Will pizza oust steak as Argentina's favourite dish?

[PhilipDT]

I am currently 94 kilos about 20 kilos overweight for my height and build and this is due to eating a normal argentinian diet of occasional empanadas, bread with meals , steaks and the occasional hamburger. I do not drink soft drinks ever . I am sure if I drank like most argentinians I would weigh 110 kilos .

Human beings are not designed to eat processed garage and for this reason people who eat a raw food diet are all slim and in great health .

I am currently of the caveman diet and my goal is to weigh 75 kilos by the end of March 2012 . I will keep you informed of my progress.

Its tough but cutting out beer helps a lot. Actually cutting out all alcohol would be ideal....

 

[DontMindMe]

Honestly, it is alarming how quickly the quality of beef has gone down in such a short time, even at nicer places. I'm no beef connoisseur by any means, but from what I've heard the change is marked all over town.

Last night I went for one last touristy dinner at La Cabrera before I move away. Before eating at La Cabrera for the first time in 2008, I never ate steak. I always thought it was too tough, no matter how good everyone else said it was. I liked the flavor, but not the texture. Then, at La Cabrera, I tried bife de chorizo and I could chew it as easily as I could chicken. It opened my eyes to the world of beef, a world I've been enjoying ever since. So I had to go back one more time for sentimental reasons. The meat was always incredible!

Until last night. The chorizo criollo we got to start was not great, and it used to be perfect, never a fatty unchewable bit to be found. Now it's just average, same as you would get at any carnicería. Many fatty unchewable bits. Not a good sign. Then the main course. Oh, the disappointment! It was just a normal steak! No more tenderness. Drier than before, even though it was cooked a punto and pink inside. The side dishes were still awesome, though. At least that hasn't changed. But no more roasted garlic bulb when they bring out the bread. And it goes without saying that prices have doubled since 2008, but we are in Argentina and inflation is to be expected.

I wouldn't have been as surprised as I was last night if I hadn't been there just WEEKS before when a friend was in town and took me there, and the meat was great. I don't even want to think about what's happening at everyone's neighborhood parrilla.

Read this article. I mean, there's no way to know which beef is still grass fed! Shame.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2011/12/08/143362233/farewell-to-argentinas-famed-beef

 

[PhilipDT]

[quote name='Don'tMindMe']Drier than before, even though it was cooked a punto and pink inside[/quote]

You mean it was dry because it was over cooked? Stop the presses.

A punto usually falls on the wrong (ie right) side of this chart.



Which is not to say that the quality hasn't gone down a lot.

 

[DontMindMe]

Hardy har har, nope, even though we ordered it a punto it looked like the medium rare picture you have there, which is what the waiter said it would come out as. I'm a jugoso or vuelta y vuelta girl myself, but my boyfriend doesn't like it quite as bloody. The mozo offered us a choice of bien cocido, a punto or crudo (??), and then told us that a punto was basically like medium rare...odd. The service never was good at La Cabrera. Definitely didn't go there for that. Ordering meat is a crapshoot there. I've sent it back before. They don't like that.

 

[PhilipDT]

[quote name='Don'tMindMe']. I've sent it back before. They don't like that.[/quote]
Understatement of the year. I've done it too but I'm always worried that, based on the looks they give me, they're going to coat it in dog poo or something.