What Spanish word names beef head meat used as a taco filling? Cabeza.
In Mexican taco terminology, cabeza means beef head meat. The word literally translates as “head,” and cabeza tacos usually refer to tender meat from a slowly cooked cow’s head, often prepared as barbacoa de cabeza. The meat is commonly served in soft corn tortillas with onion, cilantro, and salsa.
Traditional cabeza cooking uses an entire cleaned beef head, which may be wrapped in maguey or banana leaves and cooked in an earth oven. Modern restaurants may steam or grill it instead. The long cooking process softens the meat and makes it easy to shred. Depending on the taquería, customers may request specific parts such as cachete (cheek), lengua (tongue), ojo (eye), oreja (ear), or sesos (brains).
Cabeza should not be confused with barbacoa as a general cooking style. Barbacoa can describe slow-cooked beef, lamb, goat, or other meats, while cabeza identifies the head-meat preparation. Nor does cabeza mean every possible head cut: tacos de lengua and tacos de sesos are named separately when those parts are served.