Sunday Morning Barbacoa: The Smoker Method

Hey folks, Big B here.

If you’ve ever spent a Sunday morning in the Rio Grande Valley or San Antonio, you know that the air smells like one thing: Barbacoa. Traditionally, this meat is buried in a subterranean pit (pozo) and steamed for 12 hours. It’s rich, it’s fatty, and it’s the ultimate weekend ritual.

But let’s be real—not all of us have a brick-lined pit in the backyard or the permission from our spouses to dig a four-foot hole next to the patio. That shouldn’t stop you from reaching barbacoa bliss. Today, I’m going to show you how to use your smoker to mimic those deep, gelatinous results that’ll have your neighbors knocking on your door with a stack of tortillas.

Sourcing the Good Stuff: Cachete (Beef Cheeks) are King

You can’t just use any old roast for barbacoa. For that authentic, “melt-in-your-mouth” texture, you need beef cheeks (cachete).

Raw beef cheeks are packed with fat and collagen—the secret to authentic barbacoa.

Beef cheeks are a heavily worked muscle packed with connective tissue and intramuscular fat. When they’re cooked right, that collagen turns into pure liquid gold. Ask your local butcher for a few pounds of trimmed cheeks. They might look small and ugly, but trust me, they’re the crown jewels of the cow.

The Prep: Trimming and the South Texas Rub

When you get them home, you’ll see a thick layer of silverskin on one side. You want to trim the worst of that off, but don’t go crazy. We want to keep as much of that internal fat as possible.

For the seasoning, we’re sticking to the South Texas Brisket Rub. A coarse blend of kosher salt, 16-mesh black pepper, granulated garlic, and a heavy pinch of ground cumin. That cumin is non-negotiable—it’s the aromatic signature of the borderlands.

Phase 1: The Smoke (Foundation of Flavor)

Fire up your smoker to 225°F (107°C) to 250°F (121°C). Since we’re going for authentic flavor, Mesquite is the only way to fly.

Phase 1 is all about building that smoky foundation with clean blue smoke.

Place the cheeks directly on the grates. We want to hit them with clean Blue Smoke for about 3 to 4 hours. We’re not trying to cook them through yet; we’re just building a smoky foundation and setting a nice mahogany color on the surface.

Phase 2: The Wrap (Mimicking the Pozo)

This is where the magic happens. To get that pozo-style steam, we need to create a sealed environment.

The wrap creates a miniature ‘pozo’ on your smoker, steaming the meat until it’s tender.

1. Take a heavy-duty foil pan and line the bottom with sliced white onions and a few cloves of smashed garlic.
2. Place the smoked cheeks on top of the onions.
3. Add a splash of beef stock or a dark Mexican lager (about half a cup).
4. The Pro Trick: If you can find banana leaves or maguey leaves, lay them over the meat before you seal the pan with a double layer of heavy-duty foil. It adds an earthy floral note that is pure South Texas.

The “Melt”: Time and Temperature

Put the sealed pan back on the smoker. We’re looking for an Internal Temp that would make a brisket cry. We want these cheeks to hit 210°F (99°C).

At this temperature, the collagen hasn’t just broken down; it has completely liquefied. This second phase usually takes another 4 to 5 hours. When you probe through the foil, it should feel like you’re pushing a hot needle through room-temperature butter.

Serving: The Taco Botana

Once they hit the mark, let the pan rest (still sealed!) for at least an hour. This allows the meat to reabsorb those juices.

The meat should pull apart effortlessly. Discard any large chunks of unrendered fat.

Carefully open the pan—watch out for that steam—and shred the meat with a couple of forks. Discard any large, unrendered chunks of fat.

Serve it up “botana style”: a massive platter of shredded meat, a stack of fresh corn tortillas, chopped white onion, fresh cilantro, and a fiery salsa ranchera. (And don’t forget a side of Charro Beans to round it out).

There you have it—pozo-quality barbacoa without the manual labor of digging a trench. It’s the Sunday morning you deserve.

Keep the fire steady and the drinks cold. I’ll see you at the pit.

— Big B