‘First we marinate it, then we put it in burlap,’ he said. The beef was then dumped in a pit to barbecue overnight. : Smoky Mountains: Feast for 20,000

Emile Jacobs of Panorama City cooked a barbecue beef dinner for about 20,000 people Sunday.

Actually, he didn’t do it all by himself. He had a little help from some of his friends--several hundred of them, in fact. For years, Jacobs has supervised the preparation of food for the annual barbecue dinner sponsored by 62 councils of Los Angeles County Knights of Columbus. The dinner is held at Rancho San Antonio, a home for 118 homeless and troubled boys operated by the Brothers of Holy Cross in Chatsworth.

In one day, Jacobs and his crew of more than 400 men barbecue and serve 7,500 pounds of beef, 1,500 pounds of chili-flavored pinto beans and 150 pounds of homemade salsa. During peak hours, Jacobs said, about 3,000 people go through the food line every 30 minutes.

The beef is cooked slowly, early California Spanish rancho-style, in deep, brick-lined pits. The recipe Jacobs uses has been handed down for generations, Jacobs said. And only he knows exactly how to follow it.

“I learned from a man named Jim Gutierrez,” said Jacobs, who has worked on the barbecue since its inception 38 years ago. Now, Jacobs said, he is training a younger man to take over for him.

Jacobs and his helpers start preparing the meat about 5 p.m. the night before the barbecue.

“First, we marinate it,” he said. “Then we put it in burlap bags, about 30 to 40 pounds in each bag. Then, we tie the bags tight with wire and put them down on coals in three pits. I use nothing but citrus wood for cooking. That’s how you get the good flavor. If you use eucalyptus wood, then the meat tastes like eucalyptus.”

The meat is then covered over with a tarp. A bulldozer operator dumps a huge mound of dirt on top of it and it is left to cook all night.

“The pit acts like a steam pressure cooker,” Jacobs said.

The barbecue raises about $80,000 each year at $5 a plate for capital improvements and programs for boys at the home, said Fred R. Nelson of Encino, chairman of Sunday’s event.

In addition to fixing a barbecue beef dinner, Nelson and his committee of 2,500 volunteers directed the parking of cars, ran bingo games, carnival booths and kiddie rides and sold ice cream, homemade lemonade, nachos, cookies, Rancho San Antonio T-shirts and other items.