Taco meat made from boiled cow heads?
zoot
Is it true that authentic Mexican tacos are made from boiling a whole
cows head and scraping and grinding all that comes loose?
Pele
Yep, you see them do it, and it's a real stimulant to stay on a diet....
zoot heeft geschreven in bericht <355cf8b...@news.olywa.net>...
dtwr...@texas.net
In article <355cf8b...@news.olywa.net>,
reply@here wrote:
>
> Is it true that authentic Mexican tacos are made from boiling a whole
> cows head and scraping and grinding all that comes loose?
Not quite, but close. Barbacoa de Cabeza is one kind of authentic taco.
A bunch of places have them on weekends here in San Antonio. Here's a recipe
if you'd like to try it at home:
http://soar.Berkeley.EDU/recipes/ethnic/mexican/barbacoa-de-cabeza1.rec
;-),
David
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Sergio Villegas
NO. Authentic tacos are not EXCLUSIVELY made out of a cows head. Some people
do enjoy eating this kind of tacos, but it is rather rare and considered a
delicacy. This kind of tacos are called "tacos de cabeza" and the whole
cow's head is cooked and served and guests do scrape it and make tacos with
it. The eyes are reserved for a special guest since they are considered the
most succulent part.Tacos can be made of any kind of pork or beef meat and
sometimes chicken. Tacos de cabeza are not very popular.
zoot wrote in message <355cf8b...@news.olywa.net>...
Sandra Lozano
In my experience, tacos are not made from boiled cows heads. However, my
grandmother did boil a pig's head and scraped meat to make her absolutely to
die for tamales. I used to eat my weight in them!
Margarita
Sergio Villegas wrote:
>
> NO. Authentic tacos are not EXCLUSIVELY made out of a cows head. Some people
> do enjoy eating this kind of tacos, but it is rather rare and considered a
> delicacy. This kind of tacos are called "tacos de cabeza" and the whole
> cow's head is cooked and served and guests do scrape it and make tacos with
> it. The eyes are reserved for a special guest since they are considered the
> most succulent part.
When I was a little girl my father used to make cabeza. I didn't want
anything to do with it at first but after he coaxed me to close my
eyes and take a bite I was sold. I had the eyes in a corn tortilla and
it was the softest tastiest meat, something like very soft lamb.
I'd like to make it but haven't seen any cabeza's lately.
Margarita
Philip Silver
zoot wrote:
>
> Is it true that authentic Mexican tacos are made from boiling a whole
> cows head and scraping and grinding all that comes loose?
zoot
On Sat, 16 May 1998 14:18:27 GMT, dtwr...@texas.net wrote:
>In article <355cf8b...@news.olywa.net>,
> reply@here wrote:
>>
>> Is it true that authentic Mexican tacos are made from boiling a whole
>> cows head and scraping and grinding all that comes loose?
>
>Not quite, but close. Barbacoa de Cabeza is one kind of authentic taco.
>A bunch of places have them on weekends here in San Antonio. Here's a recipe
>if you'd like to try it at home:
>http://soar.Berkeley.EDU/recipes/ethnic/mexican/barbacoa-de-cabeza1.rec
>
>;-),
>
>David
>
Outrageous! It does sound kind of gruesome, but If it were prepared,
I'd try it
Michael Nelson
On Sun, 17 May 1998 20:05:38 +0000, Philip Silver wrote:
>Yes it is but they throw in the anus and testicle also.
Sounds like they used most of the anuses when they were building you, you
racist ingnoramus. Welcome to my killfile.
Michael
--
Michael Nelson nel...@seahunt.imat.com
San Francisco, CA mich...@csd.sgi.com
Robert
No the testicles were removed during roundup during branding. They were
placed on a stone at the fire where the branding irons were heated. An
occasionly turn to keep them from overcooking. Now warm flour tortillas and
salsa and you dont have to stop working for more then a few minutes while
you eat. Oh did I leave out you wash your hands and face at the cow trough
to get the worse of the dust off. And I used to throw my dogs in to cool
them off too. Brahamna bulls were mean but the cows with calfs were meaner.
--
Robert
I just washed this keyboard and it stills won't type what I
tell it to.
Philip Silver wrote in message <6jnu58$5...@bgtnsc02.worldnet.att.net>...
>zoot wrote:
>>
>> Is it true that authentic Mexican tacos are made from boiling a whole
>> cows head and scraping and grinding all that comes loose?
Carlos Murillo-Sanchez
Sergio Villegas wrote:
>
> NO. Authentic tacos are not EXCLUSIVELY made out of a cows head. Some people
> do enjoy eating this kind of tacos, but it is rather rare and considered a
> delicacy. This kind of tacos are called "tacos de cabeza" and the whole
> cow's head is cooked and served and guests do scrape it and make tacos with
> it. The eyes are reserved for a special guest since they are considered the
> sometimes chicken. Tacos de cabeza are not very popular.
>
> >cows head and scraping and grinding all that comes loose?
The word "taco" means anything with a tortilla wrapped around it,
but made without further cooking steps after the rolling process;
otherwise, we would be talking about enchiladas, entomatadas or
something else. So you can make tacos with refried beans, with
chicken, with anything that you please to wrap.
Now the recipe for those of you adventurous enough to try it.
I actually posted this in rec.food.cooking back in Dec. '95.
I seem to always post this recipe as a corollary to some thread that
involves food that is viewed as 'gross' by some; last time the
thread was called "sheep's heads".
-- BARBACOA DE CABEZA
(Coahuila state, Mexico)
"Barbacoa" is a term reserved for covered-pit steaming in northern
Mexico. You can do "barbacoa de res" (beef barbeque) or "barbacoa de
borrego" (sheep barbeque; this is more common in Chihuaha than in
Coahuila, however). However, the barbacoa made with beef head is
considered to be the finest (at least it is the most expensive). This
recipe is not for the faint-hearted. You'll need to actually exercise
to be able to carry it out. You'll see what I mean; nowadays I do
this only on certain camping trips.
Ingredients.
* 1--3 whole beef heads, skined, cleaned. Should include the
tongue and lower jaw. Look for any hair that might remain
somewhere and
cut it away.
* 4 cans of beer / head
* 6 large onions, cubed /head
* 6 bay leaves / head
* 8 garlic cloves / head
* salt to taste
* 8 large stones, about 12 lb each.
* Many smaller stones to fill the gaps.
* 1 large steel shovel
* 1 large ixtle bag for each head, or any large bag made with natural
fiber. Ixtle (a desert plant from which fiber to make the bag is
extracted) is supposed to transfer some flavor to the meat, but I
don't think that it is easy to obtain elsewhere. Use your
imagination.
* Enough nopal "leaves" to cover a 2.5 ft-diameter circle. Nopales are
those cacti you see in Western movies, the stems are shaped like
large leaves connecting one to another. Some produce a fruit called
"tuna" (I've seen this fruit under the name "prickly pear" in some
supermarkets in the US). If nopal leaves are unavailable, you'll
have to settle for more ixtle bags (or whatever substitute you found
for them). Their purpose is just to provide enough moisture for the
steaming process, so large, damp ixtle bags would do fine.
* 1 piece of natural (cotton), close-knit fabric that won't let soil
through (about 1 sq. yard)
* 1 sq. yard of plastic to cover the pit.
* 2 yards of rope made of ixtle or some other coarse natural fiber (well
actually any non plastic rope is OK)
* 15-20 pounds of mezquite charcoal or similar (but please, nothing that
has the slightest trace of starter -- the meat WILL smell of it,
since this is contained cooking, not open flame).
Preparation (times are approximate--you could do the first four steps
one day in advance and let the barbacoa cook overnight)
(15 min)
* Marinate the heads with a little beer, salt and garlic. Tie the lower
jaw to the head using the rope, or it will be difficult to keep
it in place when it is cooked. Place each head with the onions
and spices inside an ixtle bag. Tie the bag so it holds together.
Pour some more beer on the bags.
(2-3 hours)
*Put on some old jeans and a t-shirt. Grab the shovel. Select a spot in
your lawn that you can spare in terms of looks. Start digging. In about
two hours, you should have a perfectly cylindrical hole about
2.5 feet wide and 3 feet deep (yes, 3 feet -- don't complain).
In some areas the soil collapses too easily (too much sand). If
the soil in your area is like that, you may consider to water
the spot where you plan to do the hole with plenty of water one
day in advance. The advantage with such soils is that they are
easy on the shovel. You might prefer to do all this step one day
in advance, with friends; extra arms come in handy.
One last thing: when deciding where to make the hole, think about
gas, electric or water pipes and tree roots.
(3 - 4 hours)
*Put the large stones in the bottom of the hole. They should more
or less fill the bottom of the hole in one layer. Fill the gaps
between the large stones with the smaller ones. Light a fire on the
stones using the charcoal, with the help of some newspaper or pine
firewood. Don't use starter, gasoline, or anything. While the fire
is burning, heating the stones, bring a gallon of water to boil.
This water will be used to put out the fire without excessive cooling
of the stones and walls of the hole. When the charcoal has burned
for about 2 hours, turn it over, spread it. You should feel the heat
radiating from the stones. If not, add more charcoal. You might
consider using a vac cleaner with the pipe connected to the air-out
to vent the fire and make it stronger. The meat cooks only on the
heat remaining in the stones after the fire is put out, so the stones
need to be very, very hot.
(8 hours)
* When the stones are very hot, put the fire out with the boiling water,
using as little water as you can. Small lit spots can remain; that's
okay. Spread well the ashes and place the nopal leaves on them (or two
damp, empty ixtle bags) to separate the ashes from the meat. Put the
bags with the beef heads on top of the nopal leaves in one layer.
Pour the remaining beer (about 3 cans/head) over them. Then cover
carefully with the closely-knit fabric, sliding it down to the level of
the stones on the sides. Cover now with a large piece of plastic; the
kind used for protecting books. This last piece is what will hold the
soil from being in contact with the other stuff, and it will also keep
the steam from escaping the chamber. Now, cover with the soil that
you digged out of the hole; use a layer of soil at least 12" thick.
All these steps have to be done fairly rapidly to avoid letting the
heat out. Let the barbacoa cook for eight to twelve hours.
(20 minutes)
*The next part requires extreme care or you'll end up with
soiled meat. Uncover the pit, using your hands if possible to
avoid breaking the plastic cover. Try to extract as much soil as
possible from the sides before lifting the plastic. Be careful, it
should still be quite hot. When you have uncovered the bags with
the heads, grab them by one of the ropes that you tied around them
and take them inside. Now you have to carve the meat out of the
skull. The barbacoa is about as tender as meat can get, so carving
it will be very easy. You only need a pair of forks. Ideally, you
should serve it right away, because if it cools it looks
unappetizing. Typically, barbacoa is served with rice, refried
beans, salad, and soft corn tortillas; then people make tacos with
it. Have some hot salsa around for the daring. Also, have a plate
with diced onion and cilantro in case someone wants to add that
to the tacos.
Notes:
Many people consider the brains and eyes a treat. Brains can be
carved out by breaking the base of the skull with the help
of a screwdriver to make the opening larger. I personally don't
like them because they are too greasy. And yes, I think that they are
gross. Again, many people go right for them. The same thing applies to
the eyes, although they don't look nearly as gross as
the brains when cooked, and are indeed delicious.
The major sources of meat are the cheeks and the tongue. This last one,
however, needs to have the skin peeled before serving.
Many variations exist regarding the cooking method. Some people
put the meat (not applicable to whole heads) in clay containers,
which then get buried in the cooking pit.
Other people buy large galvanized cans that are made specifically
for the purpose of cooking barbacoa. I find these practices ok,
but akin to using a pressure cooker instead of the real thing.
ce...@cornell.edu
428 Phillips Hall, Electrical Engineering Department
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
Carlos Murillo-Sanchez
Hi people; I'm somewhat disappointed, I was expecting one or two
funny replies to the recipe, I can't believe it went unnoticed :-)
Carlos Murillo-Sanchez wrote:
(long recipe for cooking a cow's head deleted)
douglas eyman
I just thought that I would share this with y'all:
I've been reading the thread on cabeza tacos with interest, since I
hadn't heard of it before, although I wasn't sure I'd ever really want
to try them. Then my wife and I went to a party last night and lo and
behold: cabeza tacos! I think I would have had more if I hadn't gone
into the kitchen ;). The meat was softer than I expected, but didn't
taste too much different from beef, if milder. I chose to put quite a
bit of cilantro and salsa on most of my tacos though. Unfortunately, I
just couldn't bring myself to have any brain (or I might be able to help
answer the question of the mystery tamale ingredient...)
de