I first had barbacoa in Corpus Cristi at HEB for a tennis tournament where they were sampling it, my teammates declined to try it lol.  I loved the texture and flavor but wanted to make it at home and was excited when I saw beef cheeks at the market.  I believe it's supposed to be shredded, like a pulled pork but making it in a slow cooker does make it pull apart tender.  It was pretty spicy and had it over rice and had it like a dip with tortilla chips to add saltiness and crunch.  May not be traditional but it's definitely hearty and stretches into several meals that is easy to make in a slow cooker.  I wonder how it will taste if I smoked the cheeks for a few hours then added to the slow cooker...

Ingredients

• 7-8 pounds beef cheeks, cut into 3-inch chunks
• 2 onions, diced
• 1 small can chipotles in adobo sauce, finely diced, use less if you don't like spicy, I hate to waste and use a whole can :-)
• 2-3 heads of garlic, minced
• 1/2 C fresh lime juice
• ¼ C apple cider vinegar
• 2 T ground cumin
• 1 T dried oregano
• 4 t sea salt
• 2 t black pepper
• 1/2 t ground cloves
• 1 ½ C beef stock
• 5 bay leaves

Directions

1. Add all of the ingredients, except the bay leaves, to the bowl of a slow cooker.
2. Use tongs to gently toss and mix it all together. Then add the bay leaves, and cover.
3. Cook on low for 8-9 hours, or on high for 4-5 hours. The beef should be tender and fall apart easily when shredded with a fork. If it doesn't shred easily, cook it a bit longer.
4. Serve the barbacoa straight from the slow cooker over rice or add it to tacos with chopped cilantro and lime wedges.
5. I used leftover chicken feet broth instead of beef, strained the liquid after it was cooked into leftover containers and had a nice chicken/beef broth with lots of collagen, nothing wasted!