Unusual meats you have to try!

By Richard Porter on February 13, 2014 in Buenos Aires Life.

I wrote a post previously on some of the more common cuts of meat in Argentina that you all know and love, and their translations into Spanish so you know what to ask for when you next go to a parrilla. However, as I have stated before, there are plenty of other cuts of meat that you should try ...

that just aren’t available back home and I have no idea why! So this post is a guide to some of the great cuts of meat that perhaps you won’t have heard of that are really worth trying, as well as giving you a break from having steak every single night!

Matambre

Matambre is a very thin cut of meat taken from around the ribs and can be either pork or beef. When purchaced from a butcher it comes rolled up and you need to unfurl it like a parchment, it really is that thin. What’s fantastic about this cut of meat is its versatility, eaten on its own it’s fantastic and you can either cook it lightly so it’s succulent and juicy, or you can crispen it up to resemble crackling if you go with the pork option. One of Alex’s signature dishes at our staff asados, pork matambre, is slow cooked to perfection with a sprinkling of salt and a healthy squeeze of lemon juice, making a fantastic change to the usual cuts we go for. But wait, it gets better. Alex and Fernando also introduced us to the concept of matambre a la pizza, which is essentially making a pizza, but instead of using dough for the base you use matambre, and put cheese, ham, olives – whatever you like really on the top. It might possibly be one of the very best thing I’ve ever heard of!

                                                                                                                                                                                Ok so it doesn´t look appetising, but believe me it is!

 

Morcilla

Being English, black pudding has been a mainstay of my breakfasts for longer than is healthy. If you don’t know what black pudding is, it’s essentially a sausage that’s been made of congealed pigs blood and cereals. Sounds delicious right? Well curb your cynecism because it’s amazing, so when I heard that Argentina has it’s own version of it called a morcilla, I was excited to try it. WOW is all I can say! It’s like a black pudding but so much better, it’s softer and tastier and just generally better. Argentines tend to eat it as a starter before the steak comes out, but I personally find this to be way too rich, my preferred technique for eating morcilla is to use it as a condiment for my steak. Now that may seem strange, but it’s so soft that once you pierce the skin you can scoop the insides out and spread it over your steak and the combination is just divine! I ca’´t recommend trying this more, it may seem a little strange at first, but much like adding salt to caramel, eating steak with a morcilla is a hidden gem!

Steak stuffed with stuff you say? ok!

Tapa de asado

This lesser known cut of meat is pretty uncommon in Argentine parrillas, but is far more common among asados people host privately. So far I haven’t been able to find a suitable English translation – it’s direct translation is cap of rib, which is not to be confused with the ribeye cap which is a much nicer cut. Tapa de asado roughly comes from the rib area. Now this is a little chewier cut of meat but still very flavoursome. The best part about this cut is the ability to stuff it. Coming from the rib area means its easy to make incisions in which to stuff, another of Alex’s signature asado dishes, stuffing a tapa de asado with onions and garlic and cooking it on the bbq.

 

                                                                                                                        Honestly one of the best fast food snacks in the country

 

Milanesa

Basically breaded meat, coming in either chicken or beef, to milanesa something is exactly that, to bread a piece of meat and fry it in oil. Served either as is, or even better in a sandwich to go, if you are looking for something to grab quickly then a milanesa is amazing. My recommendation is the chicken, not only to give you a good alternative to beef, but also the chicken here is really good, usually very thick and juicy.

 

But if its a nice bun of grease you are after… this is for you!

Lomito

Staying in the sandwich vein we have the lomito, even more varied than the milanesa, it’s essentially a steak sandwich, but it’s not as simple as that. Sometimes two slices of bread, sometimes one, sometimes none! On a basic level it’s strips of lomo in a sandwich with lettuce and tomato, but if you go for the completo you get everything from cheese to olives to a fried egg on top. This is Argentine fast food, your post drinking snack that makes everything better.

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