barbacoa

¹

[bahr-buh-koh-uh]

noun

Mexican Cooking.

1. a style of cooking meat by applying low heat for a long time, especially over an open fire or in a below-ground pit: the meat is often served shredded or chopped, with tortillas, in burritos, etc.

2. meat that has been cooked slowly on low heat, especially over an open fire or in a below-ground pit.

Barbacoa

²

[bahr-buh-koh-uh]

noun

plural

Barbacoas ,

plural

Barbacoa .

1. an Indigenous people of Ecuador and Colombia.

2. the language of the Barbacoa.

Other Word Forms

• Barbacoan adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of barbacoa¹

First recorded in 1945–50; from Spanish; barbecue ( def. )

Origin of barbacoa²

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

“Barbacoa has changed over time to include beef as a common protein choice, Spam musubi is now a well-loved Hawaiian staple, and so forth — but ignoring history in search of ‘approachability’ only serves to entrench distorted power dynamics that persist to this day.”

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Also a block away from the theater is Aqui Es Texcoco, known for its lamb barbacoa, which even drew the late Times food critic Jonathan Gold two hours south along the 5 Freeway.

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Like the time supporters held her first fundraising party — the star attraction wasn’t Montañez so much as it was the all-you-can-eat, Zacatecas-style beef barbacoa at $10 a plate.

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Diners sit on sidewalks and feast on dishes as simple as gelatin in plastic cups and as complex as goat barbacoa baked for hours in a backyard pit.

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“Barbecue” comes from barbacoa, a word in the Arawakan language of the Caribbean for a wooden frame used for sleeping and for drying food, Tschann writes.

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