Roasting in a Pit

[chuck]

I'll be catering a wedding in the middle of August and need advice from anyone who has successfully roasted an entire animal in a pit. From what I understand, a pit is dug in the shape of a cube and lined with rocks, a huge fire is built on top of that and allowed to burn down to embers, a wrapped animal is lowered in, and the whole thing is covered with earth. Whew. Sounds easy so far.

For my pit roasting debut I'll be trying it with the most expensive option, lamb. And probably four of them. I'm worried about the timing, the heat, how easy it will be to carve when it's done, etc.

Have you heard about the wild fires this summer in the west? The whole weekend will be right in the middle of it. I guess I'll be dealing with that issue too. Permits? General regulations that I should know to ask about?

I think this is a solidly desperate first post. Thanks for any help.

[fifi]

You are either terribly brave or totally NUTS! (no smiley here, on purpose)

I have not done this myself but have been present at friends in Hawaii and I can tell you... this ain't simple. I asked a lot of questions as the event progressed. As the pit was prepared, stones stacked, the fire set, it became evident that this is a job for experience. There are a lot of nuances and technique that can only be gained by experience. A short list... size and placement of stones, distribution of the fire and coals, timing of heating of the stones, preparation of the animal (they used a small pig), stacking the pig and leaves and other insulation just so, timing before you dig it up. You can't raise the lid and check it after all. And you can't regulate the temperature by opening air vents. All of these details and experience are passed down from father to son and so forth.

And you want to do this for a catering job? In a part of the country where lighting the fire might get you arrested?

I did have a rather spectacular dish in Mexico City at a restaurant called Arroyo. They had big masonry BBQ "pits" fired from below. Leg of lamb was seasoned then encased in big split agave leaves and left to slow cook until it was fall apart tender. But they had a lot of experience doing that, too.

If you proceed with this madness, I think we will be interested in hearing how it turns out.

Edited July 17, 2003 by fifi (log)

[Really Nice!]

I'll be catering a wedding in the middle of August and need advice from anyone who has successfully roasted an entire animal in a pit.  From what  I understand, a pit is dug in the shape of a cube and lined with rocks, a huge fire is built on top of that and allowed to burn down to embers, a wrapped animal is lowered in, and the whole thing is covered with earth.  Whew.  Sounds easy so far. 

For my pit roasting debut I'll be trying it with the most expensive option, lamb.  And probably four of them.  I'm worried about the timing, the heat, how easy it will be to carve when it's done, etc. 

Have you heard about the wild fires this summer in the west?  The whole weekend will be right in the middle of it.  I guess I'll be dealing with that issue too.  Permits?  General regulations that I should know to ask about?

I think this is a solidly desperate first post.  Thanks for any help.

Chuck, welcome!!

PM me with your e-mail address and I'll send you an essay I wrote for culinary school on this very topic. It too was for a wedding in Wenatchee Washington in July 2000. Four days later I was having dinner at The French Laundry, but that's a different essay.

My essay includes all the steps, including photos, that you'll need to successfully pull this off.

That said, I highly recommend that you try it once before trying it at a wedding. Also, my essay demonstrates how to roast a pig, not a lamb. It should not matter as the methodology is the same, it's the temperature of the lamb that is lower by about ten degrees.

Permits, fires, regulations... hey can you run faster than they can catch you?

Seriously, consult your local fire department. Offer full disclosure. Let them know the address where this will be occuring should they need to make a quick visit. Ask for advice... the wedding you save may be the one you're cooking for.

[Mr. Toast]

Last year we roasted a small (50 pound) pig in a pit for practice, and then a lamb. I found it was, in fact, quite simple. Really Nice supervised the first roasting; he was our expert since he'd actually seen someone do this before.

A few small points:

we lined the pit with cement "bricks" - of the sort used to make patios and walkways. Other than that, we didn't use any rocks.

The pit was just 18" or so deep. That was enough for 6+ inches of coals and an air gap below the pig or lamb.

The animal was sandwiched between two ordinary wire gates purchased from HomeDepot. A friend welded the gates to hinges on one side and aded long metal tubing along two edges of one gate so we had, effectively, a large BBQ basket for the animals. The tubing made it easy to pick up the basket (it took two people, of course). It was also used to support the basket over the sides of the pit.

Over the basket, and large enough to completely cover the pit, we placed a couple of pieces of galvanized steel. This was in place for all of the cooking time.

Before cooking we built a fire in the pit using maybe 1/4 cord of wood. When it had burned down to a few inches of hot coals we put the animal on and covered with the galvanized steel lid. Because we weren't cooking anything huge we actually didn't need to add more coals during the cooking process. We did flip the basket a time or two and of course we monitored the cooking process carefully. Did I mention that we drank bourbon? Starting around 9 AM? Yes, we were happy cooks by the time the meal was ready.

[chuck]

I was curious about the bourbon part...

[Really Nice!]

I was curious about the bourbon part...

Oooooohhhhhh, crap! Mr. Toast, did you have to bring that up? I forgot all about it.

That day turned out to be a, "We need to re-evaluate our relationship" day.

It's a good thing she doesn't peruse this site.

...famous last words...