We each ordered a half slab of boneless barbeque ribs, one of the house specialties. I've never been a huge fan of barbequed ribs because of the bones and all the waste. At some places, it seems as if there really isn't very much meat. So I was happy about the boneless option. The ribs were served with extra sauce, a corn muffin, and two sides. Gayle and I had the sweet potato fries and southern-style green beans. Alejandro had the sweet potato fries and cole slaw (something he had never had before.)
Our meal was delicious... the best ribs I had ever had, very tender and tasty. Gayle said that some years ago she had eaten at a barbeque restaurant in Georgia which was considered the best in the state. Gayle said that the food here was just as good as what she had in Georgia.
I mentioned that our "barbeque" derives from the Mexican "barbacoa", which is a quite different cooking process. Gayle said that it came from the Caribbean. Well, I did some research on the internet, and we were both right. Gayle was correct that the process of slow roasting meat on a grill, allowing it to be enveloped in smoke, came from the natives of the Caribbean. In the native Taino language the grill was called a "barabicu". The term entered the Spanish language as "barbacoa", and that word was also applied to a roasting method typical of Mexico. There, the meat, usually goat, is placed in a pit with a bowl beneath it to collect the broth. The meat is covered with maguey leaves and coals, and roasted for several hours. The word "barbacoa" spread from northern Mexico to the southwestern United States. So, the cooking method did indeed come from the Caribbean, and our word "barbeque" came to us via Mexico.
However it got here... our food was great, and I would definitely make the drive to eat at "Bubba's Barbeque" again.
Isn't the word spelled "barbecue"? Or is it a different thing? I know that "barbecue parties" are very common in Texas. As for barbacoa, this is a very, very popular dish in northern Mexico, especially here in Monterrey. Some local people even dare to say that "a Sunday without barbacoa is not a Sunday". And truly, besides the menudo (beef tripe soup), barbacoa is the traditional dish for Sunday breakfast or brunch. I'm not a big fan of barbacoa myself (because it's fatty), but it is delicious.
ReplyDeleteBarbecue and barbeque are just spelling variations of the same thing.
DeleteI have never had "barbacoa" in Mexico. In Monterrey do they use goat and maguey leaves like they do in central Mexico?