THE BARBECUE
“WHERE’S father?” asked Yappa of her mother one afternoon.
“Gone off with Don Secundini to dig the pits for the barbecue,” answered Putsha.
“And where’s Shecol?”
“He has gone with them,” said Putsha. “But we must go to work, for we have bread to make and corn to get ready for tortillas to-day. The corn is all ready for you to grind. It has been soaked in the limewater. Begin to grind it while I build a fire in the oven.”
Yappa went over to what the Mexicans called a metate, and sitting down on the ground began to grind the corn. The metate was a big, smooth stone with two legs on one end of it. The legs made it stand up slanting. Yappa put some corn on the metate and ground it with another smooth stone.
Putsha built a fire in the big brick oven at the back of the house. She then came near where Yappa was at work, and began to make the bread. When the fire had made the oven very hot, she went to it, scraped the fire all out, and pushed the bread in on the hot bricks. Then she closed the oven door and left the bread until it was baked.
When the bread was in the oven, she said to Yappa, “Hurry, Yappa, and build a fire. Shecol will be back soon and he will be hungry. We must have some tortillas ready for him.”
“Isn’t father coming too?” asked Yappa.
“No; he will have to stay all night to turn the meat so that it does not burn,” answered Putsha.
Putsha put some big, smooth stones into the fire she had built outside on the ground. Then she brought some grease and rubbed it well into the cornmeal, so that the little grains of cornmeal all stuck together and made a paste.
By this time, the stone Putsha had put into the fire was very hot, so she pulled it out a little to one side and spread some of the batter over it. In a little while one side of the tortilla was brown, so Putsha turned it over to cook on the other side. Just as it was cooked Shecol came hurrying up.
“Anything to eat?” he asked.
Yappa grinding cornYappa grinding corn.
Yappa grinding corn.
Yappa grinding corn.
The tortilla was just done, so Yappa gave it tohim. He rolled it up like a jelly roll and began eating it.
“It’s good. Any more?” he asked between bites.
“In a few minutes,” answered Putsha. She had pulled out some more stones and was cooking more tortillas.
“What have you been doing, Shecol?” asked Yappa, as they waited for the other tortillas to cook.
“Digging a pit to cook the meat,” answered Shecol.
Next morning Donna Maria and three other women who were visiting her, got into one of the ox-carts, which was decorated with boughs and flowers. A second cart was standing near, and all Donna Maria’s children climbed into it.
This cart was lined with hides so that it was not only comfortable, but safe, for the hides kept the children from falling out. Putsha and Colla rode in this cart also, in order to take care of the children. A third cart was loaded so heavily with roast turkeys, chickens, corn-tamales, bread, and other things to eat, that it went “squeakity-squeak,” as it rolled along.
When everything was ready, Occano and some of the other drivers pushed the oxen with the ends of their long poles, and they began to move slowly away. The Indians walked along by the sides of the carts just as they did on wash-day, but this time all the men went as well as thewomen. Most of the men rode on horseback. One man played a violin, while another man rode behind him to guide the horse.
When they came to the place where the barbecue was to be held, Shecol took Yappa all round and showed her the meat cooking. As they walked along they saw Oshda.
“There’s father!” cried Yappa.
“Yes,” said Shecol, “he has been up here all night, turning the meat over to keep it from burning.”
As they came nearer Yappa saw a big pit in the ground about ten feet long. This was lined with stones. An ox had been cut in half and some long iron skewers stuck through the halves; then the oxen were hung across the top of the pit. Yappa gave a sniff.
“It smells good,” she said. “It’s getting brown too,” and she peered down into the pit at the glowing coals below.
They passed a place where some men had begun to dig in the ground.
“That’s where the head is cooking,” said Shecol.
“Down there in the ground?” exclaimed Yappa.
“Yes, we dug a little hole, lined it with stones, and built a fire. After the stones were very hot, we raked the fire out, scattered some dirt over the stones so that they should not burn the meat,and set the head right down in it; then we filled the hole with dirt.”
Don Secundini came up just as the men finished taking the head out of the hole. He brushed off the dirt and said, “This is the best of all the meat.” He took it over where Donna Maria was sitting and said to her, “You shall have the tongue.”
“Thank you,” said Donna Maria.
“I don’t think I ever tasted such good meat before,” said Yappa.
“It is so juicy and tender,” said Shecol.
Yappa looked around at the long tables. Then she said, “What a crowd there is!”
“No wonder,” answered Shecol. “The Robles have invited everybody from San José to San Francisco. See! There are Señor Soto and Señor Sanchez and Señor Martinez!”
After the people had finished eating, Yappa said, “Now what shall we do?”
“The men are going to ride on their horses and play games,” answered Shecol.