Barbacoa generally refers to meats slow cooked over an open fire, or more traditionally, in a pit covered with leaves. Barbacoa de cabeza is a specialty of slow cooked cow head that arose in the ranching lands of northern Mexico after the Spanish conquest.

Throughout Mexico, from pre-Colombian times to the present, barbacoa (the name derives from the Caribbean indigenous Taino baricoa) was the original barbecue, utilizing the many and varied moles (pronounced "mol-ehs", from Nahuatl molli) which were the first barbecue sauces. Game, turkey, and fish along with beans and other side dishes were slow cooked together in a pit for many hours. Following the introduction of cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, and chickens by the Spanish, the meat of these animals was cooked utilizing the traditional indigenous barbacoa.

Barbacoa was adopted into the cuisine of the United States by way of Texas which had formerly been a part of northern Mexico, and the word transformed in time to "barbecue", together with many other words related to ranching and cowboy (vaquero) life. Considered a specialty meat, some meat markets only sell barbacoa on Sundays or holidays in certain parts of south Texas and in all of Mexico.

A traditional Mexican way of eating barbacoa is having it served on a soft taco style corn tortilla with guacamole and salsa for added flavor.

See also

• Barbecue

Mexican cuisine | Barbecue