Barbacoa is slow-cooked beef cheek, traditionally pit-steamed until it falls apart, served by the pound on weekend mornings with warm tortillas, chopped onion, cilantro, and salsa. In San Antonio it is paired, almost without exception, with a cold bottle of Big Red, the bright-red cream soda that is the city's unofficial beverage.

Barbacoa de cabeza came north with Mexican ranching traditions, where the whole cow's head was wrapped and cooked in an underground pit. On San Antonio's West and South Sides it became a Sunday-morning ritual, sold by the pound at meat markets and taquerias. The pairing with Big Red, a Waco-born soda popular across south Texas, turned barbacoa and Big Red into a regional shorthand for a San Antonio weekend.

3 editor picks for Barbacoa and Big Red in San Antonio, ranked by editorial score. All San Antonio signature dishes · Barbacoa and Big Red across every city.