Every local that I’ve told seems to have been a bit shocked that I enjoyed not one, but two Asado’s this weekend (Braai’s or BBQ’s). Although it is a long-lived and prospering Argentine tradition, I think usually one does not fill one’s whole weekend standing outside beside a coal fire, nursing a drink. Well, slightly normal for a South African. At least in my family anyway!
But perhaps this is testament to the fact that one Asado is enough. Because traditionally it occupies a duration of hours, eating an array of cow or other animal entrails (more on this shortly), along with other meat and different vegetables or ‘bykos’ as we call it back home. And all this to be washed down with copious amounts of red wine. My Spanish teacher has been filling me in with the help of an English newspaper article on the subject, which I’m having to translate into Spanish. There seems to be much emphasis on an Asado being more of a ritual than anything else, with much less focus on the food, but rather the gregarious nature of the exercise. I have to focus on the food for a second because yesterday I tried Mollejas (Sweetbread aka Thymus Glands). I was given a small piece to try and tried my best to bite off a few square millimetres but the elasticated goo would not let go of the fork, and I soon felt like I was on the set of Fear Factor munching for a prize. Looking up and taking myself to a happy place I managed to swallow the muck down and made a dash for my drink. I guess it’s just the thought of it more than anything else. I’m open to trying new things but somehow this texture just did not turn me on. Adjectives that spring to mind: fatty, spongy, pasty and chewy. Another present and more well known dish, also typically present at an Argentine Asado was Morcillas (Black Pudding). I chose to take a more passive approach and watched everyone else piling in.
Anyway, both of these Asado’s were hardly the traditional kind (but still with the longevity and copious amounts of red wine). Both events were littered with foreign expats however, both had one common denominator. An authentic Argentine Asador. In other words…a Braai Master. They actually have a name for it here. At home it’s just ‘Dad’. Or if that’s lacking, then any male who volunteers.
Asado y Vino
This really is only a fraction of the food and wine that was present.
