I tried to cook a Whole Lamb in an Underground Pit 

I respect the honesty of this video more than anything.

Dude!! I love that you posted the cook that didn't end as you had hoped. That is so awesome man. And inspiring! I've shot multiple episodes that I wasn't happy with and left them on the cutting room floor. But now, you've mad me reconsider using them! I'll go back and see what I can salvage, and I'll be giving you the on -camera thanks for the motivation!!! Yeaaah boy!!! #stayingrillout

hello, nice work, the problem was 3 things, 1- you need real heavy charcoal add one full bag of your big block with the same amount of wood meaning double quality and quality . 2- 25% of the total liquid that you added is enough with all that vegetable which contain water already. . 3- you need to add water on the sand on the edges to seal and block the Oxygen 100 % + cover the led with clothes material and then cover the whole cover with sand 100% up to the edges of the surrounding floor . after 5 hours it will be done but you can keep it up to 12 hours for tenderness . hope you read my humble expert opinion and try again there is no shame of experiment a new cooking techniques and fail then you try again and master it pitmaster. thanks for your videos .we always watching you.

This way of cooking is , as you said , well known in the middle east... so here’re some tips for the next time... 1. Seal the pit ... we usually bury the opening with A LOT of sand .. some seal it with a mould of clay... 2. Tooo much foil... we hang the meat from the top and keep it unwrapped.. do not worry about the moist, especially if you deepened your pit a bit more. Good luck and thanks for this vid... I appreciate failures as much as I like success

I’ve cooked goat underground and I learned the hard way that you cannot use cinder blocks. The best is simply lining up some bricks or river rock. But frankly if you are digging into clay that is the best. When I added cinderblocks in order to make the pit more level and “nicer” looking the pit would not hold temp and undercooked. When I went back and simply took out the cinderblocks and used some bricks and the surrounding clay / ground - all went fine.

"Morrison is offering his assistance as long as he is fed" lmao

BBQ is a continuous learning experience. Keep it up!

In Middle East we do it abit different. We hang lamb in the pit don’t cover it and we get the fire and coal really hot for few hrs. The vigi goes on bottom and hanged lamb on the top the dipping of the lamb goings to vigi so no need to add beef stock just add water,

Post a failure? Got damn right, that's why I love channels like this! Learning curve.

You need a bigger fire and some rocks that will retain the heat longer.

When you guys lowered the pan into the pit, I felt that the world is sooo small. You guys looked just like my buddies and I when we cook this meal. We call it Mandi. Big fan of your work guys. Greetings all the way from Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦

In my country we do the underground pit. First you need an insulator walls ( clay, metal barrels quite famous, or clay bricks), second you need to seal it by mud at the top ( sand won’t work). The idea is, to create fire to heat the walls enough as they will be the source of heat when you seal, also you need fire above the seal to keep things heated, it doesn’t take a day to work, less than 3 hours depending what configuration u have. Loved how nothings stops you from trying different ways to bbq ! Well done

We had a older gentleman that lived near us here in Middle Georgia, USA. His name was Mr Hooks, Google Hooks BBQ Milledgeville GA. He had a shed built over a huge in-ground dugout in the ground with 8 pits inside it. He would always have at least four hogs cooking in there. I remember going there with my grandpa. It was the best pulled pork bbq around. And in the little building in front his Wife would sell bread, homemade sauces, and fresh cooked pork skins and cracklins. A lot of history and good memories.

Commendable effort, how could we ever be successful, without failure. Looking forward to the next pit video!

I’ve never seen this type of cooking(suffocation of burning embers). I’m a Polynesian(Tongan) & how we make our underground oven(‘umu) is that we heat rocks(volcanic, ocean or river tumbled) by placing them over a large fire till the rocks become so hot, they retain an orange glow. Then we remove any large pieces of burning wood out of the pit & with long poles, rearrange the hot stones in a flat layer above the remaining burning embers. Unlike the embers, the hot stones can retain their heat more longer than the embers without oxygen. To prevent the burning by creating a steaming element like your pan of vegetables & water, we use the stalks of plants that have a heavy liquid content. Bananas are plentiful in the islands so we cut down the trees, using the trunks/stalks(lots), crushed against a solid object to break it down/apart, for easier spreading & layer of hot stones coverage. Then we place the food items on a wired mesh & place the mesh on top of the layer of smashed banana trunks. Then we build a framework of hardwood sticks above the food, allowing ample space for the heat & steam to circulate throughout the oven, beneath the framework. Then we’ll use the banana leaves from the banana trees that were cut down to cover up the wooden framework. The leaves act as an additional steam element as well as an insulation, providing enough coverage to prevent the steam from escaping. Then we’ll use water soaked burlap to cover the leaves, creating a first layer of weighted cover & additional insulation, keeping the moisture within with the additional water soaking material. Then we’ll use either thick wet cardboard, tarps &/or used rugs as another weighted cover to cover the entire ovens top area. Then we’ll bury the entire top coverage with dirt which is the final weighted insulation. Depending on the amount of food put inside & how hot the rocks were depends on the time to remain covered. Your lamb would’ve been done in about 3-4hrs. Opening, just removing layer by layer at a time. But be especially cautious scraping the dirt/sand off to the sides first, before removing the next layer. When removing the 2nd layer, do so carefully as to not drop dirt onto the next layer & the next.

As a thermal mechanical engineer, and a decent bbq cook, I can tell you the issue was lack of insulation, causing significant heat loss through the top. It did not have to do with you lack of heat, just containing it. You can't have an exposed thin steel plate at the top, you need thick coverage, 10-15 cm of sand all around through the perimeter, without any exposed steel

You need more fire and river rocks, those rocks keep the heat for longer time and higher temperature, also, the MExican way to do it (the best way) is to fold the meat with maguey leafs, previously toasted in the fire.

I want to see you do this again I think this is an amazing idea. Just keep going everything is a learning curve.

Oh man, I loved this cook. You learn so much from every experience and this was no exception.

Vallen, opstaan en vooral doorgaan. Een "fail" maar toch een wijze les 💪🏻 En Nice dat je het toch ook laat zien Roel 👍🏻

I love this, "the meaning of having both sides success and failing" that is life.

It’s comforting knowing that even pros like you don’t have perfect cooks every time

One of your best videos. Appreciate the honesty and not trashing the footage. Looking forward to continuing on their journey with you! You’ll nail it next time!

Mate I'm so happy you posted a video that didn't go right. For this reason I truly think you've gained some love from us for this reason . Aweeome

When I’ve done this in the past, I dug the hole, built the fire in it, kept the fire going until I had lots of coals. Next shovel the coals out with intent to use them, so save them. Next, place the food in the pit in whatever container you want: foil, Dutch oven, burlap, leaves, etc. Next, bury the container with dirt and the coals immediately over the buried pit. Now build a fire over the pit to maintain the heat within. Yup, this will have to be tended, but isn’t that part of the joy of outdoor cooking? It’s a good idea to have some wires attached to the food container to assist with retrieving when the food is done. If your pit is shallow enough, you could have your wireless probe thermometer leads inserted and be able to plug it in and check meat temp without disturbing the pit. Just some thoughts....... fun stuff!! Thanks

I just recently discovered your channel and I can’t stop watching your videos. It’s also really cool to see legit grilling & bqq being done in Europe. You guys deserve a million subscribers easily. Please keep it up!!

Finally! I've been waiting for this since you put the photo on your RU-vid!

Great video. Glad you tried and look forward to the next video with this pit!

Looking forward to the next one. Cheers to everyone responsible for this one and the next.

It's okay dude. Your effort to make the oven, and to post the video dispite the result is really appreciated.

Hi. I’m form Argentina. Here it’s named CURANTO. The proble was that your pit is to deep. We make a hole in the ground. Big fire. Some big rocks on it to keep the heat. Then all the food. Lots of vegetables most of all for flavor and humidity. You cover it all and on top of it. A very big fire. In order to have more heat. Another very cool way to cook. On Salt. Or the one we call INFIERNILLO. It’s fire at the bottom and on top. Keep on the excellent job. You are great. cheers!!

Here in the Pacific in Fiji we call it a "LOVO" it is pronounced in some way like "Lor-voh". A circular pit is dug about approx 1/2m down, place some wood to cover the pit and place stones on top of it preferable river stones with average diameter of around 0.2m. The stone will be heated until it turns white, if you're doing late afternoon it will some what look pinkish instead of white. This is an indication that the stones are ready, therefore you take away the big pieces of burning wood, living only very small pieces of charcoal and the hot stones. Spread evenly around the pit and put pieces of new cut up branches of coconut leaves (minus the leaves) on top of the stones to act as a rack this will stop whatever food you have having direct contact with the stones. Once that is done you can put whole pork or even lamb with some chicken and root crops for variety, place leaves to cover the food preferable new banana leaves fully spread out make sure every area is thickly covered. This will act as insulation trapping moisture from the food and also using its own moisture to roast the food. Use a large tarpaulin to cover the pit and than cover it with the dug out soil from the pit. Wait for 1hr30min to 2hrs. Whole pork fully roasted with the smoky flavour....and you're done.

Thank you for being real! Things don’t always turn out perfect but you make the best of it! I really appreciate the authentic nature and candid presentation of the outcome! Bravo!

Never mind we’re always learning that’s the fun of this and to see it happen to you it makes me feel better (don’t mean this in a bad way) and really good to see the puppy she is a beauty all the best take care Dave and Dee

You never fail when you learn where you went wrong and are able to fix it and teach your viewers a thing or two 👏👏👏👏👏👏 stay with it and dont give up. Great video!!!!

I really appreciate that you uploaded this learning experience. Its easier to just not upload this but I like that you stay real and show that when it comes to BBQ you are always learning.

To all the commentors saying that the pit needed more air: The idea with this kind of cook is not to keep a fire burning. Its actually the opposite. The hole is supposed to be lined with stones that retain a lot of heat. You burn a large fire to begin with, but its actually the heat from the stones that is supposed to cook your meat. My grandpa used to do goat like this and it would always come out amazing!

Eeey Roel, lots of credits for downloading a "fail" that is what a real life pitmaster X is like! Thanks man greetzzz from quarantine 010🔥💪😉

Awesome! One of my favorite vids. Looking forward to seeing how the next pit cook goes.

Thanks for sharing and being honest with us. There is always a learning curve. Looking forward for next attempt with success!

In New Zealand the ground oven is called a hangi it cooks by developing steam from both the meat juices and the green leafy Vege content which is laid around the baskets of meat to insulate from direct heat. The key to success is in the heat source volcanic rocks are best but they are often substituted by railway tracks or large iron blocks or bars. There are 2 pits dug in the process one is the large fire pit the second is the food pit. The fire pit is used to heat your rocks or irons white hot these are transferred to the cooking pit once the fire burns down. They retain there heat for many ours and don’t require oxygen to burn like coals. As you perfect the technique placing small rocks or irons directly on your proteins assist with caramelising and crisping up your meats, but essentially it is steam that does the bulk of the cooking. Look up Māori hangi for more info hope this is useful I like your channel and regularly watch your content awesome.👍👍

Hey Pitmaster X, you're right, this underground pit is used in several places and cultures, it is not exclusive to Mexican barbacoa, however, to my knowledge (I read this a while ago and may be completely wrong) the term barbacoa refers to the cooking method not the dish itself. As someone has already pointed out, it is done a little different, not covering the meat but hanging it in the pit, use a pot to put the veggies inside with some water and place that below the meat so the juices can drip to create a broth, but man!! 9:30 this looks really good an it is actually a lot closer to the real thing. I'm sorry this did not turn out as you expected, it is a learning curve and I'll happily follow that with you, keep up the good work!!

Yup! That’s life - learning! Big respect, and waiting for next hole cooking! :) All the bests!

So great that you posted this, it may not have worked out as hoped but at least you could save the situation with the big grill. 👍

Bro that is an awesome pit, just in time for summer! I still loved this video and look forward to the next cook in it! Keep on grillin!

Great content ! I think you didn't fail, you are just learning, as long as you do next one.

Thank you for being truthful about your experience. As anyone that does a lot of outdoor cooking knows for sure is it doesn't always go as planned. Thanks for sharing. I love your videos!

Good job man I love the honesty with your videos. Win or lose you always have great videos.

Thanks for posting such a great video. I know you were heartbroken and I would have been too but this is something I've been wanting to do for quite some time and I hope to learn from your experience. I look forward to future pit cooks as you adjust your method. Thanks again.

Like a real pitmaster, way to go!

The lack of heat like you suggested is indeed most likely the reason this failed. You didn't have enough thermal energy stored up inside the pit. It needs more mass. Instead of those hollow stones use solid ones(or fill these up with fine sand before covering them up with cement.) You want a thermal store on the inside and not thermal insulation. You can even drop large solid rocks down (1-2kg ones) in with the fire that will act as extra thermal mass. Also more insulation over the top. You used a metal sheet and a thin layer of sand. Bury that thing. And make sure the top row of anti-dutch-weather bricks is also insulated with earth.

I´m Speechless.... Great Work !!

Authentic video! Awesome!

Props to you for being honest makes you much more likeable. Keep killing it, dude.

My family in Old Mexico would line the hole in the ground with bricks. The earthen brick lined oven large enough for a large stock pot, the Calve for Barbacoa or Goat for Birria was fabricated and a prepared Braising liquid was added, and covered. Wood embers were light and the pot was lowered on to the embers, the cooking chamber was covered with palm leaves that would then be covered with earth. Breathing holes were made for the embers and allowed for the aromatic aromas to be monitored. The pit Master would know it was ready according to the aromas emanating from the breathing holes. Good try!

Hey man, I live in Saudi Arabia and we cook in underground pits all the time. Even the most experienced fail from time to time. A pro tip, you have to build a huge fire the first time you cook on it to heat up the ground too. If I may request that you put some science into this and put a temp prob to map the heat chart. This will allow us to replicate the results in regular smokers. Keep up the good work

The pit area is very large - deep (approximately 50"x30"x28" - length x width x depth) for one lamb being roasted in a roasting pan, and no additional coals were added. The information was vital for my future projects, thanks for sharing. !!!

And THAT is the reason I love this channel!

Roel: Zoals we hier in de VS zeggen; Kak gebeurt! Wat de meeste indruk op me maakt, is dat je de video hebt gepost. Het bewijst verder dat je een man van je woord bent, betrouwbaar en nederig. Dit is waarom we je allemaal komen zien koken! Overigens: het pakket met rubs en sauzen ligt momenteel bij de Nederlandse Douane en wordt binnenkort vrijgegeven. -Doc

I have had more then a few epic bbq fails but I learn from them like you did and I get back to the same cook till I get it right great vid

When I was backpacking through West Africa (about 9 countreis) the main food was lamb and goat grilled on chain length fence over a fire in a large metal trash can on the side of the street. He would cut some off and put it in wax paper. That was lunch and dinner. Usually goat, but every once in a while you'd be surprised with lamb.

you'll get it right next time man 😁 looking forward to the next vid and cant wait to see how perfectly your next cook on that pit turns out 😇

U never fail, when U learn from "trying ". Honesty is best always!!!

Hey bro , I'm from meddle east. Iraq , This is one of our ways of bbq. U did a good job but u need things to adjust, first use the fireplace stone in pit building, and the other thing is don't use the tin paper , leave the lamp just like u made it without covering it and don't forget the salt and some seasoning , for 4 to 6 hours in the pit after making a good fire , and cover the pit over the steel edge with wet cloths then cover the edges with mud then above all it put the sand .. i hope i was helpful for you , god bless you .

It's Pitmaster-F! Only kidding. A pit is for life, not just for one dinner

this was a great video, thanks for what you give to us grill and bbq addicts. 👍💪🥩

Love the video In New Zealand we call it a hangi and use a pit and a fire and good heat-conducting rocks and cover it with wet sacks and dirt

Love this channel. Always raising the bar. Creating his own content vs following trends

Can't wait for the next one!

Hey Roel, stoer om niet alleen de successen te laten zien. Succes met een volgende ronde. Gaat je lukken!!!!!

Us from the Navajo tribe bake cake underground mainly for ceremonial purposes, for that it's normally done by placing foil In a hole then place corn husk above the foil and around the dirt walls of the hole, then pour the batter in and cover it with the corn husk and foil and then covering the hole with dirt and placing a fire on top. You might get a little dirt on the cake sometimes but it don't hurt none.Hope this helps if you try again @pitmaster X.

Staying true and honest is key. Love the videos

Hello dear , this is Mumin from Iraq, my dear don’t be sad we use this way in my country the reason that keeping yours not cooked well is you didn’t put enough wood also you need to keep the fire going after that put your meet then close your oven. Best regards

Got to take the rough with the smooth. You nail every cook I've watched so just learn what you need to and keep our mouths watering in envy. Your the man Roel 👍

Well done Pitmaster X. Honestly still very inspiring! Hope you can make another one where you succeed :D

It's ok, bro. You did a good job. I enjoyed watching the video. All the best for next time !

the pit has tons of potential. can't wait to see more of it. think lūʻau and hangi. stay positive!

I respect your honesty. Looking forward to the next effort. Cheers

Really enjoyed !!!

In Peru we have pachamanca. The pit is unlined. Stones are heated up and put them in the pit. No fire. Beef, chicken, pork. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava, and favas. Each layer is covered with cloth.The pit is then covered and you wait 90 minutes

In the Middle East they put stones on the bottom to retain the heat generated from the wood/coals. Then they don’t have all that space above the their food; they wrap the food to be cooked with something like burlap and then actually pile sand/earth over their food. Think luau.

I’m sorry about your failure with the pit. My Father Jose Palofox Valerio was a ground pit master when it comes to this style it’s a learning process and sometimes luck. I remember learning from him that a key was keeping the pit seal as best as possible. We would mix water and dirt to make a creamy mud so it can seal the heat in and obviously this starves the embers but it will take time for it to lose its heat you worked hard to start with. The dry sand sealed enough to starve the fire but not enough to contain the heat in. I hope you try it again soon.

I got a lot more out of this video than the "picanyah. ketchup mayonnaise" videos that come out perfect every time. You are doing great! Keep up the good work.

Well done for not cooking it on the gas grill and pretending to get it out the pit. Your honesty is appreciated

"Morrison if offering his assistance as long as he gets fed" 🤣👍

Can't wait to see the next pit cook and thanks to the patriots keep up the good work 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

excellent video as always, stay safe PitmasterX n crew!~

When are you going try this again? Would love to see your adjustments.

Great video even if the end result didn't match the expectations. You are really inspiring! :) Thanks!

Great video and content brother!!!

Amazing! You are awesome! ❤️

It takes a real man to own his mistakes/failures and even post them online. Props for that! I've done (in smaller scale) the same idea but what we did is we buried the meat in the sand and made fire above the meat. And as I understood it, the main part in this is that the meat is stolen! Preferably a neighbouts lamb.

It’s great to show your failures especially for new people coming into this, for me this is very valuable.

i think its a good experiment for who wants to do so thanks for the info

Your just showing that your human despite your godly cooking your human side showed through brother. Always a good thing to post videos like this shows us that we don't have to be down when we fail if even the pros fail. Although not as often as us keep up the great content and I can't wait for the revenge against the lamb.

When cooking underground like that, we don’t covered it with foil. Also when you fire up the wood add rocks. To the fire. Rocks heat longer then coal. That’s how we cook it underground here in the pacific islands

You have to retain heat by adding rocks or metal beams... when those are blistering hot, add your lamb and such.. close the gap and wait👍

You need to get some real big rocks in there and get them heated up real hot before you close it, that way the heat from the hot rocks will cook it over night.

Keep it up i like your all videos lot’s of love from Canada 🇨🇦

Don’t give up! I know how it feels not to succeed, but keep trying until you get the results!