Basting Meat with Salmuera in Argentine Cooking

When we talk about Argentine cooking on this blog, we often make the point that there isn’t a lot of seasoning in play in many of the recipes we share.

Often, the only spice at work in these dishes is the most basic and essential one there is: salt.

Today, we’re going to look at a new element of Argentine cooking called salmuera. Salmuera simply means “brine,” or a highly-concentrated solution of salt in water. Unlike regular salt, this brine won’t toughen your meats.

Argentine Salmuera

You can use salmuera as a marinade before you cook, or as a condiment when your meat comes off the grill. Best of all, you can whip up a batch in just a few minutes. You’ll need:

5 ounces virgin olive oil
5 ounces white vinegar
1 fresh garlic, all cloves peeled and sliced
2 bay leaves
2 sliced green hot peppers
1 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
½ sliced white onion
When you’ve gathered and prepared these ingredients, put them in a blender or food processor and process until completely blended.

Almond Salmuera

If you’d like to take salmuera to another level, you can try this Food & Wine recipe for grilled pork chops with an almond salmuera. You’ll need:

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup (plus 2 tsp. sherry vinegar)
1 minced shallot
1 minced garlic clove
Kosher salt
Pepper
¼ cup chopped marcona almonds
1 tsp. minced chives
1 tsp. minced parsley
1 tsp. minced mint
1 tsp. minced cilantro
Canola oil for brushing
Four 8-ounce bone-in pork chops, cut one inch thick
Sea salt for finishing
To prepare:

Whisk ¼ cup of olive oil and two tablespoons of vinegar with the shallot, garlic, a tablespoon of kosher salt, a teaspoon of pepper and a cup of water. Stir in the almonds, parsley, chives, mint and cilantro.
Use a small bowl to whisk the remaining olive oil and vinegar with two tablespoons of pepper and ¼ cup of water. You now have two bowls of salmuera: regular and almond.
Grill the pork on your Gaucho Grill, basting frequently with the first bowl of salmuera until the meat is brown. You should grill the pork six to seven minutes on each side.
Remove the pork from the grill and baste it with the almond salmuera.
Ready to add salmuera to your Argentine cooking repertoire? The best way to do that is a Gaucho Grill. Visit our website today to find a grill model that works for you. Enjoy!

Tips for Grilling Fish on Your Gaucho Grill

Compared to sausage, steaks and chicken, fish can seem like a minor league player trying to compete against a team of all-stars.

And yes, flounder cooked in a pan in your kitchen is no match for a nice thick steak at a backyard barbecue. But put fish on your Gaucho Grill, and all bets are off. Grilling brings out the best in fish. Here are a few tips to get started.

1. Choose the right fish

Not every fish is great for grilling. Tender varieties, such as catfish, flounder and tilapia, are too flaky, and can fall apart.  You can cook them on the grill them using foil or a wire basket, but you’d be better off saving them for your kitchen.

Instead, look for thicker steaks: swordfish, tuna, salmon or mahi-mahi. If you’re feeling adventurous, try whole fish such as snapper, trout or bass.

2. Should I marinate?

It depends on the fish. Thick cuts like tuna and swordfish really come alive when marinated. All you’ll need is a blend of oil, vinegar and spices to turn these fishes from dry to juicy.

When you’re cooking an oily fish such as salmon or bluefish, dry thoroughly with paper towels, then sear or grill them with just a little butter or oil. Add sauce or other condiments just before or after the fish is finished on the grill.

3. How can I tell it’s done?

If you’re cooking a whole fish, the rule of thumb is to cook it 10 minutes for each inch of thickness. For a smaller piece of fish, go with eight minutes per inch of thickness.

Check the fish two minutes before you expect it to be done, and remember that fish – like steak – continues cooking for a few minutes after it leaves the grill.

If you’re ready to get started, here’s a recipe for Argentinian salmon with cilantro peanut sauce that you can prepare on your Gaucho Grill.

Ingredients

For the salmon:

2-4 salmon fillets
½ tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp salt
½ tsp onion powder
¼ tsp black pepper
A pinch of red pepper flakes
For the sauce:

1 cup fresh cilantro
½ cup lightly salted dry roast peanuts
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
¼ cup olive oil
Pinch of salt and pepper
Directions

Fire up your grill and let the coals turn grey. Use a small bowl to mix the salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, and onion powder. Sprinkle this over your fish.
Put all the sauce ingredients other than the olive oil in a blender and food processer and puree for 30 seconds. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil with the blender running. Place the sauce in the boil for later.
Put the fish on the grill, flesh side down and cook for four minutes. Gently flip the fish and cook for another three to five minutes, depending on whether you want it medium rare or medium.
Remove the fish from the grill, put it on a plate or serving platter, and spoon the sauce onto each fillet.
Is fish a regular menu item at your house? A Gaucho Grill can bring out its flavor. Visit our website today to find a grill model that’s right for you.

Tips for Asado Grilling Over Wood Embers

We got our company’s name from the gauchos, rough-and-tumble Argentinian cattlemen who cooked their meat on makeshift grills. And while we weren’t on hand for those long-ago Latin barbecue celebrations, we’d say it’s a safe bet the gauchos didn’t head out to Home Depot to buy charcoal. They cooked over wood.

They had the right idea. Wood smoke gives your food an amazing flavor, but it’s also something of a challenge, writes Oliver Schwaner-Albright in The New York Times.

“Grilling over a wood fire is as much a sport as an art — it’s more instinctive than cooking with a gas grill, more nuanced than cooking with charcoal, and more athletic than both.”

If you think this is something you’re ready to tackle, here are some rules to follow for your next Latin barbecue:

1. You can’t just use any wood

When cooking over wood, look for seasoned dried hardwoods, which burn hotter and last longer than softer woods such as pine. Look for woods like hickory, ash, beech or oak, or from fruit trees like cherry or almond. You can add more distinct flavors by using soaked wood chips or mesquite chunks.

2. Starting the fire

If you’ve ever gone camping, or you have a fireplace, this should come easy. Build a pile of kindling (wood chips, newspaper or some other sort of tinder), and then surround it with a teepee of small twigs. Add larger pieces of wood when the fire starts to burn.

3. Let the fire burn

Wood Embers Cooking Meat on Asado GrillStart the fire early, and make sure you have plenty of wood.  You’re not going to cook over an open flame here, which can leave you with steaks or chicken that taste like charcoal. Let the fire build and then burn down until the wood turns into embers.

Those embers are hotter than the fire. Once you have a nice bed of embers going, put down your grill grate and begin working. But be careful: you can still get the same kind of flare ups you’d see with a gas or charcoal grill, so keep an eye on your food to avoid charring.

And if you’re thinking about grilling some dessert, just add a few pieces of wood to the embers to restart your fire.

True Argentinian cooking requires you to go slow, over a lower, indirect heat. And go easy on the seasoning. Add some salt and pepper before you cook, and maybe put some fresh herbs on the coal to add flavor. Once the meat has rested, add chimichurri sauce, a staple of the Latin barbecue.

With that out of the way, you might be wondering, “What should we cook?”

Well, why not some steak? It’s what the gauchos would have had. Here’s what you’ll need:

10 to 12 ounces of free-range, grass fed beef for each guest
Coarse sea salt
Once you’ve got the fire going and the wood turned into embers, cook the steak gently, avoiding adding salt right away,

Put the steaks on the grill, let them brown on one side for three minutes, and then flip it, salting the brown side. Turn after three minutes and repeat.

Rotate the steaks every few minutes for a total of about 12 minutes of cooking, then let them rest for 15 minutes before carving.  If you carve too soon, the steaks will lose their juiciness.

If this type of cookout appeals to you, Gaucho Grills can help. We’ve modeled our grills after the traditional Argentine parrilla, allowing barbecue enthusiasts to raise and lower the grilling surface over burning wood for a variety of different dishes.

You may be miles away from Argentina, but with our help, you can take your cooking to new places.

Drink Pairings for Your Next Asado Meal

Regardless of whether you’ve ever visited Argentina, there’s a good chance you’re nevertheless aware of just how significant a role the consumption of meat plays in the country’s culinary culture. What you may not be familiar with, however, is the enormous popularity of a particularly Argentine style of barbecuing.

Known as an asado, it’s an hours-long outdoor cookout that isn’t entirely unlike an American barbecue experience. Still, there are several significant differences, not the least of which is the food and drink itself. At an asado meal, you can expect to enjoy high-quality cuts of meat ranging from sirloin and flank steaks to a succulent rack of ribs. Sausage, chicken, and even carefully prepared appetizers known as achuras may also make an appearance.

Another significant difference between the American-style barbecues you and I are used to and an asado cookout is the beverage of choice. Cans of beer and pitchers of sweet iced tea aren’t generally a part of an Argentine barbecue. Instead, you can expect to encounter red wine—and lots of it—in varying degrees of quality.

If you’d like to host a genuine asado meal of your own, keep reading to learn which wines you’ll want to pair with which meats.

Keeping It Simple

If you want to keep things simple, go with a few bottles of an Argentinian Malbec. “A hearty red grape of French origin,” according to Wine Enthusiast, Malbec “is now exceedingly popular in Argentina.” It’s also the wine you’re most likely to spot multiple bottles of at a typical asado cookout. This full-bodied and fruity wine often features notes of blackberry, oak, and spice.

As is the case with a decent Malbec, a Cabernet Sauvignon is another full-bodied wine that pairs well with an asado cookout where a wide variety of meats are on offer, because it does such a decent job of rinsing the palate between bites, or between differently flavored meats.

Impressing the Neighbors

Go to a traditional asado cookout pretty much anywhere in Argentina, and you’ll probably spot at least a couple bottles of reserva or gran reserva wines. These titles imply that the wine inside the bottle is of a particularly high quality. A reserva, for instance, has been aged for at least three years, while a gran reserva has been aged at least five. Offering these wines to your guests is a clever way to let them know that you know your way around a wine shop, and that you have the money to buy the good stuff.

A Time for White and Sparkling Wines

Those of you who aren’t big fans of red wine will be pleased to know that there is a place for a bottle of white at an asado cookout. Many asado hosts offer their guests cheese plates and sweetbreads before the main event comes off the grill. Sparkling white wines, such as a Chardonnay, generally accompany these courses.

In fact, sparkling wines, which haven’t historically seen much love in Argentina, are becoming much more popular during dessert time. So, if you happen to be serving any sort of traditional Argentine dessert as your asado cookout comes to a close (flan with dulce de leche, for instance, or perhaps a ricotta cake), feel free to accompany it with a bottle of bubbly.

The Bottom Line

Where the actual asado cookout and the wine you’ll be serving and drinking are concerned, however, you really don’t need to worry too much about which bottle to serve or the proper time to serve it. Frankly, that would be just a touch un-Argentinian.

Remember: A true Argentine cookout is an hours-long affair, and just as barbecues are here in the States, its true purpose is to encourage good friends and family to gather together over food and drink. It’s a style of gathering, you might say, that’s as old as time itself. So, try not to get too hung up on whether you can afford a half-dozen bottles of $120 Malbec.

If you come prepared with some solid, full-bodied red that you and your guests will genuinely enjoy—and, of course, enough meat to pack the grill (500 grams, or about 17.6 ounces of meat per person is considered standard)—you’ll have everything you need to experience an asado that any Argentine would be proud to attend.

Of course, no asado-style cookout is complete without an Argentinian-style grill. Visit Gaucho Grills today to find a grill that lets you cook steaks as if you’re at an authentic asado.

Uses for Leftover Beef After Your Asado Cookout

The cook out is winding down. Your asado grill is cooling, guests have moved onto drinks and desserts, and you’re thinking about leftovers.

Specifically, the leftover beef. Cooking beef on an asado grill can give you steaks like nothing else you’ve tasted, but that doesn’t mean your leftovers need to be a letdown.

Here are a few Argentine-tinged beef dishes that you can make with whatever beef is leftover from your next cookout.

Beef and Red Pepper Empanada

People have been eating empanadas for centuries. They’re a chameleon-like food, taking on different characteristics from country to country. Go to India and they’ll be filled with dried fruits or nuts. Visit Venezuela and you’ll find empanadas fried and made from corn flour.

Argentinian empanadas are typically filled with beef and vegetables, although other variations use chicken or fish.

For this recipe – by chef Fernando Larroude – we’ll go with beef and red pepper. You’ll end up with enough empanadas for a party.

Ingredients:

1 onion
2 red peppers
1 ¼ cup of beef stock
10 ½ ounces of sirloin steak
A small bunch of spring onions
12 green olives
2 hard-boiled eggs
Salt and pepper
Short crust pastry (This is made by mixing eight cups of flour, a cup of water and 10 ½ ounces of beef fat.)
Directions

Make the filling by finely chopping the onions and frying them in the beef fat. Add a little of the stock for extra flavor, taking care not to let the mixture get too liquid. Make sure the onions are soft, as the finished product will only bake for 10 minutes.
Slice the sirloin into finger-width ribbons, and add them to the onions. When the meat has cooked for a few minutes, add grated egg and a few roughly chopped olives.
At the last minute, add a handful of finely sliced spring onions for freshness, and end by putting in chopped red peppers. Season this mixture and allow it to cool before adding it to the pastry.
Roll the pastry as thin as possible on a cold, floured surface. Cut the pastry into small discs, and spoon a small amount of the cooled mixture onto each disc. Fold the pastry over, sealing the edges together.
Cook for about 10 minutes at 375 degrees, and serve immediately.

Argentine Beef Stew

That steak tasted amazing when it was fresh off your asado grill on a warm September night. But now it’s a cool, rainy day and you want something more seasonal. And what’s more comforting on a dreary rainy autumn day than some stew?

This version – courtesy of the food blog Naked Cuisine – might be a little different than the stew you grew up with, but it’s no less soothing.

Ingredients

1 tbs. of cooking oil
1 lb. of beef, in chunks
1 onion
¾ cup of red wine
1 cup of fresh diced tomato
1 cup of chopped dried apricots
1 diced red bell pepper
1 delicata squash or small pumpkin, cut into large chunks
3 medium sized potatoes, cut into large chunks
1 cup of tomato sauce
6 cups of beef stock
1 tsp of paprika
¼ tsp of cayenne pepper
½ tsp of sea salt
Fresh cracked pepper
Directions

Heat the oil in a large pot until hot. Add the beef, letting the chunks get brown on all sides.
Lower the heat and add the onions, peppers, apricots and tomatoes, cooking until soft. Add the wine and let everything simmer for a few minutes.
Add the tomato sauce, beef stock, cayenne pepper, potatoes and squash/pumpkin.
Simmer on a low heat for two hours and 30 minutes, add salt and pepper, and serve with fresh cilantro. This dish should serve six.
If the world of the asado grill is still a foreign country to you, let Gaucho Grills take you there. Our grills can let you cook steaks and other dishes as if you’re at a classic Argentinian parilla. Shop our website to find the grill model that’s right for you, and read our blog to uncover other recipes and cooking tips.

Meat Cutting Techniques & Tips

We’ve designed our Argentine grills to give you perfectly cooked cuts of meat. What you do with that meat after it leaves the grill is up to you. The way you cut a steak after it’s cooked plays as much of a role in your meal as the grilling process.

When you’ve taken the time to grill a nice piece of beef on your parrilla, you want to make sure that you take the proper steps to serve it correctly. Here are a meat cutting techniques and tips that will allow you to get the most out of your next meal.

1. Let it rest

We can’t stress this enough. When you slice a steak too early, you’re letting the juices inside escape, leading to a dry, flavorless cut.

Once your meat has cooked to your liking on the grates of your Argentine Grill, place it to the side and let it rest for three to five minutes. This lets the juices relax the meat. Resting times depend on the size of what you’ve just cooked. Larger pieces of meat – roasts for example – will need longer resting times.

2. Cut against the grain

When talking about meat, “the grain” refers to the alignment of muscle fibers. It’s easier to identify in tougher cuts like flank steak than in leaner varieties of steak, such as tenderloin.

By slicing the meat against the grain, we cut through those fibers, increasing the tenderness of the cut and making it easier to chew. When we slice with the grain – in the direction as the fibers – we’re left with a chewier piece of meat.

3. Use a cutting board

Using a cutting board makes slicing meat easier and safer. There’s less chance of the meat – or your knife – slipping, and you’re less likely to damage your countertop. Feel free to trim off fat and surface muscle to enhance flavor, but don’t away so much that you’re giving yourself less meat.

4. What if we’re serving chicken?

To slice a chicken breast, place it on a cutting board, skin side up. Start at one end, and pull the skin away from the meat. Use a boning knife to cut meat away from one side of the breastbone, cutting as close to the bone as you can.

Cut the meat away from the rib bones using a sawing motion, pressing the flat side of the knife against the bones. Gently pull the meat from the bones as you cut.

Chicken sounds pretty good right now, so we’ll end – as we often do – with a recipe, for Argentine Grilled Chicken.

Ingredients

½ cup of parsley
¼ cup of red wine vinegar
2 tbsp. of olive oil
1 tsp. of soy sauce
½ tsp. of Worcestershire sauce
2 peeled garlic cloves
¼ tsp. of fresh ground pepper
1 tsp. of dried oregano
1 bay leaf
A dash of red pepper flakes
12 boneless chicken thighs
Directions

Use a blender to pulse marinade ingredients until they’ve been pureed.
Marinate the chicken in a plastic bag for at least four hours.
Pre-heat the grill over medium-high heat. Remove chicken from bag.
Grill until the chicken reaches your desired doneness, for about 5 to 7 minutes on each side.
If you don’t have a grill – or are unhappy with the one you have – Gaucho Grills can help. Visit our website to find the right Argentine grills for your next cookout. Our grills will do their job. It’s up to you to find the right way to cut what you’ve cooked.

Argentine Grilling Marinades: Chicken, Steak & Seafood

In our last blog post, we talked about the mystery of where chimichurri got its name, as well as some of the misconceptions about this sauce.

(For example, it’s not “Argentinian ketchup.”)

There seems to be some debate online about whether chimichurri should only be used as a condiment, or can also function as an Argentine grilling marinade.

“While some recipes for chimichurri use it as a sauce, using it as a marinade opens up new flavors and tenderizes less tender cuts of meat,” writes Kathie Smith of The Blade. “In order to tenderize, a marinade must contain acidic ingredients such as lemon juice, yogurt, wine, or vinegar, or a natural tenderizing enzyme found in fresh papaya, ginger, pineapple, and figs, according to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.”

So today we’re going to talk about marinades, by offering two different recipes for a marinade you can make the next time you’re ready to grill.

Argentine Grilling Marinade Recipes

First up, here’s an Argentine grilling marinade for seafood or chicken dishes that comes from The Food Network program Melting Pot:

Ingredients

½ tsp of saffon threads
1 tbs. of lemon juice
½ cup of extra virgin olive oil
½ cup of white wine vinegar
1 Spanish onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup of Italian parsley, chopped fine
1 tsp of freshy thyme
Salt and pepper
Directions

Steep the saffron in lemon juice for five minutes, then combine all the other ingredients, and keep covered. It should yield about 1 and ½ cups.

Our second marinade is for steaks. More to the point, churrasco cut steak, otherwise known as skirt steak. These cuts are typically marinated to add flavor and tenderness. Here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients

3 heads of garlic (30-40 cloves)
2 tsp of salt
1 tsp of black peppercorn
1 cup of orange juice
¼ cup of fresh lime juice
¼ cup of fresh lemon juice
1 cup of minced onion
2 tsp of oregano
1 cup of Spanish olive oil
Directions

Mash the garlic, peppercorns and salt into a paste, then stir in the fruit juices, oregano and onion. Let this mixture rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Whisk the garlic/juice mixture with olive oil until it’s well blended.

Place your meat in a large pan or bowl, and add enough marinade to coat it. Cover the bowl/pan and refrigerate it. The meat should stay in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours, but should ideally marinate overnight before grilling.

To get the true Argentinian grilling experience, you need an Argentine-style grill. Gaucho Grills can help. Our grills are modeled after traditional South American designs, creating a dining experience that will impress your guests as much as the meal you’re serving.

And if you don’t have time to put together a marinade, remember that we sell our own Argentinian sauces. Visit our website today to learn more about our grills and accessories. Enjoy!

The Origins of Chimichurri in Argentine Cuisine

Some mysteries may never be solved.

Who built Stonehenge?

Is there a real Loch Ness Monster?

What happened to Amelia Earhart?

Let’s add another one to the list: where did the term “chimichurri” come from?  The origin of this Argentine grilling staple’s name is as murky as the sauce itself.

Writing in the San Francisco Chronicle a few years ago, Joyce Goldstein tried to solve the riddle of how chimichurri got its name:

According to one account, “chimichurri” is a corruption of English names such as “Jimmy Curry” or “Jimmy McCurry,” who was either an Irish or Englishman who signed up to fight for Argentine independence, or an meat wholesaler, depending on who you ask.
Another explanation comes from the Argentine gourmet Miguel Brasco, who postulates that the term came from British soldiers who were captured during the failed Rio de la Plata invasions in the early 1800s. These soldiers mixed English, Spanish and aboriginal words when asking for condiments.
Other stories give credit to Basque settlers who came to Argentina in the 19th In this telling, the settlers referred to the sauce as “tximitxurri,” which – loosely translated – means “a mixture of several things in no particular order.”
“There are as many variations of chimichurri sauce as there are stories of where the sauce came from,” author and chef Elizabeth Karmel wrote in a 2011 Associated Press piece.

“My favorite story credits English-speaking colonists for speaking in ‘Spanglish’ and asking for sauce with their meals, which they called curry. Instead of saying ‘Che mi salsa,’ they would say ‘Che mi curry.’ And supposedly that somehow got changed around to chimichurri.”

Chimichurri in Argentine Grilling

While we can’t prove how chimichurri got its name, we can poke holes in some of the myths surrounding this sauce, with the help of Asado Argentina, a website devoted to Argentine grilling.

Chimichurri doesn’t need to be a fresh, bright green. It comes in different colors, and some fans like it to have an aged appearance for a more mellow flavor. For example, our Che Amigo Chimichurri Sauce is a lovely orange color.
Chimichurri isn’t Argentina’s answer to ketchup. (Ketchup is the Argentinian version of ketchup.) It’s not served with every meal, and you won’t see it poured over French fries or hot dogs. Nor is it a South American pesto. They may look similar, but they contain different ingredients and have different uses.
Some people argue that Chimichurri should serve as a condiment, not a marinade. In the Argentine grilling world, it is typically served with steaks, sausages and organ meat.
Chimichurri isn’t made simply by mixing cilantro, limes and spices in a blender.
If you’re interested in delving into the world of Argentine grilling, Gaucho Grills can help. Our grills can let you grill steaks and other meats as if you’re at a traditional Argentinian parilla.

And fear not: we sell chimichurri to help add some extra flavor to your meal, even if you don’t really know how the sauce you’re serving got its name.

Argentinean Grilling Terminology Guide

Over the past few months, we’ve been using this blog to teach readers their way around the world of Argentinian grilling. And now that you can walk the walk, we want you to be able to talk the talk, so to speak. That’s why we’ve put together this guide to Argentinean grilling terminology. The next time you host a cookout, you can impress your guests with your food and your lingo.

Asado Meat Cuts

Chorizo – This one might be part of your – or your guests’ – vocabulary, as chorizo is a popular dish in Mexican restaurants. But chorizo just means sausage, and the type of chorizo you find in Argentina really isn’t spicy, just juicy and delicious.
Ojo de bife – A classic rib eye steak, as common and beloved in Argentina as in America.
Vacio – Flank steak. We’ve also seen it referred to as “matambre,” a combination of the Spanish words matar (kill) and hambre (hunger), if you want to be fancy. Traveling in Argentina, you might find a dish called the “matambre relleno,” a meat roll stuffed with – depending on where you are – carrots, peppers or hardboiled egg.
Bife Angosto – Another American favorite: Porterhouse steak.
Entraña – Skirt steak, generally served in long strips.
Cuadril – Rump steak, typically served on sandwiches.
Entraña gruesa – Hanger steak, which is thicker than skirt steak.
Bife de costilla – T-bone steak
Bife de chorizo – Sirloin steaks, and despite their name, nothing to do with sausage.
Bife de lomo – Tenderloin, known more for its tenderness than its flavor. How tender? Some restaurants in Argentina make a point of cutting it with a spoon for patrons.
Asado Sandwiches

If you’re serving sandwiches, you may want to pick up these terms:

Choripan – Sausage served on a long roll.
Vaciopan – A flank steak sandwich.
Milanesa – A thin, breaded piece of fried beef.
Milanesa de pollo – The same sort of sandwich, but served with fried, breaded chicken.
Traditional Asado Dishes

And if you’re feeling really adventurous, plan a menu that includes these:

Chinchulines – Small intestines (like we said, these are for the adventurous)
Criadillas – Testicles (Really adventurous).
Morcilla – Blood sausage. Similar to what they call “black pudding” in England, this dish is pig’s blood mixed with ground up pork or offal.
If you’re looking for the best way to cook some of these cuts of meat, be sure to read our blog to find Argentinian grilling recipes.

And no true Argentinian-style cookout would be complete without the right grill. Gaucho Grills has designed its grills with the traditional Argentinian parillas in mind.

You’ll have more room to cook, and can give your guests a taste of Argentina from your backyard.

Beef Ribs Recipe – Tira de Asado

Ribs are a staple of the barbecue menu, no matter the hemisphere in which you find yourself dining.

But the way we prepare ribs in the U.S. and the way they’re made in a country like Argentina are two very different things.

When we make ribs here in America, we tend to cook them using a slow roast and a lot of basting.

Traditional Tira de Asado Recipe

Argentinian beef ribs – or tira de asado – are prepared differently, with the ribs sliced across the bone so that each piece has meat on both sides.

This way, the ribs cook quickly without becoming too chewy. You’ll see this cut referred to as “flanken-style” in some supermarkets. It’s also the kind of rib you’d find at a Korean BBQ joint.

For true Argentinian style flanken ribs, you’d need to season the meat simply – just a bit of salt – before putting them on the parrilla grill. You may want to cook them over some hardwood for an added smoky flavor.

The ribs will cook in 10-12 minutes, which is great for days when you want to cook and eat outdoors, but don’t have a lot of time to stand over your parrilla grill. They pair especially well with chimichurri sauce.

Tira de asado works as an appetizer – you can serve it while you grill other meats that take longer to cook – or as an entrée when served with sides like rice, veggies or grilled plantains.

Here’s a recipe you can use the next time you fire up your grill:

Ingredients

1 ½ to 2 lbs of flaken-style ribs

1-2 tablespoons of kosher salt

1 bottle of chimichurri sauce

Preparation

Begin by putting the ribs on a plate and seasoning both sides with kosher salt. Let the ribs sit at room temperature while the grill warms up.
Heat the grill to medium high, and grill the ribs for 5-6 minutes on each side. Cut a rib to test that they’re done.
Serve right off the grill, with chimichurri on the side.
If you’re ready to start cooking Argentinian-style recipes, you need an Argentinian-style grill. Let Gaucho Grills provide you with a unique cooking experience. We build our grills with the Latin tradition of asado grilling – slow cooking over coals or wood embers – in mind.

Check out our website to explore the different grills we offer, and visit our blog to learn more about caring for your grill and to get other asado cooking tips. Enjoy!

Cook Like a Gaucho With These Argentine Style Grilling Tips

“Asado” is a term used in Argentina and other South American countries that means “barbecue,” but it doesn’t quite describe the way you do your standard outdoor grilling.

This is meat cooked over coals or wood embers, a system developed by Argentinian gauchos who needed to grill their food out on the grasslands.

It’s not a cooking method for everyone, but if you think you’re ready to tackle it, here are a few Argentine style grilling tips from Manuel Debandi, chef at the Terrazas de Los Andes winery:

Go slow, and keep your heat low. Use indirect heat. That means letting the flames die down and cooking over coals instead.
Debandi recommends using wood instead of charcoal, and says hardwood works the best.
Season the meat only with salt and pepper before grilling, and toss fresh sprigs of herbs – rosemary especially – into the coals to enhance flavor.
Add some savory sauces – chimichurri is a natural – after the meat has rested and you’re ready to serve.
We also tracked down some tips from Argentine chef Zack Paul, courtesy of the food website The Kitchn, which caught up with the chef as he prepared a meal.

Paul cooks without sauces or rubs. Instead, he just seasons his food with a “salmuera” (salt water) baste.

“This salt water is a genius concept,” The Kitchn writes. “It lets the true flavors of the meats and vegetables come forward, all the while developing a crusty exterior and yielding a juicy, beautiful and flavorful interior.”

Like Debandi, Paul cooks for a long time over a low heat. Although the flames and coals are starting to fade, the leftover heat is just right for keeping meat tender and juicy, and for capturing the flavor of grilled vegetables.

With those tips in mind, we’ve tracked down a couple of Argentinian-style steak recipes, which you can make with the help of our own authentic chimichurri.

Chorizo and ribs with chimichurri

Ingredients:

1 cup of chimichurri
Ribs
Chorizo
The most complicated thing about this recipe is making the chimichurri, but fortunately, we have you covered on that front.

Start by cooking the chorizo on low heat over some burned-down coals for about an hour. Then add the ribs, cover the meat with newspaper, and turn every 15 minutes until they’re cooked to your liking.

Let the meat rest, then add the chimichurri.

Argentinian asado steak

Ingredients:

10-12 oz. free-range grass-fed beef per person
Sea salt, preferably coarse
Start by finding the right cut of meat. If you can track down Argentine beef, that’s wonderful, but American grass-fed beef will work as well, and is available from stores like Whole Foods and most butchers. Look for New York strip or rib-eye, unless you can find a thin Argentine hanger steak.

Cook with hardwood charcoal, letting it ash over before you start cooking, over a medium-fire heat.

Cook gently. Don’t add salt at first, especially if you’re using a leaner cut of beef. Instead, put the steak on the grill, let one side brown for three minutes, then turn it and salt the browned side. After three minutes, turn the steak and salt the newly browned side.

Rotate the steak every few minutes for about a total 12 minutes of cooking time. Then let the steak rest for 15 minutes before carving. Carve too early, and all the juices will run out. Add chimichurri sauce before serving.

If this style of cooking seems right for you, contact Gaucho Grills. Our grill designs are inspired by the traditional Argentine “parrilla,” meaning outdoor chefs can raise and lower the grilling service over burning wood or coals while cooking on a wider than normal area. No matter what you’re cooking, Gaucho Grills will take your asado to the next level.

Fire Roasted Corn & Rice with Chimichurri

I promise in due time we will have some great recipes coming forth. However, every once in a while you prepare something so simple and seemingly innocuous, that it shocks you when you realize how something simple can be made to taste amazing. Last night was one of those moments.

As a side dish to some excellent seafood cakes my wife had prepared, I decided to create a simple rice dish, composed of brown rice and fire roasted corn. I would love to go into detail about how I roasted the corn in their respective husk right on top of my Gaucho Grill, infusing it with smoke from burning mesquite. (It’s been done before and it’s great.) But I cannot tell a lie. I did not. Time was not on my side. It was late and I was hungry. I used Trader Joe’s frozen Brown Rice and Trader Joe’s frozen Roasted Corn. That’s right, I said it…frozen!

Once the TJ’s combo was popping and sizzling in my saute pan, I did what every wanne-be chef does, and decided it was time to spice things up. Keeping it simple and quick, I turned to our go to sauce of choice, Che Amigo Argentine Chimichurri. A couple of ladled tablespoons later and I had just discovered that something amazing can be created in about 5 minutes.

The blend of the garlic and spices in the chimichurri, combined with the tang in the vinegar, gave much needed flavor to the brown rice and blended harmoniously with the sweet smokiness of the roasted corn cooked to perfection on a parrilla grill. It was really an amazing side dish and will now be a standby in our kitchen. And next time, if time permits, the corn roasting, will come from my grill. (No offense to Trader Joe’s. Their corn is pretty tasty.)

Check out the other articles on our blog to learn more about asado cooking techniques and traditional Latin recipes, including several other Argentinean vegetable dishes and sides for your next asado meal.

Gaucho Grills: Argentine Grilling Recipes

Check out some of our great recipes and helpful tips for using your Argentine parrilla grill! Click below to explore some of our favorite recipes, and feel free to leave comments below with your own favorite Latin-inspired recipes.

FIRE ROASTED CORN & RICE WITH CHIMICHURRI

CHE AMIGO CHIMICHURRI CHICKEN

CHIMICHURRI CHEESESTEAK

CHORIZO & RIBS WITH CHIMICHURRI

ARGENTINEAN ASADO STEAK

TIRA DE ASADO

BERENJENA EN ESCABECHE – MARINATED EGGPLANT

ENSALADA DE ZANAHORIA Y HUEVO

GRILLED EGGPLANT