Meat & Greet

One writer’s pursuit of the perfect Argentinian steak, from traditional ranches and grasslands to elegant restaurants and a chef’s home

By Chris Robinson

Argentina has taken the popular farm-to-table movement to a whole new level. In the bustling capital city of Buenos Aires, I explored the food scenes in many neighbourhoods. I snacked on pastries at the elegant Café Tortoni and dined at the long-established Le Famiglie, where tuxedo-clad waiters served huge portions of Argentinian meat and fish. And I explored the amiable chaos of the Mercado de San Telmo, where locals go for the freshest produce and empanadas stuffed with meat and vegetables as well as dulce de leche, a creamy caramel desert.

CAF. TORTONI

˝ TRAVEL BUENOS AIRES

Indisputably at the top of the food chain in Argentina is beef. The average Argentinian consumes nearly 60 kilos of beef a year and it is affordable to most. To be invited to an ‘asado’ is to witness the art of grilling beef to perfection and to be embraced by the warmth of family and friends bonding over the barbeque.

FAMILY AND FRIENDS GATHER FOR A TRADITIONAL ASADO

Several Argentinian chefs open their homes to recreate the asado experience for travellers. Others preside over a pairing of a tango show with an asado at their intimate restaurants. One local chef suggests that I should make a trip to an estancia, a traditional ranch on the Pampas grasslands, before coming to a private dinner in his home. In these pastures that lie south and east of the city, I’ll understand why beef is sourced there and why it is so revered.

The next morning, I make the two-hour journey east of Buenos Aires to San Antonio de Areco and entered another world – the Pampas. The vast plain stretches west to the Andes and south to Patagonia. Spanish conquistadores brought cattle here in the 1500s to the bovine equivalent of heaven on earth. Huge estancias were founded and cowboys called gauchos created a distinct lifestyle that has remained relevant into the 21st century. San Antonio de Areco is a centre for gaucho culture. The small, pretty town proudly celebrates it with festivals, like the Fiesta de la Tradición.

COWS IN THE PAMPAS

Several estancias in the area allow visitors. I head to Estancia El Ombú de Areco, located up a long, tree-lined avenue that leads to a graceful 19th-century mansion. I’m welcomed with a gourd filled with mate. I sip the hot bitter tea through a silver straw and learn that no gaucho would venture out without this iconic beverage. My gaucho guide, Juan, pairs me with an appropriate horse that proves to be responsive and full of friendly mischief.

MATE, TRADITIONAL TEA LOVED BY THE GAUCHOS

˝ TRAVEL BUENOS AIRES

Juan is a true rider of the range, kitted out in a beret, breaches and silver knives. We ride across expanses of grassland waving in a stiff breeze – the wide vista made even more dramatic by periodic sunshine bursting through the swiftly moving clouds. Large groups of Aberdeen Angus cattle wander freely in this simple landscape of earth and sky.

GAUCHO SHOWING HIS IMPRESSIVE SKILLS

˝ ESTANCIA EL OMB.

Back on the veranda of the mansion, I enjoy an extended lunch of empanadas and a Creole barbeque of mammoth proportions, accompanied by a local Malbec wine. An impressive display of horsemanship and gaucho skills gives the impression that man and beast are one single organism. I stroll to the edge of the garden and look out over the Pampas, which seem to stretch forever. I feel like I am on an island shore in a sea of grass, and I begin to understand why I needed to experience this.

TYPICAL PARRILLADA, A LATIN AMERICAN BARBEQUE

I’m anxious now to see how a chef will prepare the beef. I head to a chef’s home on a backstreet in Palermo, an upscale Buenos Aires neighbourhood. In the living room, I join 10 other diners, a cosmopolitan gathering from Switzerland, the United States, Germany and China. We are united in our quest for the ultimate Argentinian steak experience. Over hors d’oeuvres of cheeses, olives and sausages paired with a sparkling Rimé Extra Brut from Argentina’s west, we are given explanations of the gastronomic delights that await us. The group bonds in broken English as the traditional bonhomie of the asado works its magic.

Upstairs, the dining room is open to the kitchen. I’m able to watch the preparation of all the elements of the asado. Sitting around a single long table, we learn to pace ourselves. Dishes appear from the flames of the parrilla (grill) and zigzag down the table, paired with modest wines from Argentina’s western vineyards. A Batracio white from the Cafayate Valley, a Bodega Mevi Cabernet Sauvignon from Mendoza, and my favourite, a Malbec from Mariflor (also near Mendoza), which positively explodes on my palate alongside the beef.

Dishes in all their Pampas glory challenge my preconceptions of what beef can taste like. Morcilla (blood sausage) followed mollejas (sweetbreads) and costillas (ribs). Chinchulines (chitterlings, or if you really want to know, grilled small intestine) are particularly good and something I would have never ordered from a menu.

THE STAR OF THE MEAL, A PAMPAS-FED STEAK

˝ TRAVEL BUENOS AIRES

And then came the star of the meal – a succulent steak of such a size that not one of us could finish it all. It was magnificent and the taste was supremely different from mass-produced beef. We’re told that because the steak was Pampas-fed and roamed freely, it was a happy animal. In turn, I am a happy man with hardly any guilty feelings at all.