The Food is In the Ground

Last Saturday we had a little dinner we called "Release The Spaniard" (you may have noticed the little banner ad that we had to the right for the last month.)

For the main course, we featured barbecued beef brisket and pork butt (which is really the shoulder... I don't pretend to understand pig farmers. They also call it a "Boston Butt" - I won't comment on that one...)

Anyway, this was going to be "real barbecue": slow cooking with low heat. And we've always wanted one, so we dug a barbecue pit near the crush pad - or rather, we hired someone with a backhoe to do it! Then, our buddy Dave Venters (who is the meat guy at Sierra Hills Market in Murphys) came by and lined the pit with concrete blocks.

On the day of the event we convened at the winery at 4:30AM to light the fire for the barbecue. The night before "Wine Harlot" Heather had stacked up the wood nicely so all we had to do was hit it with a match. The fire got going really fast, and by the time the rains came after dawn the fire hardly noticed them (but we did...)

By 11AM we had a nice thick 10 inch bed of coals on which to cook the meat. Dave came back with boxes of brisket and butt, all seasoned and ready to go. The meat was wrapped in several layers of cheesecloth, followed by a layer of burlap.

At 6PM our dinner guests began to arrive (enjoying a nice glass of 2006 Viognier). It was great fun telling them we'd be pulling dinner out of the ground soon! I think most people thought we were blowing smoke out of our (pork) butts - until they saw what was going on up by the crush pad.

Anyway, below are a few pictures showing the cooking process. This is something I had always wanted to do, and it was kind of amazing how easy and foolproof it was!

We'd like to send a HUGE thanks to Dave Venters of Sierra Hills Market in Murphys for ALL of his help preparing the pit, the meat, and everything!

Above: A nice bed o'coals ~ Below: A corrugated steel plate over the coals.

Above: Wrapping the meat with burlap ~ Below: After a quick water soak the meat goes onto the hot steel plate.

Above: The meat is covered with a second steel plate and covered with about a foot of dirt to seal the fire (which also banks it down.) That's Dave with his handiwork!

Above: The rain paused and gave us a nice rainbow in the afternoon. ~ Below: Pulling out the meat (so to speak).

Above: One of our guests decided to help with punchdowns before dinner! ~ Below: Mmmmmm... pork butt!

Comments

[Jeff Cleveland]

I'm sitting at the computer and my mouth is literally watering as I read your post and look at the pictures. Sure looks like fun. Now where in my back yard could I dig a hole?????

[el jefe]

Jeff - Dig it away from anything flammable, and in the spot the wife is least likely to kill you for destroying!

[Dr. Debs]

Ah-bbqed butt. This looks pretty darn fabulous. The last pig bbq I went to was in North Carolina, involved a big drum, a whole pig, and a fair amount of moonshine dipped out of a mason jar over the many many hours it took. All that waiting (and the hooch) certainly added to the delight when you finally got to EAT IT.

[Dave Venters, a.k.a. meat head at Sierra Hills Market, Murphys]

I would like to thank Jeff & Mary for allowing me to build this project. I always wanted to build a pit. This was the way that I was taught to cook for large amounts of folks that enjoy the brisket and butt. I would also like to thank my godfather who gave me some advice on the project, Duane Rossi of Rossi's Steak House in Big Pine, California where I was twistedly raised with great food, great wine and great friends. Also, my good friends Darren Shuler and Fred Carter who helped out with the hard work of building the pit and carving the feast.

Thank you again to the Twisted Oaks crew for allowing me to be a part of this event and I look forward to future projects.

[el jefe]

I'm just looking forward to the next meal! Thanks again Dave (and Darren and Fred!)

[Lynn~in-Sac]

Great to finally see how this all developed! I can attest to how great the meat is after its pulled out of the pit!