An Asado at home

Romina Vazquez
Visual Culture of Food
November 7th, 2014

An Asado at Home Visual Culture of Food

Although everyone knows or has at least heard about Argentine Asados our traditional
barbeque and understands that Argentina has one of the highest levels of per capita
consumption of meat, I believe that a very interesting secret about Argentinian food culture is
that you would normally eat an Asado in almost every occasion you can imagine from large
weddings and special events, to simple home-made meals for 2 or 3.
The family meal I aim to portray in this paper is one of this less recognized day-to-day
asados. Even though most people around the world would think of a something like this for a
special event, we Argentinians find any excuse to qualify as a special occasion to have an asado.
In particular, this sometimes even means eating this type of meal at least 4 times a week and
without a lot of previous preparation. Although this paper portrays the typical meal we could
have on any day of the weekend, it will be clear to the reader than removing some items from the
menu would make the preparation easier and faster without having a significant impact on the
final meal.
In the following paragraphs, I would like to describe the preparation of the Asado, the situational
context and the overall experience.
To begin with, my mother would call our local butcher, from whom we have been buying
meat for the last 20 years, and ask him for an order of certain cuts of meats to be picked up on
the following day. Although this might sound unusual, this process is very quick and the
butchers shop is only 10 minutes away from home by car. Additionally, this allows us to have
the best quality meat we can get. The following day, my younger brother goes to the local market
to buy the charcoal and the ingredients for the salads while I pick up the meat order from the
butcher. After my brothers return, he or my father would start the fire while they wait for me to
come back with the meat. When I come back home, the charcoal is properly lit and ready to
place the meat on to the parrilla our local type of grill. Argentine parrillas are known for
having a special type of bar that not only separate the meat from the charcoal but also conduct
the fat dripping from the meat to special containers in order to prevent flaring. In contrast with
my experiences in the US, flames under the meat are a very strong sign of the lack of skill from
the asador the person cooking the asado. As soon as my father or brother start placing the meat
on the parrilla, my sister, my mother and I start to prepare the salads. Although this process
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An Asado at Home Visual Culture of Food

might start to sound a little bit sexist, asados are expected to be cooked by men while salads and
other dishes are expected to be prepared by women. Although in Latin American culture this is
not perceived as sexist in any way, it is a great excuse for us to avoid having to make all the hard
work! Also, I believe that in exchange, Latin American culture makes men take better care of
their women without implying any differences between sexes.
The process of cooking the meat is very specific, as the different cuts, sizes and products
have different timings. So, in order to properly cook an asado, the asador needs to clearly
understand the intricacies of doing this with sometimes more than 10 different products at the
same time. This skill is usually passed from father to son and each family also adds their
personal color reflecting their preferences. The one thing I love the most about asados at home is
that we all participate in preparing them and we share every step of the meal.
Another typical thing we share is the mate the argentine traditional drink. Mate is a
special drink made of herbs that go into a cup into which hot water is poured and drank with a
special straw. It is a social drink as everyone shares the same mate and we do it regularly while
preparing the asado. So, while we 3 prepare the salads my father is serving the mate.
The main salads we regularly make are:

Salsa criolla: which is made from red, green and yellow peppers with onions, all of them
small diced and dressed with olive oil, lemon juice and white vinegar

Mixta: which is only lettuce, tomato and onion dressed with olive oil and lemon juice

Potato salad with boiled eggs and onion dressed with olive oil and lemon juice

As mentioned before, the preparation of the salads is usually a womans task and we
normally take turns to do them. Once the salads are finished, the next step is to start thinking
about dessert. I normally make brownies I have been doing them from scratch for the last 10
years and we would serve those with some ice-cream if we have at that moment or with a nice
cup of espresso. While the brownies start cooking, my mother lays down the table and while my
father keeps the meat on check.

An Asado at Home Visual Culture of Food

For our meal, we seat at the kitchens table a square table that faces a TV. The side parallel
and most near to the TV is always empty. Facing the TV, my sister sits on the left side, my
brother beside her, my mother sits beside my brother facing the TV and my father besides her. I
leave an empty seat that is usually occupied by my boyfriend when he comes home, and I sit in
front of my sister. We have a German shepherd and a maltese that sleep under the table or sit
beside me every time we sit down at the table eagerly waiting for something to fall off the sky.
Usually, we watch a movie that we have already seen but that we like such as Indiana Jones,
Rocky or Pretty Woman and we talk about the movie or the news.
Once at the table, and before starting to serve the meat, we have an appetizer that we call a
picada, which is a cold-cuts table including different types of cheese, prosciutto, salami and all
kinds of other charcuterie with bread. At the table I usually drink red wine with my parents and
my brother while my sister drinks Coca-Cola or water.
Once we finish the Picada, my father starts to bring the different parts of the Asado. We start
with the chorizo the argentine sausage and we make a sandwich of chorizo between two
breads. After the chorizo, we continue with a morcilla a local blood sausage after which we
continue with sweetbreads. This would be our second picada out of asado items! Finally, we
would normally have two types of meat which could be pechito de cerdo a type of pork cut
specific to Argentina and Chile , chicken, short ribs or vacio a type of beef cut specific to
Argentina and Chile. As mentioned before, we would end the meal with brownies and ice-cream.
I believe that the most important aspect of this meal is due to the fact that Argentina has
had such a high immigration of Spanish and Italian people, which carried from their homes a
deep love for high-quality food and a very communal sense of meals. As such, the uniqueness of
this meal comes more from the bonding and time spent with each other and less from the copious
amounts of meat that we normally eat.