Pit barbecue is a method and/or apparatus forbarbecue cookingmeat androot vegetables buried below ground.Indigenous peoples around the world usedearth ovens for thousands of years. In modern times the term and activity is often associated with theEastern Seaboard, the "barbecue belt",colonialCalifornia in theUnited States andMexico. The meats usually barbecued in a pit in these contexts arebeef,pork, andgoat.
Throughout theNew World theindigenous peoples of the Americas cooked in the earth for millennia. The original use of buried cooking in pits inNorth America was done by theNative Americans for thousands of years, including by thetribes of California.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries eras, when the territory became SpanishLas Californias and then MexicanAlta California, theMissions andranchos of California had largecattle herds forhides andtallow use andexport. At the end of the culling andleather tanning season large pit barbecues cooked the remaining meat. In the early days of California statehood after 1850 theCalifornios continued the outdoor cooking tradition forfiestas.
Traditional Californian pit barbecuing is not done often in contemporary times, due to needing space and labor to dig a pit, significant firewood requirements, and air quality concerns. However, in 2007 the 'Culinary Historians of Southern California' recreated anEarly California pit barbecue on the grounds of the MexicanRancho San Jose, at theYgnacio Palomares Adobe inPomona. It required burning hundreds of pounds of wood in the pit over the preceding night, then lowering cloth-wrapped, marinated meat into the resulting pit of coals and covering everything with earth. After cooking all night, participants pronounced the results "incredibly tender, deeply smoky meat." A traditionalHorno was used for baking.[1]
TheSanta Maria Style BBQ, originally from theCentral Coast of California, uses a portable 'towed' trailer version frequently seen atfarmers markets.[2]
Pit barbecuing is also popular along theEastern Seaboard of the U.S. The buried version of theNew England clam bake is one example. InMaryland it is done at large "bull roasts" in the summer season and "bull and oyster roasts" in colder months. Maryland-stylepit beef is not barbecue cookery in the strictest sense. Instead, it is typically cooked quickly over charcoal. The meat is typically served rare with a stronghorseradish sauce as the condiment.[3]
Across the "barbecue belt" of the United States, pit barbecue can also refer to an enclosed, above-ground "pit" such as ahorno or outdoorpizza oven. The method of cooking the meat is slowly, using various hardwoods to flavor the meat. This breaks down the connective tissue in the meats, producing a tender product. The types of meat cooked in this fashion include both beef and pork.[4][5]
