has anyone smoked Barbacoa (cow cheek) on the BGE?

fxcast

I have searched all over the internet for a recipe for barbacoa (cow cheek). most of the recipes i have found call for smoking the entire cow head overnight, then taking out the cow cheek.

im hoping someone here has a great recipe for smoking the cow cheek on the BGE.

any help would be much appreciated!

Felix

for informational purposes, i have an XL BGE, w/ the plate-setter. i plan on using mesquite chips to give the barbacoa that authentic TX pit BBQ taste.

Mainegg

OH FELIX... OK one more thing to add my very short list of thing I don't think I would eat

RVH

Mainegg, you would be missing out. I've had it several times when cooked in a hole in the ground. The whole head was wrapped in something like burlap and covered in dirt all night long. After you get past the "Hey! Isn't that a great big'ol BBQ'd cow head with bugged-out eyes over on that table staring at me?!" , and get some meat on a plate, it is really quite good....and cow heads are cheap! At least around here.

hornhonk

Mainegg, RVH is right! The tenderest, most flavorful beef ever. If you get a beef tamale in Texas, odds are its made with barbacoa. But, I can't picture you scarfing down hot tamales on a street corner at the Mexican border, somehow.

fxcast

Mainegg wrote:

OH FELIX... OK one more thing to add my very short list of thing I don't think I would eat

LOL!

its really quite good. barbacoa tacos are the best!

i do understand where you are coming from though. cow heads are pretty easy to find here in el paso, but it seems like a waste to smoke an entire cow head just to eat the cheek meat. not interested in eating the brains, or the eyes.

Mainegg

LOL oh my goodness do you have the wrong impression of me!!! I will try or eat about anything and would much prefer the Locals eats or the hole in the wall or the back street place than the tourist joints get your hands dirty and paper plates or a napkin Guess I am not one of the "finer sex" just the opposite sex
and I would probably try the cheek LOL I might not pluck the eye ball out of the roasted head.... but I might nibble the cheek
my dad always has fit that I am going to get sick by eating from street venders when we are cruising. LOL

hornhonk

I cant wait to meet you! Ha, you sound cool!

Nicolas_Kershanko

I don't mean to be a thread crapper but from what I have experienced eating in my local restaurant that advertise barbacoa food and what Wikipedia says here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbacoa it seems barbacoa means something other than cow cheek.

Barbacoa is a style of cooking.

hornhonk

I dont know where you are eating, but it's not around here. In Texas it means the boiled meat off a cows head.

Fidel

Oh, but a fried brain sandwich is divine!

You'll have to take my word for it though. I guess it is just a Missouri and Illinois area delicacy.

BobS

I lived in Mexico for 10 years, but we do have some natives on the Forum that are better resources.

I always thought of barbacoa more as the preparation than the cows head and I also had barbacoa de borego (sheep/lamb).

Rick Bayless has a recipe for Barbacoa de Borego that involves an indirect on a kettle grill with a drip pan full of veggies and spices.

I googled barbacoa de borego and found several recipes.

stike

must be expensive. i understand brains are few and far between in them parts

hornhonk

Like I said, this is Texas, not Mexico. I'm relating what we do here. Regional lingo, I would assume. Heck, even wikopedia he referenced agrees. If its on an Egg, its good.