Asado

Ingredients

The fire

• 6 kghardwood, ideally quebracho, espinillo or eucalyptus, plus kindling
• 1parrilla with an adjustable grate and a brasero (side fire basket)

The meat, in cooking order

• 1.5 kgasado de tira (short ribs cut across the bone, 3 cm thick)
• 1 kgvacio (flank/bavette), fat cap intact
• 600 gentrana (skirt steak), membrane removed on one side
• 6chorizos criollos
• 4morcillas (blood sausages)
• 500 gchinchulines or mollejas (sweetbreads), soaked in lemon water 2 hours
• Coarse rock salt, and nothing else

Chimichurri

• 1large bunch flat parsley (60 g), finely chopped
• 1 tbspdried oregano
• 6garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tspchilli flakes (aji molido)
• 150 mlsunflower or mild olive oil
• 60 mlred wine vinegar
• 60 mlwarm water
• 1 tspcoarse salt

To serve

• 1loaf crusty bread
• Ensalada rusa or a simple lettuce, tomato and onion salad
• Tannat red wine

Directions

1. Light the wood in the brasero 1 hour before you plan to cook and let it burn right down. Uruguayan asado is cooked over coals shovelled under the grate, never over flames or briquettes.
2. Make the chimichurri first: dissolve the salt in the warm water and vinegar, stir in the garlic, oregano and chilli, then the oil and parsley last. Leave it 2 hours; it should taste sharp and raw, not cooked.
3. Rake a thin, even bed of embers under the grate and set the grate so your hand held at grate height can bear the heat for about 5 seconds. That is roughly 180°C (350°F), the asador’s gauge.
4. Salt the meat with coarse salt only, on both sides, right before it goes on. No marinades, no rubs, no oil.
5. Start the sweetbreads and chorizos, which take longest at low heat: 30–40 minutes, turning once. Prick nothing; piercing a chorizo drains the fat that bastes it.
6. Lay the asado de tira bone side down and leave it there for a full 60–75 minutes. The bones act as a heat shield and the meat cooks slowly through before it ever sees direct heat.
7. Flip the ribs once only and give them 25–30 minutes on the meat side until crusted and deep brown; add the vacio fat side down for its first 45 minutes over the same gentle coals.
8. Cook the entrana last and fast, 4–5 minutes a side over a slightly hotter patch, to a rosy medium. Skirt steak turns to leather past medium.
9. Serve in the traditional order, as things come off the grill: sausages and offal first as the picada, then the ribs, then vacio and entrana carved against the grain, with chimichurri passed at the table.

Technique

• The asador feeds coals in gradually from the side fire throughout the cook. This constant, low, dry heat over hours, not searing, is what defines Rio de la Plata asado.
• Salt is applied just before cooking, never hours ahead. Uruguayans use coarse salt so it draws less moisture and forms a light crust.
• Turning the meat repeatedly is considered a beginner’s mistake. Most cuts are turned exactly once.

Substitutions

• No parrilla? A kettle barbecue set up for indirect heat with a small pile of lump charcoal at one side comes closest; refresh with a few coals every 20 minutes.
• Cannot get asado de tira? Ask for beef short ribs cut across the bones 3 cm thick, which is the same cut under another name.

Variations

• Asado con cuero, cooked with the hide still on, at rural estancias.
• Costillar a la estaca, a whole rib section staked upright beside an open fire for 5–6 hours.
• Parrillada, the mixed grill platter served in Montevideo restaurants on its own charcoal brazier.

History

Beef grilled on a parrilla or staked at the fire; the pampas herds descend from cattle released in the 1500s and Argentina remains a top beef eater.

Frequently asked questions

What is Asado?

Asado is a main from Argentina: slow parrilla ritual of beef ribs, chorizo and sweetbreads with chimichurri. Beef grilled on a parrilla or staked at the fire; the pampas herds descend from cattle released in the 1500s and Argentina remains a top beef eater.

How long does Asado take to make?

Asado takes 45 min of preparation and 3 hr 30 min of cooking. The recipe makes 8 servings. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Asado?

Yes, within limits. No parrilla? A kettle barbecue set up for indirect heat with a small pile of lump charcoal at one side comes closest; refresh with a few coals every 20 minutes. Cannot get asado de tira? Ask for beef short ribs cut across the bones 3 cm thick, which is the same cut under another name.

What is the most important thing to get right in Asado?

Light the wood in the brasero 1 hour before you plan to cook and let it burn right down. Uruguayan asado is cooked over coals shovelled under the grate, never over flames or briquettes.