Dude!! I love that you posted the cook that didn't end as you had hoped. That is so awesome man. And inspiring! I've shot multiple episodes that I wasn't happy with and left them on the cutting room floor. But now, you've mad me reconsider using them! I'll go back and see what I can salvage, and I'll be giving you the on -camera thanks for the motivation!!! Yeaaah boy!!! #stayingrillout
BBQ iT Agreed! Normalizing yourself and showing you screw up just like everyone else is really the only ay to go in my opinion as we can all associate with it...and it can make for funny clips! 👍
hello, nice work, the problem was 3 things, 1- you need real heavy charcoal add one full bag of your big block with the same amount of wood meaning double quality and quality . 2- 25% of the total liquid that you added is enough with all that vegetable which contain water already. . 3- you need to add water on the sand on the edges to seal and block the Oxygen 100 % + cover the led with clothes material and then cover the whole cover with sand 100% up to the edges of the surrounding floor . after 5 hours it will be done but you can keep it up to 12 hours for tenderness . hope you read my humble expert opinion and try again there is no shame of experiment a new cooking techniques and fail then you try again and master it pitmaster. thanks for your videos .we always watching you.
This way of cooking is , as you said , well known in the middle east... so here’re some tips for the next time... 1. Seal the pit ... we usually bury the opening with A LOT of sand .. some seal it with a mould of clay... 2. Tooo much foil... we hang the meat from the top and keep it unwrapped.. do not worry about the moist, especially if you deepened your pit a bit more. Good luck and thanks for this vid... I appreciate failures as much as I like success
Us polynesians don't use foil as well. We put the meat were cooking either directly on the river rocks, or put it on a wire rack on top of the river rocks, and then seal it. It literally turns out juicy.I love your peoples process as well to be honest. Greetings from 🇹🇴 Tonga
I’ve cooked goat underground and I learned the hard way that you cannot use cinder blocks. The best is simply lining up some bricks or river rock. But frankly if you are digging into clay that is the best. When I added cinderblocks in order to make the pit more level and “nicer” looking the pit would not hold temp and undercooked. When I went back and simply took out the cinderblocks and used some bricks and the surrounding clay / ground - all went fine.
In Middle East we do it abit different. We hang lamb in the pit don’t cover it and we get the fire and coal really hot for few hrs. The vigi goes on bottom and hanged lamb on the top the dipping of the lamb goings to vigi so no need to add beef stock just add water,
Bigger fire yes, and it needs to burn for several hours to get the walls hot which should store retained heat in the sidewalls and a layer of large stones placed on top of the coals surrounding the tray to retain more heat sure won’t hurt cause the stones will retain the heat longer than the concrete block walls will. He’s on the right track and it will work but things don’t always go perfect the first time unfortunately. Hope to see him try again, maybe do a hog this next time
When you guys lowered the pan into the pit, I felt that the world is sooo small. You guys looked just like my buddies and I when we cook this meal. We call it Mandi. Big fan of your work guys. Greetings all the way from Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦
In my country we do the underground pit. First you need an insulator walls ( clay, metal barrels quite famous, or clay bricks), second you need to seal it by mud at the top ( sand won’t work). The idea is, to create fire to heat the walls enough as they will be the source of heat when you seal, also you need fire above the seal to keep things heated, it doesn’t take a day to work, less than 3 hours depending what configuration u have. Loved how nothings stops you from trying different ways to bbq ! Well done
You need more fire and river rocks, those rocks keep the heat for longer time and higher temperature, also, the MExican way to do it (the best way) is to fold the meat with maguey leafs, previously toasted in the fire.
We had a older gentleman that lived near us here in Middle Georgia, USA. His name was Mr Hooks, Google Hooks BBQ Milledgeville GA. He had a shed built over a huge in-ground dugout in the ground with 8 pits inside it. He would always have at least four hogs cooking in there. I remember going there with my grandpa. It was the best pulled pork bbq around. And in the little building in front his Wife would sell bread, homemade sauces, and fresh cooked pork skins and cracklins. A lot of history and good memories.
One of your best videos. Appreciate the honesty and not trashing the footage. Looking forward to continuing on their journey with you! You’ll nail it next time!
I’ve never seen this type of cooking(suffocation of burning embers). I’m a Polynesian(Tongan) & how we make our underground oven(‘umu) is that we heat rocks(volcanic, ocean or river tumbled) by placing them over a large fire till the rocks become so hot, they retain an orange glow. Then we remove any large pieces of burning wood out of the pit & with long poles, rearrange the hot stones in a flat layer above the remaining burning embers. Unlike the embers, the hot stones can retain their heat more longer than the embers without oxygen. To prevent the burning by creating a steaming element like your pan of vegetables & water, we use the stalks of plants that have a heavy liquid content. Bananas are plentiful in the islands so we cut down the trees, using the trunks/stalks(lots), crushed against a solid object to break it down/apart, for easier spreading & layer of hot stones coverage. Then we place the food items on a wired mesh & place the mesh on top of the layer of smashed banana trunks. Then we build a framework of hardwood sticks above the food, allowing ample space for the heat & steam to circulate throughout the oven, beneath the framework. Then we’ll use the banana leaves from the banana trees that were cut down to cover up the wooden framework. The leaves act as an additional steam element as well as an insulation, providing enough coverage to prevent the steam from escaping. Then we’ll use water soaked burlap to cover the leaves, creating a first layer of weighted cover & additional insulation, keeping the moisture within with the additional water soaking material. Then we’ll use either thick wet cardboard, tarps &/or used rugs as another weighted cover to cover the entire ovens top area. Then we’ll bury the entire top coverage with dirt which is the final weighted insulation. Depending on the amount of food put inside & how hot the rocks were depends on the time to remain covered. Your lamb would’ve been done in about 3-4hrs. Opening, just removing layer by layer at a time. But be especially cautious scraping the dirt/sand off to the sides first, before removing the next layer. When removing the 2nd layer, do so carefully as to not drop dirt onto the next layer & the next.
As a thermal mechanical engineer, and a decent bbq cook, I can tell you the issue was lack of insulation, causing significant heat loss through the top. It did not have to do with you lack of heat, just containing it. You can't have an exposed thin steel plate at the top, you need thick coverage, 10-15 cm of sand all around through the perimeter, without any exposed steel
@@andrewbarbara5737they don't need oxygen at all, that's the whole point. the method involves around suffocating the coals and finishing the entire cook with residual heat, now that means properly insulating that heat in
I just recently discovered your channel and I can’t stop watching your videos. It’s also really cool to see legit grilling & bqq being done in Europe. You guys deserve a million subscribers easily. Please keep it up!!
When I’ve done this in the past, I dug the hole, built the fire in it, kept the fire going until I had lots of coals. Next shovel the coals out with intent to use them, so save them. Next, place the food in the pit in whatever container you want: foil, Dutch oven, burlap, leaves, etc. Next, bury the container with dirt and the coals immediately over the buried pit. Now build a fire over the pit to maintain the heat within. Yup, this will have to be tended, but isn’t that part of the joy of outdoor cooking? It’s a good idea to have some wires attached to the food container to assist with retrieving when the food is done. If your pit is shallow enough, you could have your wireless probe thermometer leads inserted and be able to plug it in and check meat temp without disturbing the pit. Just some thoughts....... fun stuff!! Thanks
You never fail when you learn where you went wrong and are able to fix it and teach your viewers a thing or two 👏👏👏👏👏👏 stay with it and dont give up. Great video!!!!
Here in the Pacific in Fiji we call it a "LOVO" it is pronounced in some way like "Lor-voh". A circular pit is dug about approx 1/2m down, place some wood to cover the pit and place stones on top of it preferable river stones with average diameter of around 0.2m. The stone will be heated until it turns white, if you're doing late afternoon it will some what look pinkish instead of white. This is an indication that the stones are ready, therefore you take away the big pieces of burning wood, living only very small pieces of charcoal and the hot stones. Spread evenly around the pit and put pieces of new cut up branches of coconut leaves (minus the leaves) on top of the stones to act as a rack this will stop whatever food you have having direct contact with the stones. Once that is done you can put whole pork or even lamb with some chicken and root crops for variety, place leaves to cover the food preferable new banana leaves fully spread out make sure every area is thickly covered. This will act as insulation trapping moisture from the food and also using its own moisture to roast the food. Use a large tarpaulin to cover the pit and than cover it with the dug out soil from the pit. Wait for 1hr30min to 2hrs. Whole pork fully roasted with the smoky flavour....and you're done.
Hi. I’m form Argentina. Here it’s named CURANTO. The proble was that your pit is to deep. We make a hole in the ground. Big fire. Some big rocks on it to keep the heat. Then all the food. Lots of vegetables most of all for flavor and humidity. You cover it all and on top of it. A very big fire. In order to have more heat. Another very cool way to cook. On Salt. Or the one we call INFIERNILLO. It’s fire at the bottom and on top. Keep on the excellent job. You are great. cheers!!
Thank you for being real! Things don’t always turn out perfect but you make the best of it! I really appreciate the authentic nature and candid presentation of the outcome! Bravo!
In New Zealand the ground oven is called a hangi it cooks by developing steam from both the meat juices and the green leafy Vege content which is laid around the baskets of meat to insulate from direct heat. The key to success is in the heat source volcanic rocks are best but they are often substituted by railway tracks or large iron blocks or bars. There are 2 pits dug in the process one is the large fire pit the second is the food pit. The fire pit is used to heat your rocks or irons white hot these are transferred to the cooking pit once the fire burns down. They retain there heat for many ours and don’t require oxygen to burn like coals. As you perfect the technique placing small rocks or irons directly on your proteins assist with caramelising and crisping up your meats, but essentially it is steam that does the bulk of the cooking. Look up Māori hangi for more info hope this is useful I like your channel and regularly watch your content awesome.👍👍
The pit area is very large - deep (approximately 50"x30"x28" - length x width x depth) for one lamb being roasted in a roasting pan, and no additional coals were added. The information was vital for my future projects, thanks for sharing. !!!
Us from the Navajo tribe bake cake underground mainly for ceremonial purposes, for that it's normally done by placing foil In a hole then place corn husk above the foil and around the dirt walls of the hole, then pour the batter in and cover it with the corn husk and foil and then covering the hole with dirt and placing a fire on top. You might get a little dirt on the cake sometimes but it don't hurt none.Hope this helps if you try again @pitmaster X.
Hey man, I live in Saudi Arabia and we cook in underground pits all the time. Even the most experienced fail from time to time. A pro tip, you have to build a huge fire the first time you cook on it to heat up the ground too. If I may request that you put some science into this and put a temp prob to map the heat chart. This will allow us to replicate the results in regular smokers. Keep up the good work
Hey Pitmaster X, you're right, this underground pit is used in several places and cultures, it is not exclusive to Mexican barbacoa, however, to my knowledge (I read this a while ago and may be completely wrong) the term barbacoa refers to the cooking method not the dish itself. As someone has already pointed out, it is done a little different, not covering the meat but hanging it in the pit, use a pot to put the veggies inside with some water and place that below the meat so the juices can drip to create a broth, but man!! 9:30 this looks really good an it is actually a lot closer to the real thing. I'm sorry this did not turn out as you expected, it is a learning curve and I'll happily follow that with you, keep up the good work!!
Hey bro , I'm from meddle east. Iraq , This is one of our ways of bbq. U did a good job but u need things to adjust, first use the fireplace stone in pit building, and the other thing is don't use the tin paper , leave the lamp just like u made it without covering it and don't forget the salt and some seasoning , for 4 to 6 hours in the pit after making a good fire , and cover the pit over the steel edge with wet cloths then cover the edges with mud then above all it put the sand .. i hope i was helpful for you , god bless you .
Great video, I have a Wood fired brick oven and it usually takes a solid two hours of insane fire going with a lot of wood so I would recommend burning more wood for a longer time that should help the cooking process
Never mind we’re always learning that’s the fun of this and to see it happen to you it makes me feel better (don’t mean this in a bad way) and really good to see the puppy she is a beauty all the best take care Dave and Dee
In Peru we have pachamanca. The pit is unlined. Stones are heated up and put them in the pit. No fire. Beef, chicken, pork. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, and favas. Each layer is covered with cloth.The pit is then covered and you wait 90 minutes
When I was backpacking through West Africa (about 9 countreis) the main food was lamb and goat grilled on chain length fence over a fire in a large metal trash can on the side of the street. He would cut some off and put it in wax paper. That was lunch and dinner. Usually goat, but every once in a while you'd be surprised with lamb.
The lack of heat like you suggested is indeed most likely the reason this failed. You didn't have enough thermal energy stored up inside the pit. It needs more mass. Instead of those hollow stones use solid ones(or fill these up with fine sand before covering them up with cement.) You want a thermal store on the inside and not thermal insulation. You can even drop large solid rocks down (1-2kg ones) in with the fire that will act as extra thermal mass. Also more insulation over the top. You used a metal sheet and a thin layer of sand. Bury that thing. And make sure the top row of anti-dutch-weather bricks is also insulated with earth.
We do this a lot in Pakistan, the pit you made has no air inlet for the feul so once its closed the ambers almost immediately die. So the fire in the pit needs to burn for longer so there is more residual heat and secondly you should make a fire on top if the pit once closed. This top fire will keep adding heat. Let it cook for 5 to 12 hours. Also add a tray of water under the meat to steam and collect drippings.
My family in Old Mexico would line the hole in the ground with bricks. The earthen brick lined oven large enough for a large stock pot, the Calve for Barbacoa or Goat for Birria was fabricated and a prepared Braising liquid was added, and covered. Wood embers were light and the pot was lowered on to the embers, the cooking chamber was covered with palm leaves that would then be covered with earth. Breathing holes were made for the embers and allowed for the aromatic aromas to be monitored. The pit Master would know it was ready according to the aromas emanating from the breathing holes. Good try!
Thank you for being truthful about your experience. As anyone that does a lot of outdoor cooking knows for sure is it doesn't always go as planned. Thanks for sharing. I love your videos!
Hello dear , this is Mumin from Iraq, my dear don’t be sad we use this way in my country the reason that keeping yours not cooked well is you didn’t put enough wood also you need to keep the fire going after that put your meet then close your oven. Best regards
When cooking underground like that, we don’t covered it with foil. Also when you fire up the wood add rocks. To the fire. Rocks heat longer then coal. That’s how we cook it underground here in the pacific islands
To all the commentors saying that the pit needed more air: The idea with this kind of cook is not to keep a fire burning. Its actually the opposite. The hole is supposed to be lined with stones that retain a lot of heat. You burn a large fire to begin with, but its actually the heat from the stones that is supposed to cook your meat. My grandpa used to do goat like this and it would always come out amazing!
Here in Texas we use river rocks they retain alot of heat. You can also use lava rocks also! Also you need to cover the lid completely try wet burlap sacks then cover with a tarp then put dirt all around the edges and on top.
Your just showing that your human despite your godly cooking your human side showed through brother. Always a good thing to post videos like this shows us that we don't have to be down when we fail if even the pros fail. Although not as often as us keep up the great content and I can't wait for the revenge against the lamb.
Im happy you posted this, everyone fails at something eventually, but how else do we learn? If I can make a suggestion, I’d say you starved your pit of oxygen, like opening or closing the vents on your komado, think of how you stop the coals in the komado, you seal it up, I’d love to see what you do to fix it. keep up the tasty videos!!
Thank you so much for sharing this. I learnt a lot. I also know that feeling really well, I have been in a similar position cooking Turkey for 20 hungry guests only to end up crying when I unwrapped it lol.
With pit cooking, hot ash usually goes over the meet as well as under it. This insulates the meat for the cooking process. There is also a lot more fuel for the cook which you need as there is less oxygen on the pit to sustain the fire. Look forward to the next pit attempt.
In New Zealand Maori use volcanic rock in the base of the oven. The fire is built (much higher than yours) so that it heats the rocks which then store the heat and maintain the ovens temperature. I would suggest you light a fire in the pit as you did( as a preheat only). Separately heat rocks in a steel drum( like a Charcoal starter for a Webber BBQ) when the rocks are glowing hot (Never ever use river stone) place them in the bottom of the pit( this will be a 2-4 person job). You also need to have much more sand/soil over the lid. To seal the heat in a minimum 300mm thickness of sand/soil completely covering the lid is needed If you can see any part of that steel lid it won't work! When you start to open the pit 12 -14 hours later the soil above the pit should still be hot and steaming if it isn't you have failed. . If you can't get igneous ( volcanic) rock then find large hunk's of Iron( train brake shoes with the brake lining removed work very well) alternately train track cut into 20-40cm lengths (you will need alot). Also fill the gap between the lamb and the lid... that huge void also allows the oven to cool down. instead of tipping fluid in as you did over the stone place clean wet sacks( or better still sacking cloth), also place that sheeting between the vegetables and the lamb. Seal the lamb in with multiple layers of wet cotton cloth top with more wet sackcloth and then fill the rest of the void with sand. If you have access to a few hundred cabbages you can replace the sack cloth with cabbage leaves. But still wrap the lamb and veges in clean ( wet) cotton cloth. Also place the veges above the lamb not below it. If you find you worried about steam burns as you putting the cloth in your doing it right. Edit( final one) Its easier with a bigger pit.... the smaller the pit the harder it is to maintain the heat for the necessary cooking time. If you try again rebuild that pit so it can cook a whole pig, or at a minimum two lambs ( without cutting them to size). Make the pit fit the meat... not the other way around.
When i first built my pizza oven it failed, it took about 10 hours to get to temp, but each time i lit it, it improved in a quicker time and better result, now it's ready in about 90 mins because all the moisture from building is gone and so the the bricks give back the heat and it cooks brilliantly, so will your pit. Cheers
Great video I’m from Mexico and we cook goat that way the only difference is we make a fire on top not to big and it holds the heat longer for it to cook
Roel: Zoals we hier in de VS zeggen; Kak gebeurt! Wat de meeste indruk op me maakt, is dat je de video hebt gepost. Het bewijst verder dat je een man van je woord bent, betrouwbaar en nederig. Dit is waarom we je allemaal komen zien koken! Overigens: het pakket met rubs en sauzen ligt momenteel bij de Nederlandse Douane en wordt binnenkort vrijgegeven. -Doc
It's nice, in a way, to see something go wrong on the channel. Only because it 1) proves you're human like the rest of us and 2) even well experienced people can still make mistakes. Any thoughts about trying it again with some modifications?
I really appreciate that you uploaded this learning experience. Its easier to just not upload this but I like that you stay real and show that when it comes to BBQ you are always learning.
We did this with a buddy some years ago and we we're successful. Your coal was way too little and you also needed to cover the tray (with the lamp... foiled) with hot burning coal. Then cover the top with some rocks to retain heat. We also covered with some coarse sand and dry soil but placed two metal pipes for aeration. I'm sure you'll get more remedies from many people. This was our own unique Kenyan way though we don't bury our food here... It was all experimental and it worked. All succulent, tender, tasty... mmmmh... Yummy Kenyan meat.
I've never done lamb like that but I have assisted with some hog roasts in the ground. Each time they make the fire the night before and just have a small fire going up until the cook time then get it hot! Whole hog wrapped in banana leaves with the actual earth around it nice and warm too.
I believe that choked the fire pretty much instantly because in that pit it probably wasn't more than cubic metre of air so if you were to try this again I would recommend having a small tube or such flowing air to the bottom of the pit, it's important that the airflow is in the bottom otherwise a lot of heat will escape because hot air rises up and cold air sinks, this should do the trick. Love your channel
sorry to see the cook didn't go so well. happens to us all when we try a new method, they can't always be zingers! glad to see you saved it in the end. Looking forward to seeing this pit in action again!!! Cheers from Melbourne mate!!!
You need to get some real big rocks in there and get them heated up real hot before you close it, that way the heat from the hot rocks will cook it over night.
Hi, I like your videos and would like to help. I think there is too much air in your oven. I think it should be less deep. So when the heat rises to the top it would not be too far away from the food. Also the heat would be more concentrated. Hope this helps. Keep up the good videos. 👍🏻
In the Middle East they put stones on the bottom to retain the heat generated from the wood/coals. Then they don’t have all that space above the their food; they wrap the food to be cooked with something like burlap and then actually pile sand/earth over their food. Think luau.
Building a fire right on top of concrete is not a good idea. It will pop with little miniature explosions leaving divots on the surface. A thick layer of lava rock on top of the concrete would be a good solution, and would also close the gap some to the top.
Try covering the packet completely with cantaloupe size river rock, best to add some more wood around the packet before applying the layer of rock. Those rocks will hold the heat for many hours. We cooked in pits for years on the Big Island, we used what we called imu.
I’m sorry about your failure with the pit. My Father Jose Palofox Valerio was a ground pit master when it comes to this style it’s a learning process and sometimes luck. I remember learning from him that a key was keeping the pit seal as best as possible. We would mix water and dirt to make a creamy mud so it can seal the heat in and obviously this starves the embers but it will take time for it to lose its heat you worked hard to start with. The dry sand sealed enough to starve the fire but not enough to contain the heat in. I hope you try it again soon.
It takes a real man to own his mistakes/failures and even post them online. Props for that! I've done (in smaller scale) the same idea but what we did is we buried the meat in the sand and made fire above the meat. And as I understood it, the main part in this is that the meat is stolen! Preferably a neighbouts lamb.
You need: 1- bigger fire for at least 4 hours before waiting for the flames to go down. Don’t put anything inside the pet until the ground surrounding it is hot. 2- don’t put any fluids. 3- make sure there is a gap between the tray and the charcoal and between the meat and the vegetables. 4- don’t use any foil. 5- seal seal seal. Best way to seal the pit is to put the lid then cover it by a blanket then put a thick layer of sand to make sure the sand will not get into the pit when you open it since the meet is not covered by foil. 6- if this is done right then you will need three hours to cook the lamb, no need to keep it overnight because the pit would not be hot any more anyway after three hours. In some countries they put several lamps (more than 10) and heat the pit for a whole day before sealing it, this is why they keep it overnight.
Appreciated that you posted the video even though you failed. Like Aaron Franklin said - You won't learn how to make good barbecue unless you make bad barbecue (paraphrased...). Look forward to the next pit cooking video.
I respect the honesty of this video more than anything.
Agreed, we rarely get to see the learning process.
Dude!! I love that you posted the cook that didn't end as you had hoped. That is so awesome man. And inspiring! I've shot multiple episodes that I wasn't happy with and left them on the cutting room floor. But now, you've mad me reconsider using them! I'll go back and see what I can salvage, and I'll be giving you the on -camera thanks for the motivation!!! Yeaaah boy!!! #stayingrillout
do you really say "dude" in your everyday life????
@@Marcel_Audubon so what if he does
BBQ iT Agreed! Normalizing yourself and showing you screw up just like everyone else is really the only ay to go in my opinion as we can all associate with it...and it can make for funny clips! 👍
People love authenticity and we all know things never go right all the time. Don't be afraid of your flaws. Embrace them.
hello, nice work, the problem was 3 things, 1- you need real heavy charcoal add one full bag of your big block with the same amount of wood meaning double quality and quality . 2- 25% of the total liquid that you added is enough with all that vegetable which contain water already. . 3- you need to add water on the sand on the edges to seal and block the Oxygen 100 % + cover the led with clothes material and then cover the whole cover with sand 100% up to the edges of the surrounding floor . after 5 hours it will be done but you can keep it up to 12 hours for tenderness .
hope you read my humble expert opinion and try again there is no shame of experiment a new cooking techniques and fail then you try again and master it pitmaster. thanks for your videos .we always watching you.
This way of cooking is , as you said , well known in the middle east... so here’re some tips for the next time... 1. Seal the pit ... we usually bury the opening with A LOT of sand .. some seal it with a mould of clay... 2. Tooo much foil... we hang the meat from the top and keep it unwrapped.. do not worry about the moist, especially if you deepened your pit a bit more.
Good luck and thanks for this vid... I appreciate failures as much as I like success
You mean so no oxygen at all will reach the fire? I think I know how this ends...
Simon, you put fire on top of metal sheet as well
Us polynesians don't use foil as well. We put the meat were cooking either directly on the river rocks, or put it on a wire rack on top of the river rocks, and then seal it. It literally turns out juicy.I love your peoples process as well to be honest. Greetings from 🇹🇴 Tonga
I’ve cooked goat underground and I learned the hard way that you cannot use cinder blocks. The best is simply lining up some bricks or river rock. But frankly if you are digging into clay that is the best. When I added cinderblocks in order to make the pit more level and “nicer” looking the pit would not hold temp and undercooked. When I went back and simply took out the cinderblocks and used some bricks and the surrounding clay / ground - all went fine.
BBQ is a continuous learning experience. Keep it up!
"Morrison is offering his assistance as long as he is fed" lmao
In Middle East we do it abit different. We hang lamb in the pit don’t cover it and we get the fire and coal really hot for few hrs. The vigi goes on bottom and hanged lamb on the top the dipping of the lamb goings to vigi so no need to add beef stock just add water,
True !
How do you keep the fire going?
Post a failure? Got damn right, that's why I love channels like this! Learning curve.
You need a bigger fire and some rocks that will retain the heat longer.
Bigger fire yes, and it needs to burn for several hours to get the walls hot which should store retained heat in the sidewalls and a layer of large stones placed on top of the coals surrounding the tray to retain more heat sure won’t hurt cause the stones will retain the heat longer than the concrete block walls will.
He’s on the right track and it will work but things don’t always go perfect the first time unfortunately. Hope to see him try again, maybe do a hog this next time
I tried it a few years ago and did the same mistake
@@1982MCI Or you use smaller animals , like chicken or swallos or shrimps or anchovis or brasilian fireants. 🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜
When you guys lowered the pan into the pit, I felt that the world is sooo small. You guys looked just like my buddies and I when we cook this meal. We call it Mandi. Big fan of your work guys. Greetings all the way from Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦
In my country we do the underground pit. First you need an insulator walls ( clay, metal barrels quite famous, or clay bricks), second you need to seal it by mud at the top ( sand won’t work). The idea is, to create fire to heat the walls enough as they will be the source of heat when you seal, also you need fire above the seal to keep things heated, it doesn’t take a day to work, less than 3 hours depending what configuration u have.
Loved how nothings stops you from trying different ways to bbq ! Well done
Mate I'm so happy you posted a video that didn't go right. For this reason I truly think you've gained some love from us for this reason . Aweeome
You need more fire and river rocks, those rocks keep the heat for longer time and higher temperature, also, the MExican way to do it (the best way) is to fold the meat with maguey leafs, previously toasted in the fire.
Commendable effort, how could we ever be successful, without failure. Looking forward to the next pit video!
We had a older gentleman that lived near us here in Middle Georgia, USA. His name was Mr Hooks, Google Hooks BBQ Milledgeville GA. He had a shed built over a huge in-ground dugout in the ground with 8 pits inside it. He would always have at least four hogs cooking in there. I remember going there with my grandpa. It was the best pulled pork bbq around. And in the little building in front his Wife would sell bread, homemade sauces, and fresh cooked pork skins and cracklins. A lot of history and good memories.
It's okay dude. Your effort to make the oven, and to post the video dispite the result is really appreciated.
Oh man, I loved this cook. You learn so much from every experience and this was no exception.
One of your best videos. Appreciate the honesty and not trashing the footage. Looking forward to continuing on their journey with you! You’ll nail it next time!
I’ve never seen this type of cooking(suffocation of burning embers). I’m a Polynesian(Tongan) & how we make our underground oven(‘umu) is that we heat rocks(volcanic, ocean or river tumbled) by placing them over a large fire till the rocks become so hot, they retain an orange glow. Then we remove any large pieces of burning wood out of the pit & with long poles, rearrange the hot stones in a flat layer above the remaining burning embers. Unlike the embers, the hot stones can retain their heat more longer than the embers without oxygen.
To prevent the burning by creating a steaming element like your pan of vegetables & water, we use the stalks of plants that have a heavy liquid content. Bananas are plentiful in the islands so we cut down the trees, using the trunks/stalks(lots), crushed against a solid object to break it down/apart, for easier spreading & layer of hot stones coverage. Then we place the food items on a wired mesh & place the mesh on top of the layer of smashed banana trunks. Then we build a framework of hardwood sticks above the food, allowing ample space for the heat & steam to circulate throughout the oven, beneath the framework. Then we’ll use the banana leaves from the banana trees that were cut down to cover up the wooden framework. The leaves act as an additional steam element as well as an insulation, providing enough coverage to prevent the steam from escaping. Then we’ll use water soaked burlap to cover the leaves, creating a first layer of weighted cover & additional insulation, keeping the moisture within with the additional water soaking material. Then we’ll use either thick wet cardboard, tarps &/or used rugs as another weighted cover to cover the entire ovens top area. Then we’ll bury the entire top coverage with dirt which is the final weighted insulation.
Depending on the amount of food put inside & how hot the rocks were depends on the time to remain covered. Your lamb would’ve been done in about 3-4hrs.
Opening, just removing layer by layer at a time. But be especially cautious scraping the dirt/sand off to the sides first, before removing the next layer. When removing the 2nd layer, do so carefully as to not drop dirt onto the next layer & the next.
As a thermal mechanical engineer, and a decent bbq cook, I can tell you the issue was lack of insulation, causing significant heat loss through the top. It did not have to do with you lack of heat, just containing it. You can't have an exposed thin steel plate at the top, you need thick coverage, 10-15 cm of sand all around through the perimeter, without any exposed steel
I was thinking about the coals burning without oxygen too
@@andrewbarbara5737they don't need oxygen at all, that's the whole point. the method involves around suffocating the coals and finishing the entire cook with residual heat, now that means properly insulating that heat in
@@andrewbarbara5737 They keep "burning" without oxygen - they will end up as charcoal.
I just recently discovered your channel and I can’t stop watching your videos. It’s also really cool to see legit grilling & bqq being done in Europe. You guys deserve a million subscribers easily. Please keep it up!!
When I’ve done this in the past, I dug the hole, built the fire in it, kept the fire going until I had lots of coals. Next shovel the coals out with intent to use them, so save them. Next, place the food in the pit in whatever container you want: foil, Dutch oven, burlap, leaves, etc. Next, bury the container with dirt and the coals immediately over the buried pit. Now build a fire over the pit to maintain the heat within. Yup, this will have to be tended, but isn’t that part of the joy of outdoor cooking? It’s a good idea to have some wires attached to the food container to assist with retrieving when the food is done. If your pit is shallow enough, you could have your wireless probe thermometer leads inserted and be able to plug it in and check meat temp without disturbing the pit. Just some thoughts....... fun stuff!! Thanks
You should use heated rocks and cover the lamb with sand. That's how we do it in Papua!
You never fail when you learn where you went wrong and are able to fix it and teach your viewers a thing or two 👏👏👏👏👏👏 stay with it and dont give up. Great video!!!!
Here in the Pacific in Fiji we call it a "LOVO" it is pronounced in some way like "Lor-voh". A circular pit is dug about approx 1/2m down, place some wood to cover the pit and place stones on top of it preferable river stones with average diameter of around 0.2m. The stone will be heated until it turns white, if you're doing late afternoon it will some what look pinkish instead of white. This is an indication that the stones are ready, therefore you take away the big pieces of burning wood, living only very small pieces of charcoal and the hot stones. Spread evenly around the pit and put pieces of new cut up branches of coconut leaves (minus the leaves) on top of the stones to act as a rack this will stop whatever food you have having direct contact with the stones. Once that is done you can put whole pork or even lamb with some chicken and root crops for variety, place leaves to cover the food preferable new banana leaves fully spread out make sure every area is thickly covered. This will act as insulation trapping moisture from the food and also using its own moisture to roast the food. Use a large tarpaulin to cover the pit and than cover it with the dug out soil from the pit. Wait for 1hr30min to 2hrs. Whole pork fully roasted with the smoky flavour....and you're done.
So great that you posted this, it may not have worked out as hoped but at least you could save the situation with the big grill. 👍
Hi. I’m form Argentina. Here it’s named CURANTO. The proble was that your pit is to deep.
We make a hole in the ground. Big fire. Some big rocks on it to keep the heat. Then all the food. Lots of vegetables most of all for flavor and humidity. You cover it all and on top of it. A very big fire. In order to have more heat.
Another very cool way to cook. On Salt. Or the one we call INFIERNILLO. It’s fire at the bottom and on top.
Keep on the excellent job. You are great.
cheers!!
Thanks for sharing and being honest with us. There is always a learning curve. Looking forward for next attempt with success!
Props to you for being honest makes you much more likeable. Keep killing it, dude.
Great video. Glad you tried and look forward to the next video with this pit!
Thank you for being real! Things don’t always turn out perfect but you make the best of it! I really appreciate the authentic nature and candid presentation of the outcome! Bravo!
I love this, "the meaning of having both sides success and failing" that is life.
In New Zealand the ground oven is called a hangi it cooks by developing steam from both the meat juices and the green leafy Vege content which is laid around the baskets of meat to insulate from direct heat. The key to success is in the heat source volcanic rocks are best but they are often substituted by railway tracks or large iron blocks or bars. There are 2 pits dug in the process one is the large fire pit the second is the food pit. The fire pit is used to heat your rocks or irons white hot these are transferred to the cooking pit once the fire burns down. They retain there heat for many ours and don’t require oxygen to burn like coals. As you perfect the technique placing small rocks or irons directly on your proteins assist with caramelising and crisping up your meats, but essentially it is steam that does the bulk of the cooking. Look up Māori hangi for more info hope this is useful I like your channel and regularly watch your content awesome.👍👍
The pit area is very large - deep (approximately 50"x30"x28" - length x width x depth) for one lamb being roasted in a roasting pan, and no additional coals were added. The information was vital for my future projects, thanks for sharing. !!!
Love the video In New Zealand we call it a hangi and use a pit and a fire and good heat-conducting rocks and cover it with wet sacks and dirt
Good job man I love the honesty with your videos. Win or lose you always have great videos.
U never fail, when U learn from "trying ". Honesty is best always!!!
I want to see you do this again I think this is an amazing idea. Just keep going everything is a learning curve.
Us from the Navajo tribe bake cake underground mainly for ceremonial purposes, for that it's normally done by placing foil In a hole then place corn husk above the foil and around the dirt walls of the hole, then pour the batter in and cover it with the corn husk and foil and then covering the hole with dirt and placing a fire on top. You might get a little dirt on the cake sometimes but it don't hurt none.Hope this helps if you try again @pitmaster X.
Hey man, I live in Saudi Arabia and we cook in underground pits all the time. Even the most experienced fail from time to time.
A pro tip, you have to build a huge fire the first time you cook on it to heat up the ground too.
If I may request that you put some science into this and put a temp prob to map the heat chart. This will allow us to replicate the results in regular smokers.
Keep up the good work
You have to retain heat by adding rocks or metal beams... when those are blistering hot, add your lamb and such.. close the gap and wait👍
A friend and I done a Hāngi, a traditional New Zealand Māori method of cooking food. We used engine crank shafts. worked sweet az
Yeah, pretty sure the fire died because there was no oxygen. In that environment, you really need some hot rocks or something.
Hey Pitmaster X, you're right, this underground pit is used in several places and cultures, it is not exclusive to Mexican barbacoa, however, to my knowledge (I read this a while ago and may be completely wrong) the term barbacoa refers to the cooking method not the dish itself.
As someone has already pointed out, it is done a little different, not covering the meat but hanging it in the pit, use a pot to put the veggies inside with some water and place that below the meat so the juices can drip to create a broth, but man!! 9:30 this looks really good an it is actually a lot closer to the real thing.
I'm sorry this did not turn out as you expected, it is a learning curve and I'll happily follow that with you, keep up the good work!!
Hey bro , I'm from meddle east. Iraq ,
This is one of our ways of bbq.
U did a good job but u need things to adjust, first use the fireplace stone in pit building, and the other thing is don't use the tin paper , leave the lamp just like u made it without covering it and don't forget the salt and some seasoning , for 4 to 6 hours in the pit after making a good fire , and cover the pit over the steel edge with wet cloths then cover the edges with mud then above all it put the sand .. i hope i was helpful for you , god bless you .
Great video, I have a Wood fired brick oven and it usually takes a solid two hours of insane fire going with a lot of wood so I would recommend burning more wood for a longer time that should help the cooking process
Eeey Roel, lots of credits for downloading a "fail" that is what a real life pitmaster X is like! Thanks man greetzzz from quarantine 010🔥💪😉
Uploading
@@beermetal2003 👏👏👏👏
Never mind we’re always learning that’s the fun of this and to see it happen to you it makes me feel better (don’t mean this in a bad way) and really good to see the puppy she is a beauty all the best take care Dave and Dee
In Peru we have pachamanca. The pit is unlined. Stones are heated up and put them in the pit. No fire.
Beef, chicken, pork. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, and favas. Each layer is covered with cloth.The pit is then covered and you wait 90 minutes
When I was backpacking through West Africa (about 9 countreis) the main food was lamb and goat grilled on chain length fence over a fire in a large metal trash can on the side of the street. He would cut some off and put it in wax paper. That was lunch and dinner. Usually goat, but every once in a while you'd be surprised with lamb.
It’s comforting knowing that even pros like you don’t have perfect cooks every time
The lack of heat like you suggested is indeed most likely the reason this failed.
You didn't have enough thermal energy stored up inside the pit. It needs more mass. Instead of those hollow stones use solid ones(or fill these up with fine sand before covering them up with cement.) You want a thermal store on the inside and not thermal insulation. You can even drop large solid rocks down (1-2kg ones) in with the fire that will act as extra thermal mass.
Also more insulation over the top. You used a metal sheet and a thin layer of sand. Bury that thing. And make sure the top row of anti-dutch-weather bricks is also insulated with earth.
We do this a lot in Pakistan, the pit you made has no air inlet for the feul so once its closed the ambers almost immediately die. So the fire in the pit needs to burn for longer so there is more residual heat and secondly you should make a fire on top if the pit once closed. This top fire will keep adding heat. Let it cook for 5 to 12 hours. Also add a tray of water under the meat to steam and collect drippings.
Don’t give up! I know how it feels not to succeed, but keep trying until you get the results!
My family in Old Mexico would line the hole in the ground with bricks. The earthen brick lined oven large enough for a large stock pot, the Calve for Barbacoa or Goat for Birria was fabricated and a prepared Braising liquid was added, and covered. Wood embers were light and the pot was lowered on to the embers, the cooking chamber was covered with palm leaves that would then be covered with earth. Breathing holes were made for the embers and allowed for the aromatic aromas to be monitored. The pit Master would know it was ready according to the aromas emanating from the breathing holes. Good try!
I have had more then a few epic bbq fails but I learn from them like you did and I get back to the same cook till I get it right great vid
Thank you for being truthful about your experience. As anyone that does a lot of outdoor cooking knows for sure is it doesn't always go as planned. Thanks for sharing. I love your videos!
Hey Roel, stoer om niet alleen de successen te laten zien. Succes met een volgende ronde. Gaat je lukken!!!!!
"Morrison if offering his assistance as long as he gets fed" 🤣👍
Hello dear , this is Mumin from Iraq, my dear don’t be sad we use this way in my country the reason that keeping yours not cooked well is you didn’t put enough wood also you need to keep the fire going after that put your meet then close your oven. Best regards
Very proud to see an honest video..so many successes before and this is something we all do..mistake then master..
It's Pitmaster-F! Only kidding. A pit is for life, not just for one dinner
When cooking underground like that, we don’t covered it with foil. Also when you fire up the wood add rocks. To the fire. Rocks heat longer then coal. That’s how we cook it underground here in the pacific islands
Thr rocks are everything! Well said
It's ok, bro. You did a good job. I enjoyed watching the video. All the best for next time !
To all the commentors saying that the pit needed more air: The idea with this kind of cook is not to keep a fire burning. Its actually the opposite. The hole is supposed to be lined with stones that retain a lot of heat. You burn a large fire to begin with, but its actually the heat from the stones that is supposed to cook your meat. My grandpa used to do goat like this and it would always come out amazing!
Here in Texas we use river rocks they retain alot of heat. You can also use lava rocks also! Also you need to cover the lid completely try wet burlap sacks then cover with a tarp then put dirt all around the edges and on top.
Staying true and honest is key. Love the videos
Your just showing that your human despite your godly cooking your human side showed through brother. Always a good thing to post videos like this shows us that we don't have to be down when we fail if even the pros fail. Although not as often as us keep up the great content and I can't wait for the revenge against the lamb.
Like a real pitmaster, way to go!
Im happy you posted this, everyone fails at something eventually, but how else do we learn?
If I can make a suggestion, I’d say you starved your pit of oxygen, like opening or closing the vents on your komado, think of how you stop the coals in the komado, you seal it up, I’d love to see what you do to fix it.
keep up the tasty videos!!
It’s great to show your failures especially for new people coming into this, for me this is very valuable.
Thank you so much for sharing this. I learnt a lot. I also know that feeling really well, I have been in a similar position cooking Turkey for 20 hungry guests only to end up crying when I unwrapped it lol.
With pit cooking, hot ash usually goes over the meet as well as under it. This insulates the meat for the cooking process. There is also a lot more fuel for the cook which you need as there is less oxygen on the pit to sustain the fire. Look forward to the next pit attempt.
In New Zealand Maori use volcanic rock in the base of the oven. The fire is built (much higher than yours) so that it heats the rocks which then store the heat and maintain the ovens temperature. I would suggest you light a fire in the pit as you did( as a preheat only). Separately heat rocks in a steel drum( like a Charcoal starter for a Webber BBQ) when the rocks are glowing hot (Never ever use river stone) place them in the bottom of the pit( this will be a 2-4 person job). You also need to have much more sand/soil over the lid. To seal the heat in a minimum 300mm thickness of sand/soil completely covering the lid is needed If you can see any part of that steel lid it won't work! When you start to open the pit 12 -14 hours later the soil above the pit should still be hot and steaming if it isn't you have failed. . If you can't get igneous ( volcanic) rock then find large hunk's of Iron( train brake shoes with the brake lining removed work very well) alternately train track cut into 20-40cm lengths (you will need alot). Also fill the gap between the lamb and the lid... that huge void also allows the oven to cool down. instead of tipping fluid in as you did over the stone place clean wet sacks( or better still sacking cloth), also place that sheeting between the vegetables and the lamb. Seal the lamb in with multiple layers of wet cotton cloth top with more wet sackcloth and then fill the rest of the void with sand. If you have access to a few hundred cabbages you can replace the sack cloth with cabbage leaves. But still wrap the lamb and veges in clean ( wet) cotton cloth. Also place the veges above the lamb not below it. If you find you worried about steam burns as you putting the cloth in your doing it right.
Edit( final one) Its easier with a bigger pit.... the smaller the pit the harder it is to maintain the heat for the necessary cooking time. If you try again rebuild that pit so it can cook a whole pig, or at a minimum two lambs ( without cutting them to size). Make the pit fit the meat... not the other way around.
Can't wait to see the next pit cook and thanks to the patriots keep up the good work 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
When i first built my pizza oven it failed, it took about 10 hours to get to temp, but each time i lit it, it improved in a quicker time and better result, now it's ready in about 90 mins because all the moisture from building is gone and so the the bricks give back the heat and it cooks brilliantly, so will your pit. Cheers
Keep it up i like your all videos lot’s of love from Canada 🇨🇦
Great video I’m from Mexico and we cook goat that way the only difference is we make a fire on top not to big and it holds the heat longer for it to cook
Roel:
Zoals we hier in de VS zeggen; Kak gebeurt! Wat de meeste indruk op me maakt, is dat je de video hebt gepost. Het bewijst verder dat je een man van je woord bent, betrouwbaar en nederig. Dit is waarom we je allemaal komen zien koken!
Overigens: het pakket met rubs en sauzen ligt momenteel bij de Nederlandse Douane en wordt binnenkort vrijgegeven.
-Doc
It's nice, in a way, to see something go wrong on the channel. Only because it 1) proves you're human like the rest of us and 2) even well experienced people can still make mistakes. Any thoughts about trying it again with some modifications?
I really appreciate that you uploaded this learning experience. Its easier to just not upload this but I like that you stay real and show that when it comes to BBQ you are always learning.
Heat sync is required, in NZ we use volcanic rocks but a good chunk of steel or anything that retains heat will work as long as there’s enough of it!
We did this with a buddy some years ago and we we're successful. Your coal was way too little and you also needed to cover the tray (with the lamp... foiled) with hot burning coal. Then cover the top with some rocks to retain heat. We also covered with some coarse sand and dry soil but placed two metal pipes for aeration. I'm sure you'll get more remedies from many people. This was our own unique Kenyan way though we don't bury our food here... It was all experimental and it worked. All succulent, tender, tasty... mmmmh... Yummy Kenyan meat.
I've never done lamb like that but I have assisted with some hog roasts in the ground. Each time they make the fire the night before and just have a small fire going up until the cook time then get it hot! Whole hog wrapped in banana leaves with the actual earth around it nice and warm too.
I believe that choked the fire pretty much instantly because in that pit it probably wasn't more than cubic metre of air so if you were to try this again I would recommend having a small tube or such flowing air to the bottom of the pit, it's important that the airflow is in the bottom otherwise a lot of heat will escape because hot air rises up and cold air sinks, this should do the trick.
Love your channel
Finally! I've been waiting for this since you put the photo on your TH-cam!
sorry to see the cook didn't go so well. happens to us all when we try a new method, they can't always be zingers! glad to see you saved it in the end. Looking forward to seeing this pit in action again!!! Cheers from Melbourne mate!!!
You need to get some real big rocks in there and get them heated up real hot before you close it, that way the heat from the hot rocks will cook it over night.
Hi, I like your videos and would like to help. I think there is too much air in your oven. I think it should be less deep. So when the heat rises to the top it would not be too far away from the food. Also the heat would be more concentrated. Hope this helps. Keep up the good videos. 👍🏻
Vallen, opstaan en vooral doorgaan. Een "fail" maar toch een wijze les 💪🏻 En Nice dat je het toch ook laat zien Roel 👍🏻
Great content ! I think you didn't fail, you are just learning, as long as you do next one.
In the Middle East they put stones on the bottom to retain the heat generated from the wood/coals. Then they don’t have all that space above the their food; they wrap the food to be cooked with something like burlap and then actually pile sand/earth over their food. Think luau.
Yup, that's what I thought. Big stones,,,and stuff the lamb w a few hot ones as well!
Building a fire right on top of concrete is not a good idea. It will pop with little miniature explosions leaving divots on the surface. A thick layer of lava rock on top of the concrete would be a good solution, and would also close the gap some to the top.
Correct if I'm wrong but they also added hot stones and coals on the top too?
@@26muca07 som do, yes
Real Barbacoa ovens use volcanic stones as well, here's a demonstration of it
th-cam.com/video/6sbNidAkeNo/w-d-xo.html
Looking forward to the next one. Cheers to everyone responsible for this one and the next.
Well done for not cooking it on the gas grill and pretending to get it out the pit. Your honesty is appreciated
Try covering the packet completely with cantaloupe size river rock, best to add some more wood around the packet before applying the layer of rock. Those rocks will hold the heat for many hours. We cooked in pits for years on the Big Island, we used what we called imu.
I’m sorry about your failure with the pit.
My Father Jose Palofox Valerio was a ground pit master when it comes to this style it’s a learning process and sometimes luck.
I remember learning from him that a key was keeping the pit seal as best as possible.
We would mix water and dirt to make a creamy mud so it can seal the heat in and obviously this starves the embers but it will take time for it to lose its heat you worked hard to start with.
The dry sand sealed enough to starve the fire but not enough to contain the heat in.
I hope you try it again soon.
it is ok to fail, not trying is what sucks! great video!
It takes a real man to own his mistakes/failures and even post them online. Props for that!
I've done (in smaller scale) the same idea but what we did is we buried the meat in the sand and made fire above the meat. And as I understood it, the main part in this is that the meat is stolen! Preferably a neighbouts lamb.
this was a great video, thanks for what you give to us grill and bbq addicts. 👍💪🥩
You need:
1- bigger fire for at least 4 hours before waiting for the flames to go down. Don’t put anything inside the pet until the ground surrounding it is hot. 2- don’t put any fluids. 3- make sure there is a gap between the tray and the charcoal and between the meat and the vegetables. 4- don’t use any foil. 5- seal seal seal. Best way to seal the pit is to put the lid then cover it by a blanket then put a thick layer of sand to make sure the sand will not get into the pit when you open it since the meet is not covered by foil. 6- if this is done right then you will need three hours to cook the lamb, no need to keep it overnight because the pit would not be hot any more anyway after three hours. In some countries they put several lamps (more than 10) and heat the pit for a whole day before sealing it, this is why they keep it overnight.
Appreciated that you posted the video even though you failed. Like Aaron Franklin said - You won't learn how to make good barbecue unless you make bad barbecue (paraphrased...). Look forward to the next pit cooking video.