Mexican lamb barbacoa

Although a truly traditional Mexican barbacoa is prepared in a hole in the ground, using a whole lamb, it can be prepared in a more "urbane" fashion by using a steaming dish and a large stockpot or even a pressure cooker.
I don't really like to use ´pressure cookers for a variety of reason so here's how I make it in a stock pot.

To recreate the smoke taste of the underground cooking, the best way to go is to char a piece of aromatic wood (like mesquite, mango, hickory...) and toss it in the pot along with the water you'll use to steam the meat.

Start by rubbing the chunk of lamb of your choice (I like chuck, for the nice proportion of bone, lean and fat meat) with a liberal amount of coarse salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Next wrap the meat in banana leaves that you'll have previously softened by passing them over an open flame_ or you can hit them with a propane torch, if you prefer ....   ;  )

Now get the stock pot and place a soup bowl, inverted, on the bottom.
On top of the bottom of the bowl place a metallic steaming dish or a colander and in it place the meat, wrapped in the banana leaves.

Add water to the pot, just enough to almost level with the bowl and add:
°a bouquet made of bay leaves, oregano, marjoram and thyme
° a whole head of garlic, cut in two crosswise
°a large onion, cut in two
° a fair amount of dry, unsoaked chickpeas
° the piece of charred wood

Close the top of the pot with aluminium foil, making sure to achieve the tightest fit and place a lid on it.
Put the pot on medium high heat until it it starts to boil, then lower to heat to the lowest setting your stove allows and let cook for around 4 hours for a 4 pounds piece of meat.

Note:obviously, cutting the meat in smaller pieces will reduce cooking time, but some of the magic will be lost

Once ready, unwrap the meat,pass the stock through a colander and recover the garbanzos.
Discard the herbs and the wood  and serve the meat with tortillas, chopped onion, cilantro, the garbanzos and a cup of the stock on the side.

Here comes my "twist":
°reduce the stock to a gravy consistence;
°bled the chickpeas into a puree
°roast a poblano pepper, liquefy it and use it to make green tortillas
and serve it like this:

atop the green tortillas, with a few dollops of the garbanzo puree,some smashed avocado, cilantro and peppers sprouts/buds, sliced fresh serrano chiles and the reduction on the side.

Pop a few cold beers, or a nice cab and buon appetito!