Pachamanca

Meat and roots cooked in a pit between stones heated until they crack, sealed under earth for two hours.

Chicken, Pork, Lamb. Not vegetarian — contains chicken, lamb, pork.

Ingredients

For the marinade

• 2 kg lamb shoulder, in large pieces
• 1.5 kg pork belly and ribs, in large pieces
• 1 chicken, jointed
• 6 tablespoons ají panca paste
• 3 tablespoons ají amarillo paste, as on its own page
• 1 large bunch huacatay, blended
• 1 head garlic, crushed
• 200 ml chicha de jora or dark beer
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 3 tablespoons salt

For the pit

• 3 kg potatoes, unpeeled
• 2 kg sweet potatoes, unpeeled
• 1 kg broad beans in the pod
• 6 corn on the cob, in husks
• humitas, as on their own page, optional
• banana leaves or large edible leaves
• about 40 fist-sized river stones
• firewood

Method

1. THE STONES ARE HEATED UNTIL THEY CRACK AND THE PIT IS SEALED WITH EARTH. A fire built over the stones in the pit and kept going two hours, until they are grey-white and ringing and some have split; then the embers raked out, the food layered between the hot stones, leaves over it, and the whole pit buried under earth so no steam escapes for two hours. That seal is the oven. Any gap and the heat is gone in twenty minutes and the meat at the bottom is raw.
2. THE STONES MUST BE RIVER STONES AND DRY. Smooth, dense, and gathered from somewhere above the water line. A porous or damp stone holds water, and a stone with water in it can burst at this temperature -- which is a genuine hazard, not a figure of speech, and is the reason this is not a dish to improvise with whatever is in the garden.
3. IT IS LAYERED BY COOKING TIME, LOWEST FIRST: lamb and pork against the hottest stones at the bottom, chicken above them, then potatoes and sweet potatoes, then corn, broad beans and humitas at the top where it is coolest. Layered the other way round the beans are cinders and the lamb is raw.
4. HOT STONES GO BETWEEN THE LAYERS TOO, not just underneath. A few lifted in with tongs on top of the meat before the next layer goes on, which is what cooks the middle of the pit at all.
5. THE MEAT IS MARINATED OVERNIGHT IN HUACATAY AND AJÍ PANCA. Twelve hours. There is no basting and no adjusting once the pit is shut, so everything the dish will taste of has to be on the meat before it goes in.
6. AND IT IS NOT OPENED TO CHECK. Two hours, and the first look is the last. This page cannot give you a skewer test, which is the honest position: the timing is the recipe and that is why the stones get two full hours of fire.
7. THE PIT IS DUG ABOUT 60 CM DEEP AND WIDE ENOUGH TO LAYER IN, and the earth dug out is kept beside it for the seal.
8. A day ahead: the meats folded through the blended marinade and left covered in a cool place OVERNIGHT.
9. The stones laid in the base of the pit and a hard wood fire built over them. Burned 2 HOURS, until the stones ring when struck and some have cracked.
10. The embers and ash raked out quickly, leaving the stones.
11. Banana leaves laid over the base stones.
12. THE LAMB AND PORK laid on, then hot stones lifted in among them with tongs.
13. The chicken next, then more stones, then the potatoes and sweet potatoes.
14. The corn, broad beans and humitas as on their own page last, at the top.
15. A thick layer of leaves over everything, then sacking, then ALL the earth shovelled back and patted down so nothing steams out.
16. LEFT 2 HOURS, unopened. Then dug out from the top and served straight from the pit onto leaves, with salsa criolla as on its own page.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Peru · All recipes