Home » Kitchen » Savory » Beef Barbacoa Tacos
This past Saturday, we celebrated my dad’s 80th birthday! You need to know that he is a REALLY great guy, a true gentleman, and my mom’s very best friend. His birthday is actually on May 4, but since it’s so close to Cinco de Mayo and the family loves Mexican food, we seem to always have some serious fiesta food. This year, the menu for our family birthday celebrations was:
I’ve been noodling on making Beef Barbacoa Tacos for some time and this seemed like the appropriate celebration. The history of Barbacoa is quite different from our modern-day translation of the recipe. Barbacoa actually originated in the Caribbean and it refers to a method of cooking whereby meat, wrapped with garlic, onion, and cilantro, is buried in a hole in which wood has been burned down to charcoal. The hole is then covered with dirt or sand and then another fire is built on top. It takes a good 12-14 hours to cook the meat. Fun fact for the day: the term ‘barbecue’ is derived from ‘barbacoa’.
The recipes I perused involved many more ingredients than the very simple original recipes, but did employ the slow cook, albeit not in the ground! I wanted to use some ingredients I already had on hand, so pulled ideas from many and came up with this. While the Beef Barbacoa Tacos on their own were outstanding, I have to say that the pickled red onions took the whole dish over the top. The combination of the subtly spiced beef with the crisp and brightly flavored onions is perfection.
Slow cooked Barbacoa Beef
Serve with corn tortillas that have been warmed wrapped in tin foil in a low oven, pickled red onions, Cotija cheese, tomatoes and lettuce.
We capped the meal off with our family’s favorite birthday cake (well, except for my mom who is the Carrot Cake Contrarian). I’ve been making this Carrot Cake for probably 20 years, it’s the cake that both my babies had on their first birthdays! I’ll feature that recipe later this week.
It was another great birthday celebration and…we have leftovers!!!! YUM!
And, if these tacos sound delicious to you, be sure to check out my chile-braised short-rib tacos for another delicious recipe!
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Hi there, I’m Lynn and I’m in my happy place when cooking, baking, creating, crafting, diy-ing or gardening. You too? Hey, we should be friends! You can reach me at [email protected] and read more about me here.
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Marie
May 14, 2015 at 6:05 pmOh my gosh, yes!! We seriously love tacos in my house (it may be a little bit of a problem 😉 ). So super excited to try out this recipe because it is so much different than our normal hum-drum tacos!
lynn
May 19, 2015 at 9:23 amThanks Marie! We are definitely latin food lovers in this house too. I hope you enjoy them.
Chellie
February 19, 2016 at 6:06 pmYour food always leaves me drooling. 😉 If there’s one cuisine I had to eat for the rest of my life, it would be Mexican!! p.s. My dad turned 81 in Sep. I keep finding more things in common with you.
lynn
February 19, 2016 at 7:57 pmHi Chellie…another one of my ‘separated at birth’ twins!..but I think I am a bit older. Oh well…and I’m right there with you on the Mexican, well that and Chinese, and Thai…And you are so kind with your compliments, coming from you with your delish recipes and drop dead gorgeous photography, I’m honored.
Happy Weekend, Lynn