Barbacoa

[4] Similar methods exist throughout Latin America and the rest of the world,[5] under distinct names, including: pachamanca and huatia in the Andean region; curanto in Chile and southern Argentina; berarubu[6][7] in Brazil; cocido enterrado[8] in Colombia; or hāngī in New Zealand.

[16] 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.

[19][20] 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.

[21] 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,[22] 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.

[23] 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:[24] The last day of the herraderos, by way of winding up, a bull was killed in honour of Calderón, and a great flag was sent streaming from a tree, on which flag was inscribed in large letters, "Gloria al Señor Ministro de la Augusta Cristina! "

The animal, when dead, was given as a present to the toreadores; and this bull, cut in pieces, they bury with his skin on, in a hole in the ground previously prepared with fire in it, which is then covered over with earth and branches.

During a certain time, it remains baking in this natural oven, and the common people consider it a great delicacy, (in which I differ from them).In the cities, though, barbacoa was very rarely prepared in homes, rather, it was sold and bought in the public markets, as it was a tedious and difficult process.

As the process is difficult and tedious, it is not generally prepared in the families, and even the wealthiest patronize the market for this delicacy, ready cooked.By the 20th century, as a result of urbanization, the Mexican Revolution, the cost of living, and other social and economic changes, different styles of barbacoa began to emerge depending on the region.

[30] The meat is marinated in an adobo made of vinegar, dried chiles, garlic, and herbs and spices (including cumin, bay leaves, and thyme) before being cooked in a broth (Spanish: consomé).

Ximbo (from nximbo meaning "the heart of the maguey") is a traditional pit-barbecued pork dish from the Mexican states of Hidalgo and México.

[42] In the Philippines, the Visayan dish balbacua (also spelled balbakwa) is named after barbacoa, probably for the similar length of cooking time and tenderness of the meat.

Unlike Latin American versions, it is a stew made from beef, oxtail, cow feet and skin boiled for several hours until gelatinous and extremely tender.