What is Asado?

If the soul of Argentina is football, then the heart is the asado.

Picture a mound of charcoal made from native woods, an open pit, and a metal grill loaded up with the best cuts of beef, pork, or chicken—it's not just a way of cooking, it’s a ritual. Asado are a big part of any gathering, with the hours spent cooking becoming a chance to hang out, catch up, and enjoy good company. And once the grilling’s done, it’s time to dig in and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

While salads and wine are the key accompaniments to the asado, meat is the reason for it. In Argentina, various cuts form the basis of the asado. The main event is the vacío, a slab of marbled beef that sizzles and explodes with flavour.

Matambre, a very thin cut of beef taken from between the skin and the ribs of the cow, is hugely popular and is sometimes used to wrap vegetables, eggs, and herbs. These flank steaks derive their name from the Spanish words matar and hambre, meaning ‘to kill hunger’. Costillas, or asado de tira, a fatty rib cut, are also often served, as is chivito, goatling, and even offal.

Cooked at an angle to avoid the fat dripping onto the coals and creating a smoke that can dry the meat. Seasoning is done by salt alone, and the cuts are not marinated: the quality of the meat is so good that it only needs to be cooked slowly to fall apart and taste delicious. The classic Argentine condiment is chimichurri, a green salsa of parsley, oregano, onion, garlic, chilli flakes, all mixed in olive oil with a splash of vinegar or lemon juice to add a shard of acidity. This is often splashed over the cooked meat, or added to piles of roasted vegetables

The essence of asado is friendship and hospitality, the coming together of family and friends around the warmth of the charcoal-fuelled fire and the drifting smell of cooking meat. Argentina is renowned for its hospitality, the importance of the Sunday lunch outdoors, gathered around the smoke of the asado, a symbol of warmth and friendship. Born of the campfires of the gauchos, a gathering under the vast expanse of the Pampas sky, surrounded by grasslands and the cattle that call them home, nothing sums up Argentina more than the asado.