Give or take a few steaks, Argentineans eat about 55kg of beef each a year. But it should be, because this country is all about the carne. Of course, a true Argentino doesn’t need a side of salad to justify his meat consumption (this is, after all, the country where vegetarians are served chicken) though an ensalada criolla – tomato, lettuce and onion dressed with oil and white wine vinegar – cuts through the richness of the meat perfectly.Look up Argentina in the dictionary and the definition says, ʻsynonym of meatʼ. Once the meat is ready, your team of sous-chefs should have finished making your salads. Once all three are crisp on the outside and oozing within, the locals usually cut them into small pieces and serve them with slices of baguette, spread onto or sandwiched.ġ3.
Now it’s the turn of the chorizo, morcilla (blood sausage) and provoleta (discs provolone cheese) – last in, first onto plates.ġ2. Often these are the only achuras served, but they can also be accompanied by chinchulines – intestines – and riñones – kidneys. The entry-level offal is mollejas, sweetbreads that are grilled to smokey crispness and served with a squeeze of lemon. Next onto the parrilla are the achuras (offal). The steady cooking process – fiddling is frowned upon – will give you plenty of time for the social element of the asado, conducted over a glass of Malbec and a few picadas (cheese/ham/salami/olives on sticks).ġ0.
Argentina meat sausage (chorizo) and meat short ribs (Tira de asado)ĩ. If the meat is good, they say, this is the best way to cook it: low and slow. It’s impossible to overcook beef in Argentina, as the locals like it medium to well done. Vacio (flank) and entraña (skirt) are two other flavoursome cuts, which respond beautifully to asado cooking.Ĩ. Keep the hottest coals aside to avoid fat dripping and flares of smoke, which spoil the flavour of the meat. It sounds crazy, but the average Argentinean eats around 60kg of meat a year and half a kilo a head works out about right.ħ. Waiting in the wings are your cuts of meat, very specific to the asado, so introduce the biggest cuts first, starting with the tira de asado (short rib).Ħ. Lower the grill to 15cm above the smouldering bed of coals. When the flames and smoke of your initial fire have relented, you will have a pile of smouldering charcoal to the left of your grill, from which you rake across glowing embers to sit under the right.ĥ. Once the grill has heated up, give it a vigorous clean with newspaper to remove all yesterday’s carbonised cow and arm yourself with the tools of the asador – the shovel and rake – for moving embers around.Ĥ. If he (always he) is having problems getting his fire to light, an Argentine will throw on a few pine cones – not briquettes, which taint the meat (and severely damage your rep as an asador).ģ. Make a stack of dry wood sitting on top of a heap of lump charcoal under the left-hand side of your parrilla, a cast-iron grill which can be adjusted to different heights.Ģ. Here is our step-by-step guide to an authentic Argentine asado:ġ. Otherwise, you’ve got yourself a barbecue. Asado is cooking in its purest form – just fire, grill and meat – so it’s important that you get it right. Your gas-fuelled blow-torching of conveyor-belt beef patties has nothing in common with our sacred asado. It’s the same, right? No, the locals will tell you, through gritted teeth, it is not the same. The fastest way to make enemies in Argentina is to compare the asado to a barbecue.
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