“Barbacoa…Juicy beef tongue and cheeks taco with cilantro.”
Memoirs
Eating barbacoa always reminds me of my father (Reyes), who would dig a huge hole and light up a mesquite fire. He would let the mesquite flames die out, let the mesquite turn to red hot coals, and would lower a metal canister with a cows head wrapped in aluminum foil. He would cover the hole with metal sheets and throw dirt over them to keep in the heat. Let that sit overnight for some tasty barbacoa in the morning.
Days like those I considered a special occasion day. Kind of like Thanksgiving Day which as we all know only comes once a year…at least to my knowledge anyway. With me, I make barbacoa once every 3 months; unless my little Princess asks for some earlier.
Prepping
To the meal preparation we go. I like to rinse the beef tongue and cheeks in cool running water until clean, while the coals in my smoker are ashing over. I add a little coarse salt, freshly ground pepper, and for this dish I added a sprinkle of dry parsley. That’s it. It goes directly in the top sections of my smoke box, which I had started 30 minutes in advance with charcoal.
Smoking
I added hickory logs for that smoky flavor afterwards and smoked the beef for 5 hours. This is how it looks after that time. Note that some smokers normally put a bowl of water underneath to keep in moisture, but I don’t because these types of beef holds a lot of water in them, even after 7-9 hours of smoking.
Slow
After the smoking, I cooked the beef for 7 hours in the slow cooker. In the slow cooker I added water to cover, set the dial to low, and by breakfast time it was ready.
I strained the beef tongue and cheeks to remove as much water from them, removed the tongue’s skin or outer layer with a fork and tongs and discarded.
I then used two knifes to shred both tongue and cheeks. “If only Edward was here!” “From Edward Scissor Hands.” lol
I add some more coarse salt to taste and chopped some cilantro to add to the tacos. You can eat this with either corn or flour tortillas; even by itself it taste so good. Call up the family, its dinner time! “I mean…its breakfast time!”
Who said beef was only for dinner anyway?
These is a super easy and totally delicious dish to create that will impress any food picky person. The rich flavor from the smoke of hickory leaves a slight bacon flavor and an unforgettable taste that will have people coming back for more.
Ingredients
- coarse Kosher salt
- parsley flakes
- black pepper
- 1 package of beef cheeks
- 1 beef tongue
- enough chopped cilantro to fill a small bowl
- tortillas; corn or flour your choice
Instructions
- light up smoker with charcoal or hickory logs
- Wash beef tongue and cheeks under cool water until clean.
- Season beef with salt, fresh ground pepper, and parsley flakes.
- Put on top section of smoker when charcoal ashes over for 5 hours and add hickory logs or chips to your coals.
- After 5 hours put beef in slow cooker, cover with water, and cook for 7 hours.
- Remove tongue skin and combine both tongue and cheeks in bowl and shred.
- Add salt to taste.
- Warm up tortillas and add barbacoa and cilantro; enjoy!