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Barbacoa
Barbacoa, or asado en barbacoa (Spanish: [baɾβaˈkoa] ⓘ) in Mexico, refers to the local indigenous variation of the method of cooking in a pit or earth oven. It generally refers to slow-cooking meats or whole sheep, whole cows, whole beef heads, or whole goats in a hole dug in the ground, and covered with agave (maguey) leaves, although the interpretation is loose, and in the present day (and in some cases) may refer to meat steamed until tender. This meat is known for its high fat content and strong flavor, often accompanied with onions and cilantro (coriander leaf). Because this method of cooking was used throughout different regions by different ethnic groups or tribes in Mexico, each had their own name for it; for the Nahuatl it was called nakakoyonki; for the Mayan it was called píib; for the Otomi it was called thumngö.
Similar methods exist throughout Latin America and the rest of the world, under distinct names, including pachamanca and huatia in the Andean region; curanto in Chile and southern Argentina; berarubu in Brazil; cocido enterrado in Colombia; or hāngī in New Zealand.
Although it is speculated that the word "barbacoa" may have originated from the Taíno language, this method of cooking in an earth oven has nothing to do with the original Taíno definition of the word.
There has been debate about the origin of the word barbacoa, with most scholars agreeing that it originates from the Taíno language. The Taíno term barabicu or barbacoa means "framework of sticks" or "reeds". It was applied, and continues to be applied throughout Latin America, to a wide range of objects or structures, like a raised wooden structure where the natives slept on; a raised wooden structure where they kept food away from the animals; a hanging hut; the attic of a hut; a scaffold; a wattle; a pergola for climbing plants; a wooden bridge, a shelter, a loft inside a house, a treehouse and a raised, small box filled with soil for cultivating vegetables; and a wooden grill where the natives would cure their meats over fire and smoke.
But in Mexico, for some unknown reason, the term barbacoa was applied by the Spaniards to the pit or earth oven used by the local indigenous people for cooking or roasting all kinds of foods. As a result from this discrepancy, a new hypothesis has been proposed that argues that the term barbacoa, as used in Mexico, originates not from the Taíno term but from the Mayan term Baalbak'Kaab, which supposedly means "meat covered with soil", although there is no evidence to support this.
Earth ovens or barbacoa, as it’s known in Mexico, are an ancient, primitive method for cooking, steaming or roasting foods in holes or pits. Traditionally, in Mexico, a hole was dug in the ground proportionate to the size of the piece of meat or food being prepared; a fire was lit inside to heat it; In it, banana, maguey, or corn leaves are placed and with these the food that is to be roasted, whether meat or fish, is wrapped; then the hole is covered with soil, pressing it lightly and a large fire is lit on the surface layer; the food will remain roasting in this natural oven until cooked. In Pre-Columbian Mexico, turkey, deer, dog, fish, seafood, rabbit or turtles, and pencas de maguey (maguey stalks and hearts), were the most common meats and foods used. With the arrival of the Spanish, mutton, beef, pork, and goat became the meats of choice.
The asado en barbacoa (roasting in barbacoa) was widely prepared in Mexico at countryside festivities, such as rodeos (cattle roundups), herraderos (cattle branding celebrations), jaripeos and bull-fights, patron saint festivities of the hacienda, or family picnics. According to two articles published by Mexican writer Domingo Revilla in 1844 and 1845, respectively, the "banquet" at the herraderos was reduced to barbacoas and asados al pastor (spit roasting barbecues) of whole calves (veal), bull or sheep, and wrote that while barbacoa was more common in the Mezquital valley -particularly from Actopan-, and Apan valleys and surrounding areas, asados al pastor were more common in Tierra Adentro or the Bajío region and beyond.
In her book Life in Mexico (1843), Scottish noblewoman Frances Erskine Inglis, wrote about her experiences attending the rodeos and herraderos in central Mexico, near the town of Santiago in Hidalgo, in 1840, and describes how at the end of an herradero a whole bull was cooked in barbacoa:
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Barbacoa
Barbacoa, or asado en barbacoa (Spanish: [baɾβaˈkoa] ⓘ) in Mexico, refers to the local indigenous variation of the method of cooking in a pit or earth oven. It generally refers to slow-cooking meats or whole sheep, whole cows, whole beef heads, or whole goats in a hole dug in the ground, and covered with agave (maguey) leaves, although the interpretation is loose, and in the present day (and in some cases) may refer to meat steamed until tender. This meat is known for its high fat content and strong flavor, often accompanied with onions and cilantro (coriander leaf). Because this method of cooking was used throughout different regions by different ethnic groups or tribes in Mexico, each had their own name for it; for the Nahuatl it was called nakakoyonki; for the Mayan it was called píib; for the Otomi it was called thumngö.
Similar methods exist throughout Latin America and the rest of the world, under distinct names, including pachamanca and huatia in the Andean region; curanto in Chile and southern Argentina; berarubu in Brazil; cocido enterrado in Colombia; or hāngī in New Zealand.
Although it is speculated that the word "barbacoa" may have originated from the Taíno language, this method of cooking in an earth oven has nothing to do with the original Taíno definition of the word.
There has been debate about the origin of the word barbacoa, with most scholars agreeing that it originates from the Taíno language. The Taíno term barabicu or barbacoa means "framework of sticks" or "reeds". It was applied, and continues to be applied throughout Latin America, to a wide range of objects or structures, like a raised wooden structure where the natives slept on; a raised wooden structure where they kept food away from the animals; a hanging hut; the attic of a hut; a scaffold; a wattle; a pergola for climbing plants; a wooden bridge, a shelter, a loft inside a house, a treehouse and a raised, small box filled with soil for cultivating vegetables; and a wooden grill where the natives would cure their meats over fire and smoke.
But in Mexico, for some unknown reason, the term barbacoa was applied by the Spaniards to the pit or earth oven used by the local indigenous people for cooking or roasting all kinds of foods. As a result from this discrepancy, a new hypothesis has been proposed that argues that the term barbacoa, as used in Mexico, originates not from the Taíno term but from the Mayan term Baalbak'Kaab, which supposedly means "meat covered with soil", although there is no evidence to support this.
Earth ovens or barbacoa, as it’s known in Mexico, are an ancient, primitive method for cooking, steaming or roasting foods in holes or pits. Traditionally, in Mexico, a hole was dug in the ground proportionate to the size of the piece of meat or food being prepared; a fire was lit inside to heat it; In it, banana, maguey, or corn leaves are placed and with these the food that is to be roasted, whether meat or fish, is wrapped; then the hole is covered with soil, pressing it lightly and a large fire is lit on the surface layer; the food will remain roasting in this natural oven until cooked. In Pre-Columbian Mexico, turkey, deer, dog, fish, seafood, rabbit or turtles, and pencas de maguey (maguey stalks and hearts), were the most common meats and foods used. With the arrival of the Spanish, mutton, beef, pork, and goat became the meats of choice.
The asado en barbacoa (roasting in barbacoa) was widely prepared in Mexico at countryside festivities, such as rodeos (cattle roundups), herraderos (cattle branding celebrations), jaripeos and bull-fights, patron saint festivities of the hacienda, or family picnics. According to two articles published by Mexican writer Domingo Revilla in 1844 and 1845, respectively, the "banquet" at the herraderos was reduced to barbacoas and asados al pastor (spit roasting barbecues) of whole calves (veal), bull or sheep, and wrote that while barbacoa was more common in the Mezquital valley -particularly from Actopan-, and Apan valleys and surrounding areas, asados al pastor were more common in Tierra Adentro or the Bajío region and beyond.
In her book Life in Mexico (1843), Scottish noblewoman Frances Erskine Inglis, wrote about her experiences attending the rodeos and herraderos in central Mexico, near the town of Santiago in Hidalgo, in 1840, and describes how at the end of an herradero a whole bull was cooked in barbacoa:
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