Continued from Food And Cooking In Argentina: Setting A Few Things Straight

Quick Summary: Chimichurri does not have to be a bright green fresh sauce. The whole population does not enjoy drowning their meats and marinating everything with the tangy mixture.

While I could probably write a book pointing out how many times chimichurri is misrepresented in the media, here are a few points that are increasingly on the rise:

• Serve immediately or use within a few days
• A vibrant, bright green sauce
• Argentineans love to use chimichurri on everything

Although there is nothing inherently wrong with the first two points, chimichurri can be a vibrant green and some do use it immediately or within a few days, but there appears to be a rising trend that the sauce has to look this way or used that way. The final point is just plain wrong. Would you say all Americans love to use smoky tomato-based barbecue sauce on everything? No, right?

Continued from Food And Cooking In Argentina: Setting A Few Things Straight

Quick Summary: Grilled steak with chimichurri is not called a gaucho steak in Argentina.

Often refers to grilled steak that is marinated, basted, or served with chimichurri. Restaurants that either offer a mix of various Latin American cuisines or those that want to take advantage of chimichurri’s popularity might have this item on the menu. Celebrity chefs and cookbook authors also enjoy offering a recipe to the population when they cover Latin America or Argentina or, as with restaurants, to take advantage of chimichurri’s popularity. This then trickles down to the food bloggers who go on to create their gaucho steak posts.

One of my main objectives with this site is to explain to those who are interested, Argentinean cuisine at the household level. The recipes or methods of cooking one might not experience or view on their visit to Argentina or in some form of media. Sure I tend to stray at times or come off as a hypocritical ass, but I try to stick to that objective as much as possible. The cuisine, ingredients, and cooking styles may vary from region to region or from town to city but I try to find the common similarities and present a general picture of Argentina and its cuisine. Since most of what I write about relates to the asado, that is a much easier task to accomplish than say covering empanadas, casseroles, stews, or humitas. In addition to talking to the people around me, I dig through news archives, menus, books, ingredient lists on products, and information given by organizations or government entities. If I give out wrong information I hope that someone will correct me.

Up north, summer is just around the corner and for the past few months numerous grillers have been dusting off their gear to cook steaks, BBQ, hamburgers, chicken, and many other delicious smokey food. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t get the ritual. Is it because most lack the criadillas to grill out in the cold while others follow some local food mantra that states they must eat butternut squash soup and braised cabbage simply because those are the only foods grown locally? As if when ramps start sprouting out of the ground do they finally have permission to drag the grill out onto the open from its dark recess and light the fire.

Food trucks offering various cuisines from around the world appear to be popping up all over the place in the U.S. these days–some even fusing together the flavors of different cultures. If you live or work in or around Emeryville, California, there is now an asado argentino truck in your neck of the woods. After winning praise from friends for his backyard asado parties, Javier Sandes, originally from Argentina, decided to take his show on the road. Javier’s main specialties include slow-roasted free range chicken and grass-fed tri-tip (colita de cuadril) served up with some tangy chimichurri. You can compliment those meats with mashed sweet potatoes with spinach or empanadas stuffed with chicken or vegetables. Although he hopes to open a restaurant one day, for now you will just have to follow his Twitter or Facebook feed to learn where he decides to park his truck.

Website (under construction): Primo’s Parrilla
Twitter: @VamosPrimos
Facebook: Primo’s Parrilla

The dishes in these two photos contain dried parsley (perejil deshidratado) from the same company, Dos Anclas, one of the top manufacturers and distributors of salt, spices, herbs, oil & vinegar, and so on in Argentina. The dried parsley in the first photo was purchased a few months back. The second one, yesterday. Sad, no? […]

The weekend before last I took a little 3 day/2 night trip over to Ushuaia with some friends to meet other friends. I had a plan of putting together a little travel guide based on notes from previous trips and this one, but I’ve changed my mind for now. So, I’ll just post the observations I noted down on the day after I returned.

I wish that I had more photos to display or perhaps a better selection. A snow storm that moved on a day before left some spectacular scenery. Stupidity and overconfidence got the best of me and my camera’s battery died early the next day after arrival. After noticing the low battery warning blink on the screen while taking the first shot, I took as many as I could, as quick as I could, while fumbling through different configurations.

On March 16, the New York Times published a piece titled “Argentine Nights” by Denny Lee that pretty much hit the cliche bullseye on Buenos Aires mainstream media topics such as tango, expats, arts, music, restaurants, and hotels. While skimming through paragraph after paragraph, I asked myself: haven’t I read this before?. Something about how […]

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, […]

I always find it interesting to read or hear what other people around the world carve their knives into for Christmas Eve/Day dinner. Same with other large holidays and traditions. What types of food and how true they stay to local or ethnic tradition. Are they hardcore traditional where they eat the same thing over […]

Why, oh why, did I not take a picture? Why were there 15 carts in an L-shaped line at the opposite end of the supermarket while my lane and the two surrounding ones only had one or two carts along with no signs of closing? Why were all of those people looking at us with […]