Barbacoa in Onteniente, and some Birthdays
I remember vividly my brother-in-law Jorge’s comments on his first visit to our house in Indiana a number of years ago. It was with the occasion of a very American ritual: the barbecue. Jorge, a veterinarian turned the purchasing director at the meat department of a large Spanish supermarket chain, and who, since the last couple of years has been running 9 cattle farms with a total of 6,000 heads, knows his meat, and how to cook it.
So that day, we went meat shopping. Jorge chose the cuts, even studied the way meat is sold in the United States, from the different cuts, to the packaging used when prepacked and displayed in the fridges, and basically anything that had to do with meat. We got home with our bounty, seasoned the meat, very lightly, with flaky salt (because that meat didn’t need any other treatment, in his words), and set off to light the grill. At the sight of our polished aluminum, beautiful and ever reliable Weber Grill, he laughed. “I thought we were barbecuing,” he said. “This is more like cooking on an outdoor stove!”
As much as I love my “outdoor stove”, as Jorge called it, which allows me to grill a couple of steaks in a snap, I have to admit he had a point. Check out the photos and see for yourself what Jorge means when he talks barbecue. His, (with the help of brother-in-law Jaime and my husband Dave), is a labor of love. Orange tree branches and twigs that are burnt to embers, sometimes for close to one hour, while sipping beer or a glass of wine, becomes a family affair, with children setting the table and moms, cousins and aunts arranging the flowers, the candles, preparing the side dishes, kids dripping wet from a last dip in the pool, others mingling and otherwise enjoying the company, the laughs and the teases. Family.
There are two kinds of barbecues that we make at our family home in Onteniente, which I’d call, generally speaking, the meat barbecue and the seafood barbecue. The seafood barbecue is my favorite, amongst other things, because it’s the one I cannot enjoy in Indiana. This particular summer day, we made a meat barbecue, so I will have to tell you about the seafood barbecue another time.
Knowing Jorge, you would assume he picked the meat himself, like he’s always asked to do. But this time, alas, I had the honor to pick the meat (I have to admit the only reason was that he had a busy day at work, and didn’t have the time). Given the opportunity, I chose my favorites: chuletitas de cordero, lamb chops, and the best cured pork sausages from Casa Medina, a butcher that is an institution in my hometown. Its cured pork products and other charcuterie are artisanal, and my shopping list this day included morcilla, black blood sausage, chorizo, and longaniza, a long, mild sausage beloved by the children. I added in two racks of ribs and some pork belly, at people’s requests. We completed the meal with charred pimientos de Padrón, Padrón peppers (check here to find out more about this delectable pepper), my mom’s famous boquerones en vinagre, white marinated anchovies, and a number of salads.
But this wasn’t just any barbecue. It was a celebration. A celebration of family, of togetherness, and of many birthdays that happen in the summer in our large family. So dinner ended, in the wee hours, when my camera couldn’t take any more photos, and after blowing out the candles of many, many years of us, a chocolate mousse and mocha cake, covered in chocolate shavings and topped by a birthday candelabra whose candles were blown by three generations of Sanz-Caballero’s.
Create the embers:
Prepare the fire by creating a teepee of small twigs atop a pile of kindling like wood chips or newspaper. Add larger pieces of wood as the fire catches. When you have a good flame going, add in more robust pieces of wood.
Tend to the fire until it matures and burns down to embers, about 45 minutes. Then, with a grill hoe, spread the embers evenly over the suface of the barcebue and underneath the grill grate.
CHULETITAS DE CORDERO
Grilled lamb Chops
2 lbs lamb chops
Coarse sea salt to taste
Generously season the lamb chops with salt. Arrange them on a grill grate and cook over embers until slightly charred, about 4-5 minutes per side.
EMBUTIDO A LA BRASA
Grilled Pork Sausages
Blood sausages, chorizos and longanizas
Arrange the sausages on a grill grate and cook, turning them over every 4 minutes or so, until all sides are slightly charred and the sausages are cooked through, about 10 to 12 minutes total.
PIMIENTOS DE PADRON
Charred Padrón Peppers
2 lbs pimientos de Padrón
6 Tbs olive oil
Coarse sea sallt to taste
Rinse the peppers and let dry very well. On the stove, heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add a batch of peppers in one single layer and cook until they get slightly charred and blistered on all sides, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.
Place the peppers on a plate lined with paper towels and add another batch to the pan (add an extra tablespoon of olive oil as needed). Continue to fry the peppers in batches. Sprinkle with salt and serve.
To eat, hold the pepper by the stem, bite down and eat everything but the stem.
