Tacos de Cabeza, aka cow head tacos.

I’ve lived in Texas a long time and I’ve had my share of TexMex and tradition Mexican cuisine but only recently have I ever seen Tacos de Cabeza on the menu. I know people enjoy eating cow tongue, heart, and even brains too I guess. I’ve had some tongue and heart before. But on my tacos? Nuh uhh. Keep that crap south of the border please. Cow cheek also. Heck no.

Have you tried any?


And don’t put no god dang shrimp on my taco either.

I had cow brains a time or two, but never on a taco. I guess I'm too far north to see 'Tacos de Cabeza' on any menu around here.

Never had Cabeza, but I like Lengua (tongue) tacos.

When I hit my favorite local taqueria, I typically get half my order Carne Asada and half Lengua.

Is this their version of the banquet scene in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom? And even thorough cooking doesn't destroy prions.

How far north are ya? I had tacos de cabeza in Ohio.

Just go to the restaurant actual Mexicans go to, not _Mexican chain #3_

I recently convinced local chicano resauranteur to put my favorite, tacos al pastor, on the menu. He had to put tacos de cabeza on with it to keep papa happy.

My uncle used to make it every Saturday night to sell Sunday in his store. I guarantee if you didn’t know what it was you would think it was brisket tacos. I’ve had some bad stuff though that tasted disgusting. It’s all about how it’s prepared.

Many of the taco trucks here have cabeza.

Tongue is also one of my favorite parts.

They seem to be mostly on the menu of street food and trucks rather than a sit down restaurant.

When I lived in SoCal, there was a place down the street from the office that was safe to eat during lunch but you couldn't pay me to go into the neighborhood for dinner. The restaurant was plain jane (concrete block building with cheap tables and chairs), but they had the best fish tacos I have ever eaten.

They had cabeza tacos on the menu, but I never tried it. Only Mexican place I can recall having cabeza tacos on the menu, but seen plenty of places have cabeza soup on the menu.

Barbacoa

Everytime from the Taco truck in Boise, ID! Favorite taco!

Cow intestines wrapped in a flour tortilla with some red or green hot sauce...yum yum.

Cabeza and Lengua are pretty standard meat options around here. Some will also have sesos, buche and tripa also known as cow brain, pig intestine and cow stomach. Most places over-cook their carnitas and al pastor so, I'll opt for cabeza, usually a more moist and richer flavor. Cabeza is all meat not an organ, it's the cheek muscle, just more marbling of fat, which equals a richer, unctuous flavor.

When you're poor, you make the best of what you got. Cultures that have a history of poverty, generally put-out some fantastic food. French, Italian and Spanish classic dishes all have their roots in poor food. Mexican classics are no different.

Roti de Vieu in France, calves brains and scrambled eggs when I grew up in New Mexico. Yummy! I've not had calves brain tacos but I wouldn't turn them down. Bear in mind I eat Sweetbreads, tongue and heart. I had menudo tonight.

No thank you!
Definitely NOT interested in eating cow brains; got enough worries in life; don't want to add Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy(BSE) (aka 'mad cow' disease) to the list!

This is a pretty good explanation:
"A novel variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in the human population in Great Britain, initially seen in 1996, has been associated with the emergence of the BSE agent. Cases of vCJD have also been seen outside the UK. A proportion of the affected individuals had been living in the UK, but cases have been seen in Italy and France among people who had not visited the UK. The single person diagnosed with vCJD in the USA was a recent immigrant from the UK, and it is presumed that this person was exposed and infected while residing in the UK. Infection of people is thought to result from eating infected bovine tissues. As a result, many countries have introduced the statutory removal of high-risk bovine tissues from the human food chain and/or banned human consumption of cattle >24 mo old. No cases of vCJD have been seen in laboratory workers, but appropriate safety precautions for handling the BSE agent and conducting necropsies of cattle suspected of being infected are recommended. Safety precautions should primarily be aimed at avoiding accidental exposures."

Let me translate "high-risk bovine tissues"; it means brain and spinal cord.

Brains are all cholesterol.

Mmmmm...nothing like 1000% of the daily recommended intake.
(pig brains)


100% too much of the recommend daily amount of brains in your diet.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: cas,

Cabeza is delicious. It's beef cheek not brain. More for me if you don't partake.

I know a lot of Mexicans and a lot of those are from Mexico.

We have eaten out at many hole in the wall places where true Mexicans go for authentic and I've never seen a single one of them order cabeza.

Perhaps it's a native mainstay but when given the choice between cabeza, sesos, buche or lengua, they always choose al pastor, carnitas, barbequoa or carne asada. Pollo is a distant choice after chorizo.

I believe the Hispanic denizens of the Jerkwater metroplex refer to the delicacy described in the OP as "barbacoa".

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
I believe the Hispanic denizens of the Jerkwater metroplex refer to the delicacy described in the OP as "barbacoa".

Barbacoa is a method of cooking. Generally, when barbacoa is listed on the menu, it's either lamb or, goat, that's been slow-roasted in an oven with specific species. Same if you see conchinita pibil, usually pork wrapped in banana leaves that's been slow roasted using spices found around the Yucatan. Rare is there a taqueria that makes conchinita pibil, if so, that's all I'll order. South Texas is the only area I've seen barbacoa listed as the actual animal head, everywhere else it's the meat.