Meat

Before I arrived, I had heard of the enourmous amount of beef consumed per capita in Argentina. This is very true. They also eat a lot of lamb. The best part of the meat eating is that it's usually grilled in huge quantities to be shared with friends and the whole family. Where we would have a pig-pickin', they have "asados".

In the last week I've been to two family asados. This picture shows Andres, one of Anna's sons, tending to the skewered lamb carcass at the first get-together. This is a great shot because it's got almost all the ingredients of distinctly-Argentine (or at least Patagonian) culture. On the table is a mate and thermos, along with the sheath to a facon, a traditional gaucho's knife. On the left is the lamb. The cute dog there is bagual (translation: savage), who is going to grow up to be some sort of gigantic pitt bull. Everyone here has a huge dog.
And if you look at Andres, you will see he is wearing alpargatas (traditional and very common shoes - yes, I have some), bombachas (traditional and still very common gaucho pants - yes, I bought some), and a boina (a kind of macho gaucho beret).

The second asado, on Saturday night, was a going away party for a cousin who is heading back to his University in the North of Argentina. I always love meeting all the cousins and uncles and grandchildren around. The kids ask great questions (Is it true you don't have Fiats in the US? Do you really eat sausages for breakfast like in the Simpsons?) and just one afternoon of conversations with guys like Andres is probably equivalent to 2 days in school. Great practice and great fun.

To cook this lamb we were up at 8 making the fire, and got to hang around, drink mate, and watch it cook until 2 when folks started arriving.



Here is the delicious, headless sheep. Some of the guys were pissed that the butcher had taken the neck off. Apparently that's a nice part too. The only organs left on there, if you were wondering, are the kidneys. To me they didn't taste much different from the other parts. On the grill are chorizos (normal sausages) and murcillas, which are a kind of blood sausage. I didn't realize you could just cook blood and it turned into a delicious goo.






Quickly, on the subject of meat, meet my favorite restaurant.


This guy is a magician of the grill. He sets up his stand near the city center about 12 every day, and all afternoon he has a steady stream of customers, tourists and locals alike. For a dollar (4 pesos) you can get a sausage sandwich or a hamburger, and if you're really feeling rich, you can splurge 2 bucks on a churrasco - basically a giant steak sandwich, including his secret pepper sauce. I'm here at least 3 times a week.