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If you spend any amount of time in and around Mexico City, you will inevitably come across countless signs for barbacoa.
Tents pop up around town on weekends enticing you in with “rica barbacoa” and “la mejor barbacoa”. You walk by, eyeing piles of moist roasted lamb piled onto tortillas, served next to luscious bowls of rich consomé.
Let the scent of perfectly slow-roasted and seasoned meat draw you in.
I won’t stop you from sampling barbacoa in Mexico City, but they say the best barbacoa is in Hidalgo, the supposed birthplace of barbacoa. Lucky for you, Hidalgo is a state just north of Mexico City, and makes for a great day trip.
Knowing this, we decided to investigate further on a recent trip to Mexico City.
We heard that the best barbacoa is in a town called Villa de Tezontepec, yes, in Hidalgo. So we had to check it out. We hired a driver that we had used before, and who we knew was a barbacoa connoisseur. We put our Hidalgo barbacoa adventure in his experienced hands.
In this article, I share everything we learned from our day in Villa de Tezontepec, from how barbacoa is made to where to find the best barbacoa and how to order.
It’s barbacoa time, baby!
Note: I don’t expect any vegetarians or vegans to have gotten even this far, but I want to let you know that there are lots of pictures of meat coming up!
About Villa de Tezontepec
Villa de Tezontepec is a small town of thirteen thousand people in the Mexican state of Hidalgo, a little over an hour north of Mexico City. It is about 20 minutes south of Pachuca, the unexciting capital of Hidalgo (based on our 15-minute drive through town).
Tezontepec’s slogan is “Pueblo con Sabor” — “a town with flavor”, so expectations are high! Other than visiting the Ex Convento de San Pedro Apóstol, there’s not much to do in this town…other than taste all the barbacoa.
And on weekends they deliver the flavor.
You can visit a restaurant like El Mesón or browse the barbacoa offerings under the large tent in the Centro Historico. Or why not both? (That’s what we did.)
And after your barbacoa feast, take a little stroll around town to walk it off. The main square is lively!
What is barbacoa?
Barbacoa is a traditional Mexican method of slow-cooking meat (typically lamb, goat, or beef) in an earthen oven.
In Hidalgo barbacoa is typically made with lamb (borrego). In other states, you might also find it made with beef (res) or goat (chivo).
The origins of the word “barbacoa” are murky, but there is no shortage of theories.
Most people agree that the term “barbacoa” originated with the Taina people of the Caribbean.
In the Caribbean, however, barbacoa usually referred to roasting meats on a raised structure made of sticks. Hence why “barbacoa” is also the origin of what we call “barbecue” in English/American.
But in Mexico, barbacoa refers to roasting meat in a pit. Some say both the method and the term originate from the Mayan term Baalbak’Kaab, or “meat covered with soil”. If you know cochinita pibil (my favorite Mexican dish), you know that meat tastes amazing slow-roasted in a dirt pit!
How is barbacoa made?
Making barbacoa is a labor-intensive process. And the main ingredient is time.
Unlike barbeque, barbacoa is not grilled on an open flame, but slow-cooked in an earthen pit. This method basically steams the meat, making it super-moist, but with a bit of smoky flavor from the embers.
Every chef has their secret recipe, but you can expect to taste ingredients like salt, pepper, garlic, onions, oregano, cinnamon, and chiles (guajillo, ancho, etc.). With barbacoa, the meat itself is the star. You will taste more of the other flavors in the consomé.
Most of the work is done the night before. Here are the basic steps:
Step 1: Dig a pit. Most establishments have brick-lined pits or ovens that they reuse.
Step 2: Light a fire. Place wood in the bottom of the pit, light it, and let it burn to hot coals.
Step 3: Add the consomé ingredients. Put a large pot on top of the coals. Add water, garbanzo beans, rice, water, and your special spice mix.
Step 4: Prepare the meat. Season the meat. Prepare the pancita (stomach) by stuffing it with organs, herbs, and spices.
Step 5: Layer the meat. Place the meet on a grill over the consomé pot. Restaurants will have multiple tiers of meat to roast.
Step 6: Seal the oven and let it roast overnight. Cover the meat with maguey (agave) leaves and any other cover you want (metal plate, cloth, etc.), then cover the whole thing with dirt. Let it roast overnight.
Step 7: Uncover the oven to remove the meat and consomé. When the time is right (IYKYK), sweep the dirt off, remove the maguey leaves, and uncover the steaming pile of delicious barbacoa! Remove the meat first, then you should find a steaming pot of luscious consomé ready to go at the bottom of the pit.
Step 8: Enjoy! Well, there’s nothing left here to do but give it a taste!
That all makes it sound easy, but it takes a true master to choreograph this symphony of flavors.
If you visit El Meson and your timing is lucky, you will have an opportunity to go to the kitchen in the back and see them removing the barbacoa from the pit. I highly recommend it! (All pit pictures in this article were taken at El Meson.)
How to order barbacoa
If you go for barbacoa on a Sunday, there will be a line. It’s best to get there around 9am. Get in the line and wait as long as it takes.
When you finally get to the front of the line, you need to know what you want, and how much you want. Don’t panic.
You order your barbacoa by weight, generally in quarter kilos. A half kilo (medio kilo) is good for 2-4 people, depending on your appetite (i.e. you would have to be two VERY hungry people to eat that much).
You can get all one cut of meat, or mix it up (you will probably need to speak some Spanish if your order gets complicated).
Here’s a quick list of terms you should know:
- Maciza (ma-SEE-sa) is an all-around term for the less fatty parts of the animal (my favorite). If you want to specify, go for the cuello (neck) or pierna (leg).
- Costillas (cos-TEE-yus) are the ribs, very tasty. They usually remove the bones.
- Pancita (pun-SEE-tah) is lamb stomach stuffed with offal (kidneys, heart, tripe, liver, lung, etc.)—definitely NOT my favorite, but there are those who love it!
- Cabeza (ka-BEH-sa) is the head of the lamb. They usually have a few skulls handy for the more adventurous among you. I have no idea how to eat cabeza, but give it a try if you dare.
- Consomé (kon-sum-MEH) is the rich broth made with rice, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), spices, and the drippings from the lamb. It is not usually very spicy. You order this once you are seated.
In some places (e.g. El Meson), you pay for the meat when you order it, once you are seated you order and pay separately for drinks (café de olla is typical) and other extras. When we had (our second!) barbacoa in the market area, we just paid for everything at the end.
How to eat barbacoa
Eating barbacoa is pretty straightforward. I mean, it’s basically just a taco with roasted lamb meat! That said, here is the typical protocol for your barbacoa feast.
Eat the consomé first. While you tuck into your steaming bowl of consomé, keep some tortillas on top of the pile of barbacoa to keep it warm.
Some say to eat the pancita meat before the other cuts of meat. I skipped the pancita (offal is aptly named) so I can’t vouch for the importance of this step.
Make a barbacoa taco. Grab a nice warm, hand-made tortilla, and pile on your favorite cut of barbacoa. Sprinkle on some cilantro and onion, squeeze some lime on there, and add your favorite salsa (the green guacamole salsa seems to be a favorite). See—it’s just a taco!
Some vendors also offer a small corn cob that was roasted with the meat—delicious!
Pop some pápalo. If available, finish off your barbacoa feast by chewing on some herby pápalo—it aids in digestion.
Wash it all down with some pulque! Pulque is a viscous, funky, lightly alcoholic beverage made from fermented agave sap (it’s an acquired taste!). It seems like there is a strong tradition of complementing your barbacoa feast with a few swigs of pulque. You’ll find plenty of pulque—and frozen pulque—stands around town. Most of them will let you try before you buy.
Barbacoa tips and etiquette
Expect crowds. Going for barbacoa is a big family event.
Barbacoa is traditionally only served on weekends.
Go early. To avoid lines and ensure they don’t run out of barbacoa, plan to go early. We arrived around 9:30am and there was already a crowd and a line at El Meson. I think we waited around 30-40 minutes to get to the front of the line for our barbacoa. And the line was out the door by the time we left.
Bring cash for your barbacoa adventure. While you might find some places that take credit cards, it will be a lot easier to just bring cash. While walking around the market, you might find some other things you want to buy (there are, not surprisingly, lots of sheepskins for sale!), so don’t be caught without cash.
Don’t be shy about saving your table. As you get close to the front of the line, it’s a good time to start scouting out a table. It’s acceptable to put a coat or a bag to reserve your seat. The wait staff might intervene if they are trying to help with seat arrangements (ie. They might help you, or put someone in your seats! Don’t stress, just work with them).
Tip your servers. 10 percent (or more) is appreciated.
It’s not specific to barbacoa, but it’s a lovely Mexican gesture to wish your fellow diners a “buen provecho”! “Provecho” also works just fine.
Hours
Did you know that barbacoa is for breakfast?!
It seems a bit weird to this gringo to eat a full-on meat feast first thing in the morning, but I did it, and have no regrets. I mean, you don’t do it every day—just on weekends!
The first barbacoa typically gets pulled out of the oven at around 9am, after slow-cooking all night long.
Go early if you don’t want to wait in line or risk them selling out before you get to the front of the line. The better places start running out of barbacoa around 1pm. Around this time, your choice of meat cuts is also greatly diminishing.
The barbacoa culture is especially busy on Sunday. As a point of reference, the master chef at El Meson told us that they roasted 8 lambs for Saturday, and 22 for Sunday!
Cost
You pay one set price per kilo of barbacoa — it doesn’t matter what part you get.
Expect to pay about MX$300-400 for a half kilo (a little over one pound). So it’s not a cheap meal, but it’s worth the splurge.
Once you sit at your table, you can order drinks and consomé. I’m still not sure if the consomé is extra (I think it is?), but the drinks definitely are.
Accessibility
You can expect typical uneven Mexican sidewalks and erratic ramps in Villa de Tezontepec. But I did see people in wheelchairs and parents with strollers managing to navigate the area.
Cobblestones and narrow pathways between very crowded tables will be the main challenge for anyone with limited mobility.
How to get to Villa de Tezontepec from Mexico City
No matter how you choose to get there, it takes a while to get to Villa de Tezontepec from Mexico City. Plan for 1.5 to 2 hours in each direction.
Private Car
We hired a private driver for the day (someone we had used before) who also guided us through the barbacoa experience, taking us to his favorite spots and taking the stress out of the ordering experience.
It took about 1 hour and 15 minutes driving from Roma Sur on a quiet Sunday morning.
If you can afford it (we spent about MX$2000 for our driver/guide for the day) and don’t want any stress, I would recommend doing it this way.
If you have a car, or plan to rent a car, that’s also a good option. Expect to pay an additional MX$65 each way for tolls and about MX$50-70 for parking (at least on a busy Sunday). Note that parking in town fills up fast, so another prompt to try to get there early.
Public Transportation
Per Google Maps, getting to Villa de Tezontepec from Mexico City via public transportation is quite doable. But as always, it is going to take a bit longer than a private car. You will also have to be a bit adventurous, as it requires riding one of those little green buses. And you are going to be on that little bus for a looooong time.
To catch the little green bus, you need to get yourself to Deportivo 18 de Marzo (Metro Linea 3) or Euskaro (Metrobus Linea 1). Then get to the corner of Av Ricarte and Av Insurgentes Norte and look for the bus to Potrero-Tezontepec.
Google directions should serve you pretty well. It might also help to speak a little Spanish to seek help getting to the right spot.
If you hit all your connections right, it should take about 2 hours from Roma/Condesa on public transportation. The bus should drop you off just a few blocks from the main market area.
Final Thoughts
We really enjoyed our Sunday barbacoa adventure in Villa de Tezontepec. Although it was a bit splurgy, I am glad we went with someone who knew the ropes and (allegedly) the best spots for barbacoa.
If you are a first-timer, knowing what and how to order is actually a little confusing, so it’s super helpful to have someone around who knows what they are doing. It was also a lot more relaxing not worrying about how to get there and get home (even though you know I am a bit fan of public transportation!).
Either way you go, if you want to get out of Mexico City for a culinary adventure, you can’t go wrong embarking on a quest to find the best barbacoa in Villa de Tezontepec!
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