Ernesto, a reader here from Chile, has kindly passed along a few photos to share from a couple little asados he threw down last December.

That juicy chunk of meat is from a cut called lomo vetado and, according to Ernesto, is one of the top preferred cuts in Chile. In Argentina it is known as ojo de bife from the bife ancho cut.

Going clockwise from the meat, those tasty sides are: a thick, creamy sauce with mushrooms, onion and garlic; beetroot and soft cheese salad; oven-baked diced potatoes with herbs

You just want to grab that fork & knife and dig right in, no?

Summertime is here so that means cordero(lamb) time! This tasty looking half section, rubbed only with salt, is slowly roasting over parra (grapevine). Cooked for 2 hours on each side.

Also, take a look at that grill! Simple, yet highly effective. I love how high that rack can be cranked too.

There I was, this past Sunday, in the process of laying out about 5kg of meat when, POW (plus a few clinks), the rack started to list at 30 degrees to port. A bolt that clamped a chain/clamp assembly to the winch appeared loose. After frantic attempts to tighten the bolt, while preventing my arm from becoming brazo a la parrilla, it was determined that the grooves in the clamp stressed out a bit. Heat does that to you. “Let’s try this,” one suggested, and a minute later, after hammering a screw in between the clamp and winch shaft (hammers work so well at fixing stuff), things were back in order. After around 2.5 fear-filled hours–I didn’t even dare to raise or lower the grill–the asado was served. For now, the parrilla is out of commission until I can find a replacement part and disassemble all of the grease splattered parts. Sigh…more smoking.

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Yet another reminder for those who keep shelving the idea of traveling to Argentina to sample some beefy beef. Hurry up! In a few years I’ll be writing about how to grill a 2 kilo slab of soy sh*t. Maybe not. But seriously, don’t be surprised if sometime in the near future that grass-fed beef you were expecting turns out to be super greasy feedlot garbage seasoned with a heavy dose of hormones and antibiotics. [links from Estanciero Mike]

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“I’ve never been to Tierra Del Fuego but I know it’s cold and there are a lot of penguins” -random Buenos Aires native

“You live in Tierra Del Fuego? That’s like right next Antarctica right?” - a bunch of people around the world

I created Argentinax.com(I think it was a former pron site before I scooped it up) to expose a little bit of my surroundings for anyone interested but then it fell by the wayside. Part of that was due to lame exposure like a crappy image link on the right column here plus maybe a link or two in posts. (The daily traffic has always been about about one visitor less than this site, which means one visitor per day) Nor did I put much of anything into it. Just a few photos every month or so with little commentary. Of course, the main goal was to post something simple like photos but time, procrastination, and weather kind of ruined it all. Also I might add, some posts that were better suited over there, ended up here thus ruining the focus of asadoargentina.com. So, what to do and why the hell am I talking about penguins?

Well, once again, I heard about a comment related to penguins swarming all over Tierra Del Fuego. Like there are some waddling around in my backyard at this moment or that I have to swerve around them while driving.

Also, I was talking to someone a while back who couldn’t believe there are flamingos down here in summer. Yes, flamingos. They aren’t all hanging out with Crockett and Tubbs up in Miami you know.

(Sorry for this poor excuse of an image. Those pink pixels are flamingos standing way beyond a fence in the middle of a large pond. I really need to get a digital SLR with a good lens.)

So, I want to expand upon my original idea with ArgentinaX, posting about my surroundings to let others know what it’s like down here, but also a few other things. At times, as I’ve done here on occasion, I want to write about something totally unrelated to the focal points of these two sites. Just “blog” about anything that may interest me. Cover other local foods. Post a Youtube link. I don’t know, but in a way where things are separated to an extent, yet integrated as well. Similar to various blog networks out there but on a much much smaller scale with content updated on a whenever basis–like how I am now.

I hesitated on posting this because I’m getting tired of the whole “sorry I haven’t been posting for a while but I promise blah blah blah” pitch that all of us “bloggers” give from time to time. Pssst, the busy excuse is code for feeling lazy, burned out, or “I have better things to do.” Like many of my other ideas, if it works out it works out. (If I’ll even follow through) If not, don’t worry I still love working on this site even if I don’t post that often.

When one mentions street food, my mind immediately conjures up an overload of mouth watering images. Street vendors in China tossing noodles up and around in a flame spewing wok. Fresh fish tacos at a beach in Cabo. Lassi ladled into cups in India. I have never been to two of those locations, mind you, but I’ve seen enough blogs, books, and travel shows to at least live the experience virtually. Though, the real deal would be so much better.

In Argentina, from various fairs to main avenues to sidewalks along the Rio De La Plata, I’ve seen and sampled some of the best. Things like empanadas, garrapiñadas, locro, choripan, pastelitos, chipas and a few others that I can’t recall from the shallow depths of my brain.

Could someone be so kind and tell me where I can find street vendors selling bife de chorizo with hearts of palm salad that is said to be a staple dish of Argentinean street food? Thanks!

Check out this post with spectacular photos of a good ‘ol family asado in the campo. Nothing better than reading about someone’s meat overload while visiting Argentina. I mean true asado-style, not restaurant-style.

This photo, that I love dearly, speaks more than a thousand words. Although he might have been thinking of something else, I often have that expression upon wondering if I turned the meat at the right time or “this smell is killing me, when will it be ready!!???”

In Argentina, refined rock salt is available in three different sizes: sal fina(fine salt), sal entrefina(semi-fine/half-refined salt), or sal gruesa(coarse salt). Kosher and harvested sea salt, in case you were wondering, are moving along at a snail’s pace in terms of rising popularity and use.

Entrefina is great to rub or sprinkle on meats before they get roasted on the parrilla. Salt manufacturers actually advertise that little fact on their packaging with “Para la Parrilla” or “Parrillera” in large font. To go a step further, they even offer the salty stuff in huge plastic shakers for use on or off the grill.

Still sitting on the fence wondering if people in Argentina really do take their barbecue seriously? Check this out.

Take your average wine bottle, without the neck, and that’s about how big this salt shaker is.

Of course, not every asador uses entrefina nor is it exclusively used on the grill. Salt is salt to some and they see no point in setting aside table salt, for example, just because entrefina’s grains are larger or that it is marketed for use on the grill. Others prefer table salt or the more coarse sal gruesa because of their crystal sizes. For me, it depends on the meat, when you sprinkle, and whether or not you baste the meat while it’s cooking away.

With chicken I prefer table salt since the outer part of the skin gets somewhat dry and crunchy while cooking. Unless there is some basting action going on, table salt dissolves just enough to create a nice “crust”–any larger grains will most likely keep their form or fall off. However, entrefina holds up well when basting. Same for most offal.

For beef, pork, and lamb, meats that have plenty of juices and fats running around, it’s entrefina all the way. Sometimes even sal gruesa, depending on the cut and how much fat there is. The larger grains act like slow time-release capsules. While the meat is cooking away for a couple hours or more, the salt slowly dissolves into the rendering fat that self bastes the meat with salty goodness.

I was tipped off to some interesting options that are currently available at select Omni hotels in the U.S. Headlined as “Sumptuous Flavors of Argentina“, this Argentinean-designated experience allows diners and guests a chance to indulge themselves into a mixture of both traditional and modern cuisine. If you want more than a meal, you can book the Discover Argentina Package that includes accommodations, a sampling of wine & cheese, culinary class, dinner, tango cd, and a few other perks.

In September of 2007, Omni sent around 40 chefs and professionals down to Buenos Aires and Mendoza to get schooled on some culture as well as the current food & wine scene. You can read the chefs’ journals here. Quite an interesting read.

Looking at their sample menu, you can get an idea of the flavors and inspiration they brought back.
Omni says, “From traditional, classic recipes to the more modern fusion favorites…” I like that. Expect traditional fare along with some different twists that may also be found in Argentina; not a vague generic “authentic Argentinean-style cuisine” claim that others dish out yet marinate their steaks in chipotle pepper sauce.

I’m very impressed with that menu I must say. Even in my little city, located in the boondocks of southern Argentina, there are a of couple high-end restaurants that offer similar modern fare. The tenderloin sandwich recipe [PDF file], however, is another story…

[Press Release Here]

First of all, a belated Happy New Year to everyone and many thanks to all who took the time to read through my poor writing and/or offered their comments and opinions throughout these years!

There are many things I need to take care of this year that I didn’t do on the last one so we’ll see where that goes. The custom-built smoker was taken care of but the home-brewing idea fell by the wayside and that can’t happen this year. Speaking of smoking, many thanks as well to those who offered tips on taking care of my pork shoulder/butt problems. After some serious fighting with my conscious I left some of those chunks of meat to smoke away until the right temp for pulled pork. They came out so well that they practically fell into shreds on their own.

Speaking of smoking again, I’m extremely impressed with quebracho blanco as a smoking wood. So much so that I still haven’t tried quebracho colorado and lenga.
Also, everyone else was quite impressed at our New Years Eve feast.

There was a little chopped pork left over so I did a quick stir-fry along with red onions, green bell peppers, grated carrots, and a splash of Dale’s sauce that I picked up on my recent trip to the States. Mmm mmm, the meat came out like fried bacon. I came across Dale’s years ago when I lived in Alabama and I think it is mostly available at stores in the Southeast U.S. Maybe that has changed. Anyway, the stuff is awesome. A concentrated soy sauce mixture that fully marinates meat in 15 minutes–no more or else it’ll be too salty. If you haven’t tried it but can buy it, do so!

One last thing. Due to my primitive category system and the current design of this site, some posts are a bit buried and hard to find. I’m in the middle of creating a site map with all of the posts linked on one page.