great respect for the original methods. I like how he explains the history of the recipes but shows you how you can get as close as possible at home with everyday tools

In Portugal, in the Azores (Açores) Islands, there is a traditional dish (well several, but one is like the flag bearer) cooked underground using volcanic heat.

I LOOOOOOOVE that you honor and celebrate ancient Mexican cuisine!!! Thank you for putting out there our most deepest traditions. And congratulations!!! As a Mexican I've never even attempted to prepare Barbacoa!!! That's a huge achievement!!!.

Nice work! since you already have the hole and the banana leaves, you can go straight to cochinita pibil.

There are several countries that use this method or a very similar one, every culture makes it a little different according to the ingredients available. Hāngi in New Zeland, kalua in Hawaii y umu pae in Eastern Island, Curanto in Chile. Of course, the Mexican Barbacoa and also cabeza guateada from the Argentinian Northwest, huatia from the Altiplano and the Peruvian pachamanca.

@stella_m_nz

5 ай бұрын

Because of our diversity here in New Zealand, we also have umu (Samoan and Tongan) and Lovo (Fijian) alongside Hāngi (Māori) - can confirm, all are delicious 🥰

If anyone wants the name of the tool he is using it is a manual Post hole digger. Very good tool, extremely efficient, and just very practical.

@JasonMeyer

5 ай бұрын

My exact thought at the star of this video. As some one raised on a farm, I was like that's not for digging ditches, that's a post hole digger.

Hell yeah, props on the attempt. It's all about the pit, cook outs/family events are our opportunities to show off our pits and upgrades since the last gathering. A quick but good pit to start with is a 55g barrel with a lid.

Very nice effort! In South Texas, it was a Sunday morning tradition to go across the river to our favorite shops for barbacoa. What we got was beef...the whole head was steamed. Don't know if we would see that anymore??? So the cheeks and the tongue were our preferred...but yeah, there may have been other pieces/ parts my Mom would order! Lol! Thanks for sharing, thanks for the memories! PS - I did some reading on the temp/probe unit and wondered about the length of time the probes would last...very important in this cooking method...or smoking my brisket, pork butts, etc. Thoughts would be most helpful. Love your channel!!! Cheers!

yes a bigger fire, but also.....in Hawaii, they will build up the fire and then put softball+ size rocks on top of the fire, then once the coals are ready, the rocks are glowing/burning hot, arrange the rocks to make a flat-ish base on top of the coals, banana leaves on top of the rocks and then food...the hot rocks help keep the heat going all night long

Ballsy move trying out the technique!! Well done, and so appreciate you sharing your experience with us!!! Thanks!!!

great video! loved the detail and appreciation for the traditional method.

Here in Texas when you see barbacoa in a Mexican restaurant it’s always beef cheeks, they have a very gelatinous feel to it and a rich flavor and most of them use a crockpot, even though I know that barbacoa is Spanish for barbecue and it’s more about the technique, one of my favorite burritos

@rickd1369

5 ай бұрын

Yeah, people from here hear barbacoa, we think fatty cheek meat. All the transplants say “it just means barbecue” but pit cooking is celebrated in goat cook offs throughout Texas. Wonderful stuff

Woah soo awesome to see you attempt the authentic barbacoa method, hopefully you try it out again and show us how it turns out. Keep up the great content!

Mike, there's a Mexican market in Huntington Station....next time. Great video ! thanks for sharing

You did a fantastic job on this first effort, with minimal prep and research. You now have everyones' mouths watering. I hope you will now take the time to perfect the technique. Great video, you got our attention.

Hey Mike! First of all, i love the way you constantly reinvent yourself and your channel, it’s very inspiring for people like me who eventually want to grow their own vegs and fruits and are always looking for new ways to be efficient or creative in the kitchen, you’re the best at what you do! Second, and the reason I reach out, I want to recommend you that you read into the “tatakua”, a traditional Paraguayan brick dome oven which I think you’ll like! Keep up the great content and vibes!

Love the entire video! I second the comments about the trash can lid as a topper, also having a second fire going so you could have surrounded the cooking vessel with coals and using fire bricks all will help with heat retention…but then I’m just loving this…!

I love this video 😊 My father is from marroco and I know from partys there, that they have a similar dish called mechoui (Lamb burried in a pit) Love the traditional recipies ❤

Mad respect for attempting it this way at home. I hope you give it another try and it comes out better.

Wow that’s a lot of work. It looks so tasty tough! Love the dedication!

Looks delicious. I've only had beef barbacoa from the family-owned Mexican places in my hometown of San Antonio. It's usually a weekend breakfast treat. Good stuff.

I don’t know why there’s so much hate in the comments, looks like a great first attempt! Thanks for making this video

I'm in Cancun watching this video. It took us two days to find something decent to eat here, outside of tacos, enchiladas and burritos. I can't even imagine finding barbacoa dish anywhere in this city.

Nice experiment! I hope you will do it again next year refining it!

Mike, great work and a great learning experience for you. I'm sure with lessons learnt and some practice you'll perfect this! 🙂😋

This is so cool! Quite similar to a Māori hāngī here in NZ, so interesting how there are similar techniques around the world!!

Amazing!! Thank You!! Loved the way you recreated this traditional cooking method!.. You must visit Mexico and try Barbacoa along with the tasty consomé!…

Excellent attempt and save. You did impressively well. Your right that you should have doubled or tripled the amount of wood used. Covering the dirt layer with an old thick blanket would also have kept the heat from escaping. Maybe you can try the Cuban Chinese box to roast a pig in the future.

i feel if you ever try again all you need is a metal top to conduct heat and a little slower and hotter burning wood for longer lasting coals, looks great though i wish i could try some

Goat is the way ive eaten barbacoa but i would love to try lamb.

My uncle used to make barbacoa for his restaurant in South Texas. Banana or agave leaves were not something that was easily available. So he would wrap the head of the cow in cheese cloth and some vinegar solution. It came out amazing every time.

Cooking in the ground... Genius.

@YOUENJOYLIFE

5 ай бұрын

I just happened to make tacos yesterday with pork fat in the tortillas, funny timing as it's been months!

This looks delicious! Some of my favorite food I ever cooked involved a fire outside & wrapping things in tin foil. This reminded me of that.

im from texas and i feel like a majority of places ive had barbacoa here use beef cheek. i wanna try lamb or goat 🤤

Good job man

Appreciate you cooking and videos very much, with pickled red onion consider a little whole coriander and one star anise. :)

When my parents visited Hawaii in the 60s they ate a pig that was cooked this way wrapped in banana leaves under the ground. It’s kind of a play on what we do with our smokers today which is a very long slow cook that can take up to 12 hours.

Tip: Roast the banana leaves before adding them into the pan. They will become more malleable and give some extra taste.

im from mexico living in mexico and my family tried doing beef barbacoa. it was our first time as well. and same as you it was undercook cause we didn't put enough fire.

Come down to Philly on a Saturday morning to try Cristina’s South Philly barbacoa!

Would love to see you try la caja China. They use this in Cuba. It's called the Chinese box. Comes out nice and crispy on top. They mainly use pork. Not sure how lamb would come out. Worth a try.

This is awesome

Not the amount of wood, you have to put Stones with it, from the river or volcanic rock, here in Mexico we do it in that way, and also you have to put while it is firing a metal top whith enough space for oxygen to come in, this keep the heat while it's firing. at the end put a cross on the the top for better luck.

Damn Mike the effort you put in for this is impressive

Not just Mexico…Ecuador and Peru have their own version of barbacoa….they dig a pit in the ground…build wood fire until turns into coals…stones, add food cover with banana leaves, cover and let smolder for a hours and hours….

fire does need oxygen to keep burning. perhaps there was to little residual oxygen to keep the coals burn a bit longer. I dont know if this is the thing, its just a thought. another tought is that it needs more fuel (wood) to increase the amount of residual heat,

For anybody that wants to try this, please be extremely careful about not having ANY of the meat in contact with the soil. The dirt can have bacteria that is heat resistant and can be quite dangerous. I believe it is named Bacillus cereus. Similar dishes uses a lot of aluminum foil or in this case leaves to make sure it is close to airtight.

lookin good

Just checked this video to see if you used maguey leaves, I have some in my backyard if you want hahaha

As Mexican I appreciate your effort!! I think the Metal Top and the amount of wood was the most significant things that you should check next time, but it seems tasty!!! Come to Guadalajara and you can try one of the multiple variants made of goat in an oven.

Hello, greetings and hugs from Puerto Rico. I know you have your itinerary of video ideas, but I would love, and I know other people would too, to see the redemption episode. I thought the comment you made about how it also takes time to master primitive ways of cooking was very accurate.

You're amazing 😊😊😊❤❤

That's not consomme at the bottom, consomme is a stock clarified with egg whites. If you added vinegar it would be adobo but since you didn't and it contains both meat and bones its just broth.

I'm picking up that thermometer.

In Ecuador…. We use PORK for this method. We do not call it barbacoa, we call it Hornado… Probably very similar to the underground pork in Hawaii….

Would the wheel barrel flipped upside down fully cover the pit?

Great video

Large pieces of mesquite or apple wood would help with the flavor.

I wish you did a more in depth coverage on the sensor and its range; having tried Meater probes that are basically useless hen enclosed in a metal grill I'm looking for something better.

For a better heat retention in the pit: Try digging a little deeper and lay out the bottom with bricks.

Mate, don’t give up! Try it again, it will be worth it😎

Grab a pizza stone or pizza steel for the top of the pot.

it may work better if you insulate the pit more. the heat is probably escaping between the gaps of the bricks

Hello everyone. you didn't cover and seal the pot in the pit like you did when it went in the oven. That keeps heat in the pot and doesn't let it escape. That might have made a difference. you can use a heavy lid and some dough like the Hindus do to seal it. Otherwise it was great Jim Oaxaca. Where Barbacoa is a Sunday ritual in the big markets.

Coming from more Texas style BBQ. Once you pass the first few hours, heat is heat. The first few give you all the above, after that, a normal oven can be used for simplicity if you want. No difference

food for thought. Wipe down your banana leaves before using them, they can be extremely dirty and in some cases have spider webs on them. Great video though!

The salsa that is traditionally served with barbacoa is salsa borracha made with pulque and chile pasilla. If they don't have salsa borracha they are not a good barbacoa place.

Showed my wife this - not impressed! Asked me why I have a £1000 ($1250) Green Egg + lots of extras 😂 Thanks for sharing your culinary experiments.

When you say "mah guy" leaves, are you talking about maguey? I'm not trying to be a pedantic dick, I just live in Texas and have at least as many Latin grocery stores around me as I do white ones. So if I know what I'm looking for I may be able to recreate this, which I'd love to do.

@ogarza3

5 ай бұрын

yes, he attempted to pronounce maguey aka agave

Hey mate, the comment is from someone who lives in Australia and is originally from New Zealand. What is the deal with lamb in the US? It's a core meat over here, especially the shoulder or leg depending on the cook. After seeing a few videos from the US, it's just not a thing and Americans generally don't like a lamb or haven't tried it?

@tony_25or6to4

5 ай бұрын

Lamb tends to be gamey...at least use to. Lamb here is grain finished to make it milder. I think the imported NZ lamb is now grain finished.

You could do this on a kamado joe.

you didnt need more wood, you needed longer lasting harder wood. something like red thorn wood if you can get it in the US, or perhaps oak, hickory or pecan... that stuff you used is for social fireplace fire and turns to ash in a jiffy... you need proper bbq wood.

You should try smoking beef cheeks then braise them. Cook low and slow. Good barbacoa.

Side note...will we see agave planted in the Pro Home Cooks garden...stay tuned!

I'm going to nitpick for a second (but believe me, it's coming from a place of love.) You couldn't find a Mexican market in NY or NJ to support a small business?

Chickpeas thrown into the consume? No it’s Hominy haha I feel you did 50% of the research. You should have spent an entire day burning wood in that pit, and before going to bed thrown the meat in there. As well, maybe adding another layer of bricks to close the gap, or filling the gap with coals. You need all the residual heat from the ground to keep the cooking process going. As well, if you swapped the wood cover to a metal sheet, you could have created a fire above the pit.

@ffaffa3538

5 ай бұрын

There's no hominy in barbacoa consome. It is chickpeas. Hominy goes in pozole.

@David_408

5 ай бұрын

I was looking for someone to question him saying chickpeas. 😂

I’m a big fan. But I have experienced a lot of arguments over “barbacoa”. Here in Texas, we almost always have beef cheek meat. But some others have argued it’s a style. Idk but all the barbacoa I’ve had that was cheek cheek meat, was delicious and others were like crappy asada. Just saying. Also those are called “post hole diggers”

OH, so it's like Rajasthani Banjaraa Gosht.

Remember, before you dig your utility company to see if there are any line.

@Roy-G-Biv

5 ай бұрын

i was thinking the same..especially where he lives on long island.

Oh how much fun to dig a hole and do real barbacoa! Dude go to your local Home Depot and buy a scrap piece of galvanized metal! Heck they might give it to you!

It looks like you had enough wood. It might have been the wrong kind of wood. Maybe it burnt to ash too quick instead of making coals.

Please do a colab with Oscar Mezar from 'La Capital' he is the best pro home cook in mexican cuisine, i promise you that will be 100% what people want!

Nice video...but what's a "ha la PEE nyo"? ;0

Thanks for content, love it. Just helping, do not want to start a cultural war here but … Barbacoa is not a Mexican dish … it might have taken roots in Mexico, I’m sure Mexico has a long history and traditions around it but it’s a dish originally from the Taino people, with inhabited Caribbean islands, primarily but not exclusively in Cuba.

@manwe_sulimo

5 ай бұрын

By the way, here is link to wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbacoa

probably cant buy agave leaves because they don't want people making tequila with them

So how long did this meat sit in the danger zone?

Bruh I don’t think copalac exist in Mexico 😂 barbacoa is from the state of Hidalgo

Im sure if you had 1 mexican friend he could easily hook you up with the agave. Soo keep that in mind

16th view! :)

Nice now make real birria with goat. Its so annoying to see people ignore tradition.

no not lamb. 😢

I knew it was going to be a complete failure by minute 7 of the video. That thing cooked for half an hour tops. Total waste of time and energy. Even in the oven you didn't give it enough time.

Never understood how folks could be cool with lamb. It's a baby animal. Didn't even get the experience of life that so many claim is the trade off for being a farmed animal.

@Roy-G-Biv

5 ай бұрын

that is funny.

@ogarza3

5 ай бұрын

so are veal, suckling pigs, and even better eggs which have not even been born yet. the younger the tastier.