Little disclosure: I love food, especially I love meat. There is no better appetizer, main course or dessert for me than a juicy steak (sorry, vegetarians). Argentina has a fame of producing excellent quality meat, but not only that - they also know how to cook it.
Anyone who knows a little bit about grilling, heard about Argentinian Parilla (grill). Argentinians take pride in their grill culture (when I say grill culture, I don't mean disposable aluminum grills overflowed with burning liquid), I mean celebrating each ingredient, using the best cooking method to make it shine. Argentinians know: good things take time, good things require patience and preparation. Vegetables, Provoleta (Provolone cheese), meat - all have to wait for their turn to appear first on the grill, then on the table. The whole parilla ritual takes hours, requires lots of space in your stomach and a good Argentinian Malbec to wash it out. Asado (another Spanish word for grill) - usually a weekend affair - is a great way to spend time with family and friends.
To try to find out well kept secrets of Argentinian Asado, we booked a dinner in a closed door restaurant Steak by Luis. This was our first encounter with closed door restaurant and I find the concept quite interesting. In spite of being "paid" experience it felt like meeting with old friends in relaxed atmosphere - chef Luis and his team were extremely warm, helpful and answered all our questions.
Any Argentinian Parilla starts with a fire. Wood (local varieties) is burned for hours to get the coals. No burning liquids, no briquets, no gas grills... everything is made as in the beginning of our civilization, simply and naturally. Still there is a whole science behind it, different types of wood produce coals with different features. Some burn fast and give more heat, some are better for low and slow cooking method. Each Asador (Grill master) has his own secret blend.
Then there is parilla... excellent example of the fact that you don't need fancy equipment to produce best quality. Seems that Argentinians can make grill from almost anything: from the most basic - iron cross (La cruz) with hole animal placed near the fire pit, or just hanging meat above the fire with a rope, to the more elaborated grill (Parilla) or metal sheet (La Plancha) with coals underneath.
Asado Dinner
To wake up the appetite traditional Picada (cold cuts of meet and cheese) was served first. It was followed by delicious empanadas, cheesy goodness of grilled Provoleta and beautifully made vegetable salad. Though perfectly made, salad was the least interesting part of the menu for me.
The next stop in this mouthwatering journey was Achuras - quite exotic to most of the tourists' taste buds cuts made from viscera. I love the fact that nothing from the animal gets waisted in Argentian Asado, and though I cannot say I fancied them all it definitely expanded my horizons. Our Achuras plate was filled with Mollejas (sweetbreads), kidneys, Chinchulines (braided intestines), Asado de tira (beef short ribs) Chorizo, Longaniza (types of sausage) and Morcilla (blood sausage) - the explosion of new undiscovered textures and tastes. While traveling it is very important to stay openminded and try new things. I admit I did hesitate for a moment before trying Achuras (especially intestines), but to my surprise I found some of the types really delicious (I especially enjoyed Mollejas).
The final act of this delicious meat play was of course steak Bife de Chorizo: about three fingers thick with hefty surrounding of fat, seasoned with only salt, so tender that you can practically cut it with a spoon, so tasty that you start to wonder if you died and came to heaven. Bife de Chorizo is one of the most popular cuts in Argentina and used to define quality of asado joint: If you owner of a Parilla Restaurant in Argentina and you don't know how to cook Bife de Chorizo you can pack your suitcases and migrate to some other country.
To finish my post about Argentinian Parilla, I have an advise for you: If you love meat the way I do, don't ever go to Argentina unless you are planning to stay there forever. Once you tried Asado there, your culinary life will never be the same again.