Drink Pairings for Your Next Asado Meal
Regardless of whether you’ve ever visited Argentina, there’s a good chance you’re nevertheless aware of just how significant a role the consumption of meat plays in the country’s culinary culture. What you may not be familiar with, however, is the enormous popularity of a particularly Argentine style of barbecuing.
Known as an asado, it’s an hours-long outdoor cookout that isn’t entirely unlike an American barbecue experience. Still, there are several significant differences, not the least of which is the food and drink itself. At an asado meal, you can expect to enjoy high-quality cuts of meat ranging from sirloin and flank steaks to a succulent rack of ribs. Sausage, chicken, and even carefully prepared appetizers known as achuras may also make an appearance.
Another significant difference between the American-style barbecues you and I are used to and an asado cookout is the beverage of choice. Cans of beer and pitchers of sweet iced tea aren’t generally a part of an Argentine barbecue. Instead, you can expect to encounter red wine—and lots of it—in varying degrees of quality.
If you’d like to host a genuine asado meal of your own, keep reading to learn which wines you’ll want to pair with which meats.
Tips for Cleaning Your Pink Himalayan Salt Block
Even if you know almost nothing at all about grilling or cooking, you’re probably still aware that the world of cuisine is a world of trends. Whether they’re short-lived fads or decades-long movements, there seems to always be something trendy on offer to engage and inspire the zealous gourmand.
One of the more popular cooking trends today involves grilling or otherwise preparing food with something known as a Himalayan salt block. Most Himalayan salt blocks are about two inches thick and roughly the length and width of a trade paperback book. And although they’re sometimes used for serving, these unusual grill salt blocks, as we like to call them, are more commonly used for cooking meats, fish, and vegetables. The blocks add a complex salt flavor to food, although juices and food debris tend to build up easily and stick stubbornly to the blocks when they’re used for cooking. Visit our blog for more tips on cooking with pink Himalayan salt blocks.
Because these blocks are literally made of salt, there are number of very important dos and don’ts to bear in mind where cleaning is concerned. The following tips will ensure that your grill salt block, which is surprisingly delicate, won’t become ruined because of cleaning.
Uses for Leftover Beef After Your Asado Cookout
The cook out is winding down. Your asado grill is cooling, guests have moved onto drinks and desserts, and you’re thinking about leftovers.
Specifically, the leftover beef. Cooking beef on an asado grill can give you steaks like nothing else you’ve tasted, but that doesn’t mean your leftovers need to be a letdown.
Here are a few Argentine-tinged beef dishes that you can make with whatever beef is leftover from your next cookout.
Meat Cutting Techniques & Tips
We’ve designed our Argentine grills to give you perfectly cooked cuts of meat. What you do with that meat after it leaves the grill is up to you. The way you cut a steak after it’s cooked plays as much of a role in your meal as the grilling process.
When you’ve taken the time to grill a nice piece of beef on your parrilla, you want to make sure that you take the proper steps to serve it correctly. Here are a meat cutting techniques and tips that will allow you to get the most out of your next meal.
Argentine Grilling Marinades: Chicken, Steak & Seafood
In our last blog post, we talked about the mystery of where chimichurri got its name, as well as some of the misconceptions about this sauce.
(For example, it’s not “Argentinian ketchup.”)
There seems to be some debate online about whether chimichurri should only be used as a condiment, or can also function as an Argentine grilling marinade.
“While some recipes for chimichurri use it as a sauce, using it as a marinade opens up new flavors and tenderizes less tender cuts of meat,” writes Kathie Smith of The Blade. “In order to tenderize, a marinade must contain acidic ingredients such as lemon juice, yogurt, wine, or vinegar, or a natural tenderizing enzyme found in fresh papaya, ginger, pineapple, and figs, according to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.”
So today we’re going to talk about marinades, by offering two different recipes for a marinade you can make the next time you’re ready to grill.
The Origins of Chimichurri in Argentine Cuisine
Some mysteries may never be solved.
Who built Stonehenge?
Is there a real Loch Ness Monster?
What happened to Amelia Earhart?
Let’s add another one to the list: where did the term “chimichurri” come from? The origin of this Argentine grilling staple’s name is as murky as the sauce itself.
Cleaning and Maintaining Your Argentine Grill
We’re writing this on a morning where our part of the country saw its first snowfall of the season. But we’re still an Argentine grill company, and our minds are on grilling.
More to the point, we’re thinking about how to clean one of our grills. Whether you’re a die-hard barbecue enthusiast who grills year-round, or someone who’s been avoiding an off-season clean, where’s what you need to know about maintaining your Argentine grill.