Traditional Mexican and Tex-Mex BBQ – Not BBQ, but close, with a few twists

Barbecue is extremely popular in many parts of Mexico and the United States. States near the border know barbecue as a delicious meat item, available only on weekends as a special Sunday breakfast. Others eat barbecue regularly, enjoying it anytime or any day.

So what exactly is barbecue? It is not “barbecue” in Spanish, as many believe. In central Mexico, it means goat or lamb meat wrapped in large leaves and roasted over hot coals. In Texas, Mexican ranchers used cattle for this roasting method. They basically wrapped the heads in the leaves (later it was aluminum foil) and buried them in the ground with hot coals. Restaurants had even adopted similar methods of cooking these heads (heads).

Over the years, restaurants had to stop burying their heads because of health codes. Now they roast and steam the heads in ovens, which has actually been beneficial for restaurants. A much larger group of fans have liked this type of cooking method.

To cook authentic barbecue at home, you will need a very good relationship with the butcher or slaughterhouse manager. But luckily for you, a cow’s head is often thrown away in many parts of the United States. Your relationship with your butcher will avoid this, and will allow you to buy the heads at very low prices, or even for free in some cases.

So once you’ve gotten a good source of head of cattle, how will you cook this at home? One of the best methods of cooking a beef head for barbecue is to steam it or roast it on a large electric turkey rotisserie. It works perfectly and will produce one of the best barbecues since “burial in the ground” days.

Follow these techniques for perfect barbecue results. This will produce about 2 pounds of meat, or enough to feed 6 to 8 hungry diners. Now feel free to use these techniques. You will do this because of your love of interesting foods, and barbecue is just one of them.

Ingredients:

A 20 to 25 pound cow head, skinned and cleaned

1 cup dry dough (recipe below)

2 onions, halved

18 “heavy duty aluminum foil

Rinse the head well with a hose. Cut out the tongue (if it’s still there) and reserve for another interesting meal. Sprinkle dry mix all over head and place, forehead down, in 18-quart toaster. If it doesn’t fit well, tilt it to fit.

Add 8 cups of water and the onions, then cover. If the toaster lid does not fit, place two sheets of wide aluminum foil over the top of the toaster and seal it.

Turn the broiler oven to 350 degrees F. and heat for about an hour, until the water comes to a rapid boil. Reduce the heat to 250 degrees and allow the head to steam for about 12 hours, or overnight. The cheek meat should easily come off the bone when done. At this time, remove all the meat and discard the jaw bones. You will then find another large piece of meat inside. Remove that meat and any other meat that is still attached to the bones.

Trim off excess fat, gristle, or blackened meat, but don’t overclean the meat. It’s the little bits of fat that give the barbecue its unique texture.

We chop the meat and put it in a bowl. Wet it with a little of the cooking liquid to keep it moist. Serve immediately as a filling for hot corn or flour tortillas. Garnish with items of your choice below or add your own.

Dry rub recipe:

3 tablespoons of salt

1/4 cup chili powder

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon onion

Mix all the ingredients.

Garnishes:

Lime quarters

Chopped onion

chopped fresh cilantro

Your favorite sauce