Barbacoa generally refers to meats or a whole sheep slow cooked over an open fire, or more traditionally, in a hole dug in the ground covered with maguey leaves, although the interpretation is loose, and in the present day and in some cases may refer to meat that was steamed until tender. Barbacoa de cabeza is a specialty of slow cooked cow head that arose in the ranching lands of northern Mexico after the Spanish conquest. Except for cochinita pibil, one of the common characteristics of Mexican barbacoa is that marinades are not used and sauces are not applied until the meat is fully cooked (for examples of Mexican marinades, see carne de chango and carne al pastor). Pork cooked in this manner is generally referred to as carnitas rather than barbacoa. Throughout Mexico, from pre-Colombian times to the present, barbacoa (the name derives from the Caribbean indigenous Taino barabicu) was the original Mexican barbecue, utilizing the many and varied moles (pronounced "mol-ehs", from Nahuatl molli) and salsa de molcajete, which were the first barbecue sauces. Game, turkey, and fish along with beans and other side dishes were slow cooked together in a pit for many hours. Following the introduction of cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, and chickens by the Spanish, the meat of these animals was cooked utilizing the traditional indigenous barbacoa syle of cooking. In the U.S., barbacoa is often prepared with parts from the head of a cow, such as the cheeks. In northern Mexico, barbacoa is also sometimes made with the head of a cow, but more often it's prepared with goat meat or cabrito. In central Mexico the meat of choice is lamb, and in the Yucatan their traditional version, cochinita pibil (pit-style pork) is prepared with pork. Barbacoa was adopted into the cuisine of the southwestern United States by way of Texas which had formerly been a part of northern Mexico. The word transformed in time to "barbecue", together with many other words related to ranching and cowboy (vaquero) life. Considered a specialty meat, some meat markets only sell barbacoa on Sundays or holidays in certain parts of south Texas and in all of Mexico. A traditional Mexican way of eating barbacoa is having it served on a warm soft taco style corn tortilla with guacamole and salsa for added flavor. In some parts of Texas it's eaten with onions, diced cilantro and a squirt of lime. Famous venues for barbacoa The large food court of the tianguis (public market) of Chiconcuac in the state of Mexico, outside of Mexico City, seats hundreds of diners who are served barbacoa de borrego (mutton barbecue) and other regional specialties by dozens of open-air restaurants. Restaurante Arroyo, the world's largest Mexican restaurant, located in the Tlalpan district of Mexico City, is principally famous for its pit-roasted barbacoa de borrego and consomme de borrego, soup made from the drippings of the roasting lamb and sheep. Across the México-Pachuca highway there are many barbacoa stands at the road's side serving drivers. Pachuca is widely known as the homeland of barbacoa.… (More on Barbacoa) Branze (branze.com) is a revolutionary new kind of search engine. With it you can find just about anything you would want to find from a decent serach engine but it also learns from its users. Whenever you click through to a search result or choose to thumb one up then it's rank in the search engine increases. When you thumb down a result its rank decreases. To avoid manipulation you can only vote on any URL once in any day. This feature alone ensures that results that lie a little lower down among those returned can work their way up to their rightful position, or be pushed down if they aren't that good. That means that real people get to improve the relevance of all results returned, something a computer is, as yet, unable to do fully to a human's satisfaction. Other great aspects of the Branze search engine are the ability to see a text-only summary of a page before clicking through to it. This avoids all the advertising and non-essential material that pad out most websites, and gives you an even clearer indication if a site is one you wish to visit. You can also check the archive.org cache of any page (if there is one) directly from the Branze results page. And, as if all that wasn't enough, where it can find an encyclopedia or dictionary definition of a search it is listed above the results with a link to the full explanation. In many cases this will turn out to be the only result you need. Oh and we do a couple of other things for you to. For example, if you are looking for a place then a handy destination finder, map facility and more will appear in the right hand panel, along with other suggested items of information you may find useful. Try it for yourself and see how useful Branze is.