A Mexican Family Fiesta in Baja - Lamb Barbacoa

[Camadile]

Over the holidays, my buddies Kris and Brian and son, John went to San Quintin in Baja for five days. Awesome trip! We acquired and cooked a lot of different same day fresh sea foods – lobster, oysters, Yellow Fin, Rock Cod and Pismo Clams! The highlight of the trip, though, was that we were invited to attend a large family celebration of New Years Eve AND New Years day. The fiesta was being held at the hotel where we were staying and hosted by one of the employees who also owned a small ranch. His name is Haviar. For the celebrations (fiestas), Haviar slaughtered a pig and a lamb from his ranch. I was able to watch as family members butchered the pig and prepared it to become carnitas for New Years Eve. YUM!

Several days earlier, family members dug a cylindrical pit three feet wide and three feet deep. They kept a fire burning in it for three days. On New Years Eve, they placed the butchered lamb on a metal grate that was tied to a very large pot. The lowered it into the pit and covered lamb and pot with previously roasted agave leaves. Then they covered the pit with sheet metal and then covered the sheet metal with about a foot of dirt to fully insulate the pit. The next day, the family removed the amazing lamb from the pit and we all had tacos together. The pot under the lamb contained all the juices from the lamb and the agave and we were served the most amazing consume in a glass to sip with our tacos!

What an incredible cultural experience! This is barbeque Mexican style!

I took video of the family's multi-day preparation of Lamb Barbacoa for the New Year's Day feast and made a YouTube video. Here's the video:

[ame]https://youtu.be/NAmAVy4VhwY[/ame]

Cam

 

[Randy3269]

Awesome video. That looks like a labor of love for sure. I bet they were great!!

Thanks for sharing.
Randy

 

[Camadile]

Awesome video. That looks like a labor of love for sure. I bet they were great!!

Thanks for sharing.
Randy

Thanks Randy! The amount of time and effort that they all put into this cook was amazing but the result was well worth it!

Cam

 

[Titch]

Your a lucky man, I would be all over that like a rash.

 

[KevinJ]

Nice video thanks for sharing

 

[campdude]

Thanks for sharing that. Love that style of cooking.

 

[Q Junkie]

Old mill is a very cool place. I have stayed there a few times and one under less than optimal circumstances and still had a great time despite some uncontrollable variables. Your experience looked....optimal. :-D

 

[Bigbears BBQ]

That's was a great experience you had, once in a lifetime.

 

[SmittyJonz]

Over the holidays, my buddies Kris and Brian and son, John went to San Quintin for five days.

Cam

Pretty Impressive for Prison Food............:loco:

 

[bbqwizard]

So cool. Thanks for sharing the video. I teach culinary arts to 350 teenagers a day, of whom 60% are Mexican. One of these day's I would love to do this with them.

 

[Camadile]

Awesome video. That looks like a labor of love for sure. I bet they were great!!

Thanks for sharing.
Randy

There was a lot of love going around for the whole process, from digging the pit all the way through the savory meal!

Cam

 

[Camadile]

Your a lucky man, I would be all over that like a rash.

When Haviar told me what they were going to do and invited us to his fiesta, I was so giddy and excited that my friends thought there was something wrong with me!

Cam

 

[Camadile]

Old mill is a very cool place. I have stayed there a few times and one under less than optimal circumstances and still had a great time despite some uncontrollable variables. Your experience looked....optimal. :-D

I love the Old Mill! Every few months, my buddy and I get a Jones for the freshest seafood possible and the Old Mill goes on the calendar!

Cam

 

[Camadile]

So cool. Thanks for sharing the video. I teach culinary arts to 350 teenagers a day, of whom 60% are Mexican. One of these day's I would love to do this with them.

Barbacoa would be the perfect class project! There are a lot of different jobs to do so everyone can get involved in the final product! The family spent a half day searching for and harvesting just the right kind of agave!

Cam

 

[Bonewagon]

Cool! :thumb:

 

[Big George's BBQ]

That was an awesome experience Thanks for sharing