Again, there is not a lot of information on the internet regarding how to make an authentic Argentine asado. So I’ve decided to document what I’ve learned.
The asado is actually fairly simple. It is a barbecue using hardwood coals (typically mesquite), using a grilling surface that you can adjust up-and-down, to dial in the cooking height over the coals (and therefore the heat).
The hardwood imparts an incredible smoky flavor to the meat. Coals are sold pre-made in bags (called carbon), but it is generally thought that the commercial coals do not provide the best flavor. Instead, most Argentines prefer to generate their own coals by building a hardwood fire and waiting until the wood begins to chunk apart and burns itself into a smoldering pile of coals.
Step 1: make the fire. This is boy scout campfire stuff, nothing special. I like to get the whole infrastructure of the fire built before lighting it. I typically start with some cardboard kindling, then some smallish sticks arranged in a teepee around it to get the fire going, and then arrange a log cabin structure out of mesquite logs (or leña) around that. The logs are typically about a foot long, and I have found that splitting them first makes the whole process go a lot faster. In the picture below, I have built two separate fires in order to generate a ton of coals, since I am cooking lots of meat.
Lots of argentines seem to like to keep a secondary fire going in the corner of the grill, usually a teepee. They will keep adding new logs to it in order to generate new coals. That’s a fine idea if you’re cooking for a long time, but honestly I find it unnecessary, as it adds a lot of work. Additionally, our grill does not have space to create a secondary fire (many do, usually off to the left of the cooking area).
Step 2: prepare the meat. After the fire has been lit, there is not much to do but wait for it to burn down for about 30-60 minutes. So I typically spend that time getting the meat ready for the grill (or preparing a salad, or drinking mate, or whatever).
Argentine cuts of beef are different from those in the US. They come as huge slabs, not steaks. I usually buy a kilo or two of a few different types. My favorites are called falda (flank steak on the bone, cut fairly thin), and vacío (an adjacent cut of flank steak, often very long and tapered). I find these to be the most flavorful cuts, that also hold up well on the grill. Two other famous cuts are Costilla (a very long strip of short ribs) which I don’t like because there just isn’t a lot of meat on the thing, and matambre (shallow subcutaneous flank layer), which is super thin and easy to over-cook. Matambre de cerdo (pork) can be quite tasty, though. I’ve also come to appreciate that tenderloin (filet mignon), while prized in the US, sucks. It has no flavor and too little fat.
Side note: my argentine friends tell me that they will typically combine only the long cooking cuts (vacío, matambre) or the short-cooking cuts (falda, costilla) at one asado, so they will be done at the same time. Mixing say vacío and falda at the same asado (which I do frequently because they’re my favorite) is more difficult.
In addition to meat, I usually cook a whole chicken (sliced down the middle and butterflied), and some sausages (typically the Argentine version of chorizo). Argentines will also usually add in some morcilla (blood sausage) and possibly some tripe (tripa gorda), sweetbreads (mollejas), or intestines (chinchulines). Though if you speak English and are reading this, those probably don’t apply to you. We cooked tripe and intenstines the other day and Kristen almost threw up.
In order to prepare the meat, trim it of egregious excess fat (a fair amount on there is OK, but the big chunks should go), and add the spices. Spicing the meat is extremely important in Argentine barbecue. Here are the list of the spices you will need:
- Coarse salt
That’s it. There are no marinades and nothing exotic. Just smoke and salt. Go ahead and salt the absolute hell out of the meat.
It doesn’t matter if you put too much on. The meat will take up what it needs, and the rest will fall off.
Thicker cuts should also have some slices made into them, to speed cooking. Just make some lateral slices about half or 2/3 the way through the thickest parts of the thickest cuts. This allows the whole piece to cook at a more constant speed (which is a serious issue for tapered cuts).
Step 3: prepare the coals. After a while, the fire will burn down to coals. You may need to help the process along, making sure all the logs are exposed to the fire, and breaking up the bigger coals. Two tools are typically used to move the coals around – a shovel and a poker.
Once the coals are ready to go (glowing red, with white ash, not too big), spread them in a layer on the bottom of the asador. You don’t need any thickness – a thin layer will do.
The coals shown above are in the final stages of preparation, but have not quite been spread thin enough yet. I also threw on a couple of new logs (smaller ones) to make some extra coals.
It’s important to remember that once the coals are ready, you need to start cooking ASAP. The coals are going to turn into ash pretty quickly, so your time is limited. And unless you want to build a secondary fire, you need to get it done with the coals you now have.
Step 4: load up the grill. Drop the grill grate to within ~5 inches of the coals and let it heat up. People say the grill is at the proper height if you can hold your hand at about grill level for 5 seconds before having to move it. Arrange the meat over the coals. You can pack it in as tightly as you want. I typically arrange the longer cooking time stuff (like chicken) over the biggest coals, and spread the coals quite thin below thinner cuts.
Step 5: cook until it’s done. Turn the meat as needed. You’ll probably need some intermittent re-arrangements of the coals as they burn down and hot spots become cool spots, etc. as well. Argentines seem to like their meat scorched to beyond well done. I’ve had it chewy before (which was bad). But I find that somewhere around medium-well works very well for these cuts. The combination of good fat marbling plus the salt on the outside keeps the meat very moist all the way to well done. You can’t do that with a tenderloin.
The meat above is shown just after being turned once.
The sausages are typically done first, and are offered to guests as an appetizer of sorts, to be made into sandwiches called choripan (literally chorizo + pan).
Some additional notes:
- Some people like to squeeze a lemon over some of the pieces of meat while it’s cooking. The acid supposedly makes the meat more tender, though I find it to be a very mild effect.
- You can also throw a couple of onions onto the coals, theoretically to impart some oniony flavor into the meat. Again I find it to be very mild if detectable at all.
That’s it!
