Some friends recently finished an extension to their house in order to have an area for an indoor parrilla and extra storage space. I guess you could call the new room a quincho garage. Anyway, they wanted to break in the new grill and what better way to do that than invite a group of friends and co-workers over for a big asado–about 15 of us in total.

Perhaps some great news for those who bombard me with questions about how to acquire certain types of grills, ideal for asado, in the U.S.. Well, at least the news should be good for those who have been looking for simple or adjustable features in a grill.

Milanesa, to put it simply, is Latin America’s version of cotoletta and wiener schnitzel. Thin slices of veal or beef tenderized with plenty of whacks from a mallet, dunked in beaten eggs, liberally coated with bread crumbs–perhaps mixed with a little parsley and garlic, and finally fried in hot oil. In Argentina they can be found on the menus of most restaurants offering national cuisine, sold as ready-to-cook in butcher shops and supermarkets, or made from scratch by the family chef for lunch or dinner. Most often served with either fried or mashed potatoes, milanesa is serious comfort food. The most popular cuts of beef for milanesa in Argentina are round, sirloin tip, eye of round, and rump. I should cover milanesas more in the future but for now I present you the sandwich de milanesa.

From rotiserías (take-out joints) to cafés offering classic porteño fare to pricey fine dining establishments, in many parts of Argentina a platter of crispy–sometimes not so crispy–fried squid rings served with a couple wedges of lemon is not hard to find. Every place has their own unique recipe that ranges from a simple dusting of flour and salt to bubbly batters containing milk, eggs, or beer. Often offered as an appetizer, rabas fritas can work just was well as an entrée if you want to take a break from the beefy stuff. When and how these tasty morsels appeared in fried form on plates in Argentina is anyone’s guess. I’m sure the Spanish and Italian influence had a little to do with that and if you didn’t know, there is an abundant supply of squid off of Argentina’s coast.

Chingolo or Palomita (chuck tender in the U.S.), is a cut of beef that consists of the entire supraspinatus muscle which lies laterally to the shoulder blade bone. Contrary to what you may be thinking about a cut with tender as part of its name, chuck tender is anything but tender. Slow cooking, as with many other cuts from the chuck, is needed in order to turn that toughness into tenderness. For this cut, braising or stewing is typically the cooking method of choice due to the low amount of fat. However, when properly cooked on a parrilla you will be rewarded with a delicious chunk of meat full of rich beefy flavor.

I’ve been performing some back-end work and realized that a FAQ page has been long overdue, maybe even a couple posts for the most frequent, useful questions. Not that I get bombarded with questions on a daily basis but those that I do get tend to relate to the same topics. Much easier to drop [...]

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? [...]

I’ve finally come to the realization that I will probably never catch a salmon or trout using spinning lures. Good riddance. I was never much a fan of that style of fishing anyway. Cast it out, reel it in. Cast it out, reel it in. Wind is another topic. Even with large heavy casting spoons, if the wind is really kicking you’re lucky if you can cast further than 20-30 ft. Then there is location. All of the good spots are either in the middle of nowhere and/or on some private property where you may need permission to fish-by paying or through contacts.

So as I was about to pull out of a parking space at the supermarket yesterday, I noticed two single-page advertisements tucked snugly under one of the windshield wipers. One for a takeout and catering service listing a selection of foods for the upcoming holidays, the other for a laundromat. Onto the passenger seat they [...]

A visitor to this site recently asked for a list of various Argentinean dishes in order to plan a themed New Year’s dinner. Since we are currently doing our own planning for the upcoming holidays, I decided to send a list of what various friends and family have been serving over the years for Christmas and New Year’s. That being said, do not take this as a 100% traditional list. Everyone has their own traditions based on generations and regions. If anyone wants to add anything–something you feel out of place or a different version of what I listed below, let me know.