Very Old Lamb Technique From Crete

[ecowper]

This is going to look very familiar to all of us Americans who know the origin of BBQ as Barbacoa, the Native American method of cooking on a wood frame above an open fire.

Except that this tradition, Antikristo comes from Crete and can be documented as far back as Homer.

https://www.tasteatlas.com/antikristo

Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich document the restaurant where they discovered it in Greece, how Antikristo is cooked now, and how to cook your own Lamb Antikristo. I happen to have a leg of lamb in the freezer ….. guess what’s happening later this week?

[FireMan]

When I first saw this title I wondered how old the lamb was, like mebbee a sheep even. Glad I checked in to clarify the sitiation! So what cooker are you goin to cook it on. Looks like somethin out of my league.

[ecowper]

I’m pretty sure Stacy won’t let me hang a leg of lamb in the kitchen like the picture. So, I’m thinking Hasty-Bake

[Mr. Bones]

Sounds like th perfeck reason to git ya th Santa Maria Attachment doohicky thingy fer yer kettle, Brotherman!

[SheilaAnn]

ecowper when I first read this and saw Barbacoa, I thought for sure it would have been wrapped un burlap and buried overnight. I catered an event like that once. Had no idea what my chef was up to. I go to the site for set-up and am freaking out because I could not find the beef anywhere. No grills, no nothing. Then he told me to walk over to one section of the space and put my hand on the pile of dirt. It was super warm! Some of the the most tender beef I have ever had!

[Troutman]

Actually barbacoa, or the term that is, was found in the Tainos peoples in the Caribbean where they cooked both in earthen pits and on raised racks. It's my belief they did so dependent on the toughness or perhaps the size of the cut of meat. However I do agree most what we think of as barbacoa is cooked in an earthen pit or pib as the Mayans called it.

[ecowper]

Troutman you are correct that I meant Barbacoa as in the method of cooking by the Tainos peoples that is generally understood to have led to American Southern BBQ.

SheilaAnn that’s a pretty cool story.

[Mr. Bones]

Didn't have any Lunch, there, but once spent a Day Trip at Copán...

Purty humblin, climbin stones laid more than 2000 yars ago...th views were equally ecstatic...I have some.110 Instamatic pics on some old HDDs, from bumfuggled ol x86 puters; might ever git published, or Not.

[CaptainMike]

Wow, back before Homer, eh? We gotta go way all the way back to like 1989 or so for that!

[Troutman]

I was thinking 1959, does that make me even more ancienter?

[RobertC]

Sounds like something my brother-in-law would do. He's pretty much a cretan.

[ecowper]

Did I post this in the Jokes channel by accident?? ;-)

[RobertC]

ecowper One of my other BIL's has referred to this BIL as a joke, so there's that.

[RobertC]

https://radio-kreta.de/antikristo-the-traditional-way-of-grilling/

[das85]

Very excited to see results and hear about the experience!

[ecowper]

I think I'm going to use my Hasty-Bake to create the fire and my rotisserie to hold the lamb leg. As if I laid the whole thing on its side. That's a recommended option in Sarit Packer's cookbook

[das85]

So if I'm reading this right.. The idea is to have a fairly sizable fire and put the lamb adjacent rather than above.. So the lamb is same height as the flames from the fire but not directly over it?

If so then I guess sorta same theme as a side mounted rotisserie burner (though infinitely more awesome)?

[ecowper]

I’d love to do it old school

[Caffeine88]

I'm very interested to see how this turns out. I love lamb, but rarely cook it. This looks like a great way to go. I'm curious if it would translate well to a Santa Maria, and perhaps wild game. Leg of venison, perhaps?

[ecowper]

I think it would work well for game meat, too

[das85]

Hey ecowper has this happened yet? I want to try this but want you to try first so I can learn from your experience..

[ecowper]

I did cook some lamb, but not this method. Life got in the way. Thinking it will happen in early December now. WIll definitely post about it.

[rickgregory]

This looks like a lamb version of how the natives here did planked salmon although not with the plank:



If you have a kettle with a vortex, I think you could do this in miniature

[rickgregory]

The Vortex isn't a new grill. It just makes your new grill better. More complete. You don't want to be... incomplete do you?

[ecowper]

I am trying to only feed it just enough to hold off until I can do the AZ or LSG that I really want …. And you’re not helping!!

[rickgregory]

There are many accessories for kettles. SO.... MANY...

[Bkhuna]

The Cretans of Sparta?

[gsker]

Just went to « To Antikristo » near Chania, crete.
I can recommend the place. It is reservation only, so you have to contact them beforehand. Zoran was very proud to show me his custom Antikristo setup, where he cooks lamb and pork for 4 hours.
Tasted really good, not smoky but you could feel the pork belly had spent time near a wood fire. He uses only olive wood and high quality meat.
sides and salad were perfect too, coal roasted aubergines to die for.

[ecowper]

oh man, that sounds fantastic

[bmillin]

Best zombie thread resurrection ever

[yakima]

So have any of you intrepid cooks actually done lamb on what looks like an asado? I have planked salmon over a Breeo fire pit. Very good. Would need to do some Rube Goldberg work to come up with asado. I have done leg of lamb on BGE rotisserie. Outstanding.

[yakima]

I thought this was about me. Named Lamb and 73, but no connection to Crete. Well, maybe. There was a British citizen in Crete who supposedly threatened to have my client killed in Afghanistan. Nothing came of it.