Beef Barbacoa (tongue & cheek meat) Tacos w/ QVIEW

[m1tanker78]

I finally got around to making some smoked barbacoa the other day. I was inspired by another post a few weeks back (Mgwerks, I think) although I made it differently. I normally make it in the crock pot but my family had been nagging me to try making it in the smoker. The smoke yielded quite a bit of meat and it came out real flavorful. Much better than the store-bought crap that they pass as barbacoa anyway......






A mix of oil, broth, spices, garlic, onion, and herbs for the braise phase...



Here's the tongue and cheek meat...





TBS....



An hour of neutral smoke....





On to the braising phase....





Uncovered to check temp. At 190* internal here...



After a :30 rest...



Continued on next post.......

 

[m1tanker78]

Continuation......



BL goes great with barbacoa (with almost anything, actually)...



After pulling/slicing up....



Taco consists of barbacoa, onion, cilantro, lime juice, salsa, salt, & pepper. YUM!






I realize it may look nasty to some but you have to believe me, this stuff is a delicasy. Whether you'd eat it or not, I hope you guys enjoyed the pics.

Tom

 

[mgwerks]

First class job, Tanker! I am thinking mine might get a bit of smoke next time. The recipe I posted earlier was only meant as a starting point, it's the more traditional method (short of burying a cow head in the yard all day). I never thought of combining some tongue in there as well, I bet that was tasty.

Its the particular type of grease that cheeks develop that really make barbacoa taste the way it does, but there's plenty to add tongue to. Nice to stick close to the serving method too - can you believe some folks actually want to put CHEESE on that?

Very tasty looking! Of course, living down here you know what a treat barbacoa is....

 

[m1tanker78]

Thanks MG.

This is the first time I hear of such a thing. I can't even imagine putting cheese on BBCoa. Like putting ketchup on ice cream! Now, every once in a while I'll mince some radishes and mix it in with the onion and cilantro. That's about as far as I'll deviate from the traditional prep methods.

I use the tongue as a filler and to add some structure to the tacos. The two combine beautifully even though the tongue meat doesn't pull the way the cheek meat does.

I didn't get a chance to clean my CI pans; Otherwise, I would have dipped the tortillas in some hot oil too. This was mostly an experimental BBCoa smoke so I really didn't go all out but this will definitely be at least a quarterly thing. I guess I can leave the crock pot for beef stew.

Tom

 

[rivet]

Tanker, that was some of the best post I have seen here. Good to go! Good stuff, my man, though might have given it a whiff more of the smoke, but no worries it was al good. And I mean All Good.

Wow.

Nice to know folks know how to do barbacoa!

 

[bbq engineer]

M1,

I think it looks great! I grew up in a small farming community, and we slaughtered cows from my granfather's farm. And let me tell you, we ate it all. Tongue sandwiches were a delicacy, not to mention the calf "fries" (testicles for the uninformed). I have never made my own Barbacoa, but I am inspired by your post. If I can put together the ingredients, I'm all over it!

 

[the dude abides]

Congrats on your smoke. Glad you were happy with it. I've heard tounge is good, but dang, that does look nasty.

 

[kingudaroad]

Good looking barbacoa!! When I was a teenager a worked at a place that was all hispanic folk except me. Every Saturday they would bring in an entire cows head that had been smoked. I'm talkin eyes, brains and all. I stuck with the cheek meat. Condiments were tortillas and pico de gallo and cold beer.

 

[dysartsmoker]

I'll stick to the other parts of the beef. But nice job

 

[cajunsmoke13]

Awesome Tanker. Looks great.

 

[scubadoo97]

Awesome and very authentic.

I posted here on beef cheeks but it was lost after the last crash. I ended up braising them but had contemplated smoking them.

 

[efrain]

Looks good and im mexican, very authentic

 

[westernhunter]

Nice!!!

I now have to make that WITHOUT TELLING my fiance and her family the type of meat until they eat it and rave about it!

Then I will let them know what they are eating......

Sometimes you need for FORCE someone to have an open mind about good food!


PS- Can you please post the braising sauce recipe?? Thanks!

 

[richoso1]

You do know how to construct a taco, good to know there are still some folks who enjoy some traditional ethnic foods. Points to you my friend.

 

[indyadmin1974]

Man...perfect idea for Cinco de Mayo! I may have to do this with no family around though. The tongue looks funny to the kids and the pregnant wife would probably hurl! I've had tongue tacos before and they are pretty good...just don't let someone tell you what it is while you're eating it for the first time!

 

[grothe]

Great job tanker....looks fantastic!!!

 

[pi in sc]

Hmmm, that looks delicious! I hear cheek is the best meat. I wonder if I can find it around here. I agree with previous posts, the tongue does look funny on the smoker. My 9 year old loves to pick up the shrink wrapped tongue at Wally world and laugh. Wonder what he would say if he saw it on the smoker....

 

[afreetrapper]

I have a recipe for cheek meat but it doesnt have tongue in it will have to try it with next time. Cant beat tongue sandwiches. I put a tongue in the crockpot with bay leaf rosemay and a fw other herbs cook for several hours then let it chill to firm it up. Skin it then slice it on bread with some horseradish.

 

[billbo]

Tank that looks awsome! I would try that after a few of those cold beers!

 

[bbqguy]

Wow. I might have to stop at a taco truck after work!