Guide To Asado

[garryl]

http://blogs.wsj.com/expat/2015/09/28/an-expat-guide-to-the-asado-the-holy-grail-of-all-pleasures-in-argentina/

 

[Crema Americana]

A guide for an asado?

This I think is where "expats" (or rather foreign journalists) miss the point. There is no "guide." Like everything here, you just go with the flow.

One tip: Don't ask what a chinchulin is... just eat it.

 

[Rich One]

Remarkable beef consumption in Argie is 4 times higher than EU, and almost double of the USA consumption.

Quote
In 2014, Argentina topped the global ranking of beef and veal consumption, according to a 2015 OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook. Each Argentine stomach consumed, on average, 41.6 kilograms of beef and veal, compared with 24.5 kilograms in the U.S. and 10.5 kilograms in the European Union the same year.

 

[garryl]

Remarkable beef consumption in Argie is 4 times higher than EU, and almost double of the USA consumption.

Quote
In 2014, Argentina topped the global ranking of beef and veal consumption, according to a 2015 OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook. Each Argentine stomach consumed, on average, 41.6 kilograms of beef and veal, compared with 24.5 kilograms in the U.S. and 10.5 kilograms in the European Union the same year.

And Argies do not have more heart problems than Yankees do?

 

[Gringoboy]

I like to do an asado every couple of weeks with chorizo (obvio) mollejas and pork or beef or both.
Did one just for us and the in laws recently and when all is taken into account I was staggered at the cost.
Having said that, it's about the last thing that's sacrificed when the going gets tough.
As the article points out, the whole ritual is key to an asado. A cold beer when getting the fire ready (wood only) and some provoleta to start, followed by chori...

 

[nlaruccia]

And Argies do not have more heart problems than Yankees do?

I wonder if the following is true:

http://www.menshealth.com/weight-loss/powerful-eating-strategies


Argentina
Secret weapon: Great beef. An Argentine is likely to eat 30 pounds more beef each year than you do—without raising his risk of heart disease. How's that? "The beef in America is grain-fed, but in Argentina the cattle eat only grass, which is natural for a cow," says Alicia Rodriguez, chef and co-owner of Chimichurri, an Argentine steakhouse in New York City. "The beef has about half the calories, and a lot less fat and cholesterol." In fact, one independent test found that a 4-ounce cut of American beef contained 10.8 grams (g) of saturated fat and 328 calories, while the same cut of Argentine beef had 2.5 g saturated fat and 140 calories.

http://www.escardio.org/The-ESC/Press-Office/Press-releases/Last-5-years/Argentina-heart-attack-death-rate-nearly-halved-over-15-years

Mortality caused by myocardial infarction has decreased by 44% over the last 15 years in Argentina, according to new research which will be presented during the 38th Argentine Congress of Cardiology.

 

[thorsten]

It's a myth that all Argentina's beef is grass-fed. In the last decades, there is a huge shift to industrial mass production similar to other countries - which involves the typical methods to make an animal fat in short time, i.e., feedlots, restricted movements, ...
There are still farmers in the pampa which produce excellent meat using traditional methods, but they are nowadays in the minority and a lot of their meat (especially the prime cuts) is exported for obvious reasons. Bottom line is: if you get grass-fed beef here I'd always prefer it (tastes better, is more healthy and has better cooking qualities), but don't think just because there's the label 'made in Argentina' it has to come from the pampas where the happy cows jump around and eat grass before they get turned into steaks

 

[Rich One]

It's a myth that all Argentina's beef is grass-fed. In the last decades, there is a huge shift to industrial mass production similar to other countries - which involves the typical methods to make an animal fat in short time, i.e., feedlots, restricted movements, ...
There are still farmers in the pampa which produce excellent meat using traditional methods, but they are nowadays in the minority and a lot of their meat (especially the prime cuts) is exported for obvious reasons. Bottom line is: if you get grass-fed beef here I'd always prefer it (tastes better, is more healthy and has better cooking qualities), but don't think just because there's the label 'made in Argentina' it has to come from the pampas where the happy cows jump around and eat grass before they get turned into steaks

Today up tp 80 % of the Argentina meat comes from feedlots...!!

Quote;


“Essentially, cow production got pushed out of the Pampas,” says Ricardo Sager, director of scientific development at Argentina’s National Institute of Agricultural Technology. In an effort to keep beef prices low, the government passed legislation that gave subsidies for corn-fed cows. Both INTA and the Argentine Beef Promotion Institute bragged the feedlot as making quick, efficientmeat production possible. Now, up to 80 percent of meat has been through a feedlot.


http://xpatnation.co...ket/#.u23D73A8I

 

[Redbeanz]

When we first came here in 2005, a guy in chef's training told us he could tell a marked decline in the quality of beef in the restaurants, from earlier years. We suspected he was just showing off, as we found the steaks divine, and waiters easily divided cuts of beef using only spoons.

The steaks here are still very tasty, as they are in New York, Kansas City, or Chigago. And less expensive. Though rarely grass fed.

Over the years, we have seen that the chef-in-training was right: ten years ago, restaurants didn't set tables with steak knives, as they weren't needed. And he meat didn't leave a greasy feel in the mouth. How sad that the symbol of Argentine quality was seemingly discarded without serious thought about the country's former world leadership in prime, grass-fed beef. All those decades of building up a reputation, only to throw it away in a few short years' time.

 

[Gringoboy]

How come we still see cows/steers happily chomping away in the fields when we venture outside the conurbation?
What happens to those animals?