“There is nothing like a steak to the point,” said Pedro Sánchez with a supposed conciliatory spirit in the midst of the controversy over the country’s meat consumption. But, in reality, few things are more subjective than that of “to the point”. What for a Basque would mean that the meat will arrive red and undercooked at the table, in an Argentine steakhouse that point is understood to be well done, with hardly any traces of red parts and much less blood. The curious thing about the matter is that Basques and Argentines share a vast history and culture around meat, fire, grilling and barbecue, but their vision is very different, sometimes antagonistic.
Gastón Riviera’s La Cabrera is one of the reference restaurants when it comes to barbecue in Buenos Aires and a classic on the 50 Best Latin America list. From its original premises in the Palermo neighborhood, in recent years it has spread its concept of gourmet barbecue throughout the world, and has recently arrived in Madrid and Barcelona. And within the ritual around the roast of this place, the choice of the point of meat is a very curious moment.
It is about the diner choosing exactly how he wants the meat, they explain to us in the room of the Barcelona premises. So, together with the food and wine lists, the waiter approaches each table with an image in which you can see the six meat items on offer, from “blue” to “cooked”. You get something like that in a Basque steakhouse and it’s messed up, I’m kidding.
“Argentines generally eat meat to the point,” they comment from La Cabrera, pointing out that it is a matter of tradition and culture, although they acknowledge that lately things are changing. I share the same image with the meat points in networks and the comments from both sides of the Atlantic confirm that beyond the shared love for meat, it is not easy to reach an agreement on this issue.
In a Basque steakhouse anything less than juicy would be considered an inedible slipper. An Argentine before a red and bleeding T-bone steak does not hesitate to ensure that this cow is still half alive. Each one, of course, eats meat as they want, but it is interesting to understand how history has woven these customs. And how, in a way, they are changing.
“The history and tradition of the Basque Country and Argentina around meat have nothing to do with it, but curiously there are very close origins,” explains Iñaki López de Viñaspre. The person in charge of the Sagardi Group has taken traditional Basque cuisine and the culture of the T-bone steak throughout Spain and other countries and, as they claim, of fat and old cows.
In fact, their informative work around meat and barbecue has led them to organize the first edition of Meat
In La Pampa the cows begin to graze with the arrival of the Spanish. They are animals that live free on gigantic tracts of land, but from time to time they have to be taken to the tambo, the livestock centers where they are slaughtered.
People come from all over the world to take care of them, including many very young Basque shepherds who explain. “They live alone, in the middle of nowhere and every two or three months they kill a calf, roast it whole on a fire, eat what they can and the rest of the meat is dried and smoked under the horse’s saddle,” he explains. .
The meat is roasted over a low heat and for a long time to break the fiber of freshly slaughtered meat, and this is how this tradition of Argentine barbecue arises. Both in the type of fire, as well as the meat. Something that has lasted to this day. “In Argentina, younger animals are consumed in order to look for more tender meat,” confirms Felipe Cafferata, partner and director of La Cabrera Barcelona.
We return to the Basque Country. The arrival of tractors in the fields means that oxen are no longer a basic work tool in farmhouses. Huge animals up to 18 years old that are fattened for the last year and sacrificed. Here the meat does go cold and is left to mature for several weeks. “The type of roast is also the complete opposite of that of Argentina, high heat, little time, sealing the meat and ensuring that the juices remain inside,” explains Viñaspre.
He comments it, coincidentally, from Argentina. He regularly visits the country because Sagardi opened a steakhouse there, in Buenos Aires, a long time ago. A Basque gastronomic embassy in a country with great cultural ties to the Basque Country, but championing a totally different way of cooking meat.
“15 years ago we opened in Buenos Aires and we made the decision not to adapt at all to what was the Argentine tradition and to grill the T-bone steaks our way. This caused us some criticism and misunderstanding at first, ”he admits. It does not seem easy to reach the world capital of barbecue and propose a way of working that is no longer different, but in the antipodes: another type of meat, cuts, grill, fire…
Also the age of the animal. In Argentina, they eat mostly calf, very young animals of one or two years. “They can be very well fed, but they are very young, they are more tender, they do not have the texture or depth of flavor of an older animal,” says the manager of Sagardi, where they work with cows from 5 to 8 years old.
A drawing of a cow with its different cuts and names decorates the La Cabrera room. A classic of steakhouses that reminds non-Argentines that there is an authentic universe of meat that is totally foreign to us. That also marks in a certain way – recalls Cafferata – the taste for more well-done meat.
“Traditionally, in Argentine grills, cuts such as ribs or vacío, rich in collagen and fat, become tastier and crunchy when cooked. Then cuts like the bife eye (high loin) or bife de chorizo ??(low loin) are eaten more to the point ”, he explains.
Not even the grill tools are the same. In Argentina the grill is fixed. About 20 centimeters tall according to the Riviera style book. The Basque grill is mobile, to control the temperature by playing with height, while in Argentine grills it is the amount of charcoal (made with half charcoal and half firewood) that regulates the cooking temperature.
But beyond the differences, there are things that have been changing in recent years. And, apparently, in the direction of the Basque barbecue. “Today in Argentina, people are looking for meat that is less cooked and juicier. There are young grillers who are betting on this and I would modestly say that Sagardi has also collaborated in this trend ”, claims López de Viñaspre.
And the maturation? “It is something that is reaching everywhere, although in Argentina it is not yet in its splendor,” they clarify from La Cabrera. Of course, they also assure that with the passage of time this tradition of eating all meat well-done will change.
