While in Buenos Aires, we were able to get in touch with my good friend Andres who rented a house with his friends in the countryside North of the city. He invited us over for a good old-fashioned asado.

An asado is.. lots and LOTS of meat! There were 19 of us, and they bought ~7kg of two different cuts of meat (15.5+ lbs). While it is difficult to compare Argentine beef with that of the U.S., the two cuts we had (asado and vacío) are the same portion as our ribs and flank steak. Beef in Argentina (and most of South America) is raised solely on grass–compared to American beef which is typically raised on a grain mixture–and this gives the meat a different texture and flavor that would be almost impossible to replicate in the U.S.

On top of the steak the asador grilled 20 chorizos (sausages–also prime quality in Argentina and usually served on french bread as “choripan”), 20 chinchulínes, and 15 morcillas all cooked over a wood and coal fire. While I had already been to an asado and seen all the crazy types of meat, Brendan hadn’t and felt the need to ask what the curly chinchulínes were.. they responded, “they taste good and that’s all you need to know!” Long story short, they are the first 7″ of the small intestine of the cow, and they are not cleaned out.. so you ca n imagine what it looks like.. Morcilla is a type of blood sausage that is very common here and no asado is complete without one.

After two hours of cooking (without using tongs!!), the meat was ready, and we all sat down to enjoy. The meal was accompanied by big bowls of salad, rice with hard-boiled egg, and free-flowing wine and Fernet (a bitter italian liquor usually drank with cola). Yuuuum!

While this was our experience in Buenos Aires, we also experienced a Chilean asado which was similar in size (although the chinculínes and morcillas were absent), but there are different salads and a sauce called pebre which is grated tomatoes, garlic, semi-spicy pepper, lime juice, salt, and chopped onion mixed together. Another difference was that the meat was cooked over a wood-fire in a more “American-style” barbeque without a lid (instead of a crazy-elaborate brick grill with grates that raise and lower to control heat). They BOTH were delicious!

For good explanations of meat that you will find on a South American menu, click here.