Your Favourite Cuts of Beef - Translated.
Written by Richard Porter on The Argentine Experience Blog.
Argentina is famous across the globe for being home to BIG beef eaters. In fact globally they are the second highest consumers of beef, averaging six tonnes of beef per person per year. Okay, well that last bit is a lie, but you only have to wander the streets of Buenos Aires to see parrilla after parrilla and steak after steak. You can't walk more than 50ft without tripping over part of a cow.
However, if you happen to go into a supermarket or butchers here you might be a little confused by what you see. Either you don’t recognise the name or more often than not, you don’t recognise the part of the cow you are looking at! Is that a brain?? I’ve agonised over that statement many a time.
We will go into the more unusual cuts of beef available in a later blog post, but for now I thought it would be a good idea to run you through some of our favourite cuts of beef – the ones of the highest quality that you will most likely already know but maybe don’t know the Spanish for – so you at least have a bit of a guideline of what to order when you go to a parrilla. With no other logical ordering system, I’ll write this list in increasing order of quality.
Vacio: In Argentina, vacio, along with matambre, is the flank steaks which are pretty much located around the cows stomach.
This cut isn’t commonly seen outside of Argentina, but it should be because it is delicious! This cut needs more of a slow cook than many others but fortunately South Americans do this the best, and what you end up with is a really succulent cut of beef with a crispy fat exterior that’s really flavoursome. The best part is it comes in one enormous strip, so if you buy it yourself you can just slap it straight on the parrilla and slow cook it while you concentrate on other things. If it's not slow cooked you may find this cut a little chewier.
Cuadril: The classic rump steak, a thick meaty cut of reasonable quality, yet one of the best value for money. The crazy thing about Argentina is the prices compared to Europe and the US are all backwards. I can get a 75g wedge of brie cheese for ~70 pesos, yet a really big chunk of cuadril is less than 30 pesos. You can see why cheese is rarely on my menu and why steak dominates it. Of course rump is not as great a quality meat as some of the other cuts out there, but I’m going by my “quantity has a quality all of its own” principle, and for that, cuadril is the cut for you!
Ojo de bife: Rib eye! We all know and love a rib eye, it’s essentially the best cut of meat from the rib section of the cow and is characterised by its fantastic marbelling of fat and consequently, its flavour. Easy to cook and a great thick cut of meat, this is one of my personal favourites and you definitely should not overlook this when you next go to a parrilla. 
Bife de chorizo: Nomnomnom This is the sirloin steak, or in the US it’s known as the New York strip. A fantastic cut of meat, this is famous for being one of the best quality and tastiest. Tender meat with a lovely edge of fat enough to satisfy the meat lovers out there. This is my favourite cut and probably the one I eat the most because for one, it’s usually enormous, of good quality and still really cheap. THIS is your go-to steak if you are looking to eat an inappropriate amount of red meat. I still struggle not to order this every time whenever I go to a parrilla.
Bife de lomo: Looks good doesn´t it This is the cut we serve at The Argentine Experience. In English it’s called the fillet, or tenderloin. This cut is famous across the world for being the highest quality and when served at its best, you can actually cut it with a spoon. There isn’t a great deal of fat on this cut so perhaps it isn’t the cut for you if you are looking to truly pig out, but if you want to eat high quality meat then lomo is for you. We chose this cut not only because of its quality, which if you shop around and find the real pasture raised meat you will be blown away by, but also because it was popular with both men and women. Men loved the size of the cut, there is something satisfying about about eating a ball of meat, and women loved it because of its low fat content. Before I worked here I can safely say it wasn’t my favourite cut, but since, well, I’ve well and truly been converted. The quality of the meat, especially the one we get, is just out of this world. It’s one of our biggest selling points and is consistently remarked upon by our clients, a majority of which think ours is the best steak they have ever had. Everyone knows a fillet steak, but I’d urge you to try Argentinian lomo as it tastes so much better. Check out our cooking method to see how we cook ours and see if you can replicate it! 
As I said there are many other cuts that we will go over at a later date but this is all you need to know to get started on your steak adventure in Argentina.
Happy eating!
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