What's in carne picada?

[niceguyeddie]

Ask for 'Carne Picada Especial' if you want the lower fat mince.

 

[AlfajorEfi]

I really like the carne picada here, I get at Jumbo or the carneceria and usually I get the Nalga or tartar whatever it's called, which is more expensive.
Both are yummy to me, and I bought some in the UK that was SO bad the flavor and sauce could not even mix in it was so terrible! The worse I have ever had.

However, the best picada I have ever had was Buffalo. Too bad it's so uncommon here

 

[va2ba]

I can't stand the carne picada here. If i want a hamburger, i just buy a few paty hamburgers and eat those instead.

 

[rihornos]

Another possibility is to ask for roast beef and have it minced, roast beef is not expensive and not so bad quality.
Reina

 

[Mano Negra]

Every time I tell about "Steak tartare" to a local, he looks at me horrified.

Try the steak tartare at Lola in Recoleta, hand cut and made in front of you so you can let them know how much tabasco etc you like in it. Excellent!!

 

[Mano Negra]

its the cheap, fatty bits of beef, ground up.
I'm veggie but when i buy carne picada to make beefburgers for my husband I'll go to a local butchers, select half a kilo of lomo, ask him to chop any excess fat off and then put it through the grinder. As far as I can tell (from cooking it), its the same as the "lean steak mince" I'd buy in the UK..

Hamburgers with lomo, and you cut any remaining fat off....must be tasteless. The fat is what flavours meat, and with a burger mainly melts off during cooking...try mincing a nice bife de costilla for a bit more flavour!

 

[Julia2]

In Argentina I was complaining about the carne picada very often, until I found a Coto with fresh crane picada de bolla de lomo, which is very good. By the way: at Avicar they must put some chemicals in it, it does not get grey inside and tastes very unnatural, a bit like Aspirin. After eating carne picada in Argentina for 2 years we came back home to Germany. I bought a german carne picada and made a Bolognese. My husband looked at me and asked: what kind of meat is that, pork (it was beef)? It tastes for us now like nothing. Just a fatless mass without any flavour! So it is all about what you are used to. More fat = mas rico! Argentinian beef is absolutely different, not only because it is fatter, the meat has a different flavor. In these 2 years with all that fat and sweet food I did not loose my shape, I was thin before and I am still today. Today I miss the good Argentinian meat, for the same quality I have to order Angus from Ireland online for a lot of money.

 

[French jurist]

By the way: at Avicar they must put some chemicals in it, it does not get grey inside and tastes very unnatural, a bit like Aspirin.

Could well be that they use baking soda

 

[CarverFan]

Well we don't live in an expat barrio and even the picada especial is pretty dire, worse than what you would get in UK. There is no chain supermarket here so we buy from the chinese supermarkets, maybe controls are lower. Prices are worse than at Disco, was charged 14 a kilo for whole chicken (the same quality that is 6 a kilo at Disco)...

 

[elhombresinnombre]

Well we don't live in an expat barrio and even the picada especial is pretty dire, worse than what you would get in UK. There is no chain supermarket here so we buy from the chinese supermarkets, maybe controls are lower. Prices are worse than at Disco, was charged 14 a kilo for whole chicken (the same quality that is 6 a kilo at Disco)...

So you don't live in an expat barrio or have a chain supermarket nearby? That means you've probably got lots of independents who are good at what they do and who are probably cheaper than the supermarkets anyway. Chinos are good but I've yet to find one that can compete with a specialist butcher, baker or candlestick maker. Why don't you visit your local butcher and see what he can offer you? His prices are probably chalked up on a board so you can see immediately how they compare and the quality should be much better.