Venison Barbacoa Recipe - Hank Shaw's Venison Barbacoa (2024)

FAQs

What is the best cut of meat for barbacoa? ›

In the US, people typically make barbacoa with chuck roast, brisket and beef cheeks. However, any cut of beef that has a lot of connective tissue and takes a long time to cook until tender works well.

Ingredients Needed

Chuck Roast – you'll need 3 pounds of chuck roast to serve 6-8 people. Spices – a combination of salt, pepper, cumin, chipotle chili powder, Mexican oregano, cloves, garlic, and bay leaves lend so much flavor to the beef!

Burn large chunks of wood—Vera prefers mesquite, which is plentiful in South Texas—for several hours, until they are reduced to glowing embers. Add the meat and cover the pit with maguey, or agave, leaves to retain and conduct heat. Cook for eight to ten hours, replenishing the wood as necessary.

According to the book Pre-Hispanic Mexican Cuisine: The Food of the Ancient Mexicans, which Barbacoa Renatos has used as a source, the Mayans came up with the technique of steam-cooking meat in underground ovens, which keeps both the juices from the animal and the smoke and heat from escaping and forces them back into ...

Grind the toasted cumin and cloves into a powder, and place into a blender. Add the ancho chile powder, onion, garlic, oregano, thyme, vinegar, and lime juice. Remove the chiles from the soaking water, and place into the blender along with 1/3 cup of the soaking liquid. Cover, and blend until a smooth paste forms.

How much ground beef per taco? Each taco shell or small soft taco-size tortilla fits about 2 ounces or 1/4 cup of meat. If you add diced onions, you could stretch a pound of ground beef to make about a dozen tacos. With just the meat and spices, you can make about 8 tacos from a pound of meat.

I would get 6.5 to 7.5 pounds of ground beef for tacos for 20 people if the tacos are going to be most of the food for the meal.

You can make it up to 3 days in advance, let it cool, then store it in a covered bowl (with the juices) in the fridge. When you're ready to serve, transfer the barbacoa (with juices) into a baking dish and reheat in the oven for about 15 minutes at 350°F.

Personally, I love using corn tortillas for barbacoa! Flour tortillas also have their own benefits when it comes to making tacos. Although they may not be quite as tight as corn tortillas, they hold together better and stronger once filled with juicy ingredients like beans or salsa.

If desired, baste the meat with your marinade periodically during cooking to keep it moist and enhance its flavor. You can also add additional liquid, such as beef broth or water, to the cooking vessel to prevent the meat from drying out.

What to eat with barbacoa? ›

Barbacoa can be served in a variety of ways, and salsas are the customary accompaniment. The most popular way to enjoy barbacoa is to serve it with tortillas for barbacoa tacos. Zaragoza recommends making tacos dorados (fried tacos) and topping your barbacoa with Mexican crema, shredded cabbage, and salsa.

Why Is Barbacoa So Greasy? Barbacoa comes from beef cheek or cow head. This part of the body is already a fatty cut and with fat melting from the slow-cooking process, this can make barbacoa so greasy.

In the U.S., barbacoa is often prepared with parts from the heads of cattle, such as the cheeks. In northern Mexico, it is also sometimes made from beef head, but more often it is prepared from goat meat (cabrito).

The meat was cooked slowly over the fire, and the resulting dish was tender, flavorful and succulent. Today, barbacoa is still popular in Mexico where it is often served as a street food. It can also be found in restaurants throughout the country.

In the U.S., barbacoa is often prepared with parts from the heads of cattle, such as the cheeks. In northern Mexico, it is also sometimes made from beef head, but more often it is prepared from goat meat (cabrito).

Round and round we go When it comes to beef, it's not just the quality that matters - it's the cut, too. Our Barbacoa mainly comes from the shoulder, because those cuts have enough fat to keep the meat moist during our long braising method, making the end result seriously juicy and tender.

Make the most incredible smoked beef barbacoa with beef cheeks and just three other ingredients. Traditional barbacoa is made by taking an entire cow head, wrapping it in maguey leaves, burying in the ground to cook and then picking all the meat from the skull.