If wagyu, why not Argentinian??

After moaning my way through the wagyu brisket bloggery (btw, glad to see the Bryant's sauce in one of the pix...), it got me to thinking: is it possible to maybe get another exotic beef anywhere in country, that is, Argentinian beef?

Spent some time hanging out in parrillas in Bariloche and BA, and just came to be absolutely hooked on the bold flavors of their beef Down There. Maybe those flavors exist bcz of the totally grass-finish? Whatever, it's just wonderful stuff. I'd give a certain length of one or more given members to get my hands on a whole tenderloin or maybe some other nice chunk. Oh boy.

Of course the grilled meat is inevitably something really high quality and intrinsically tender. Even the ribs are pretty chewy. But what about, say, a brisket? Do you suppose it would surrender to Our Northern Techniques? Do the Argentines even *sell* brisket? or does it, like lots of other stuff, end up as burger?

Sweetbreads, btw, end up on the grill along with the lomo. Yum.

Sooo, anyone know of a supplier?

Geo

Geo,

The now defunct NYC Grocer Balducci's used to sell a gift pack of Argentinian Beef by mail order a few years back.

I also knew of a few NYC Restaurants that served it, the most well known being Chimichurri Grill in Hell's Kitchen where I would partake of it from time to time. Unlike other grass fed beef, the pampas fed Argentinian Beef didn't taste gamey (like the Austrailian grass fed at Trader Joe's does).

It has a wonderful complex flavor. Like that of a finely aged steak without being aged.

During the mad cow scare of the early part of this decade, import of Argentinian beef was outlawed. I'm not sure idf that ban has been lifted or not

Just to note, all the wagyu/Kobe sold in America at present is American-raised from cattle that are of Japanese stock.

The Argentine bodega and butcher shop El Mercado, Southport at Grace (sister of Tango Sur), is a full-service butcher selling Argentine meats, sweetbreads, house-made chorizos, morcillas &c. If there was a ban on Argentine beef at some point, it seems to have been lifted.

Quite a lot has been written here and on CH about grass-fed beef, whether from Argentina, Australia, or Illinois.

Jeff, are you sure it's Argentine Beef? I once quizzed them on it because the beef that I ate at Tango Sur was good, but didn't taste like the Argentine beef I had eaten elsewhere. At the time, they told me that what they sold was Canadian Grass Fed Beef. This was a couple of years ago.

They advertise it as Argentine or South American, I believe. I am not sure if the Argentina ban is still in effect; could be. Uruguay exports plenty to the US and it could be from there.

FWIW, what they sell now tastes very much like the beef I have had in South America, including Argentina. I'll admit again that I prefer US beef, though the grass fed meat has its charms.

YourPalWill wrote:Jeff, are you sure it's Argentine Beef? I once quizzed them on it because the beef that I ate at Tango Sur was good, but didn't taste like the Argentine beef I had eaten elsewhere. At the time, they told me that what they sold was Canadian Grass Fed Beef. This was a couple of years ago.

Will,

I have to agree with you on this one. I went to Tango Sur just after a trip to Argentina and found the beef to be inedible compared to the stuff I had gotten in Argentina. Not even in the same league. I know that Tango Sur has its fans on this board, but I am not among them.

I resemble that. Steve, you and I mostly have convergent tastes, so I am sure that you had a pretty nasty steak at TS.

However, your TS experience seems to be much different from my experience, which is informed by stays at ranches on the pampas, dining at roadside BBQs and at top steakhouses in BA. I actually think TS stands up pretty well. I'll also emphasize that the food is markedly better at TS these days, in general, for whatever reason. Now, I have had disappointing meals there in the past, though not many. I also had some pretty bad steaks in South America, which isn't surpprising. (I've also had really bad French food in France, but I swear I couldn't find bad Italian food in Italy if I tried. Go figure.)

That said, I don't usually order the non-US beef at TS, 'cause I prefer US beef. I know that they used Canadian grass fed at some point in the past, but I am not sure what they use now. It is possible that the grass fed beef used now comes from somewhere much closer to Montevideo than Montreal. Next time I stop by for chorizo, mollejas and alfajores, I will ask pointedly.

People don't get much more Porteno than the crusty butcher and his sidekicks at El Mercado. I think that the chorizo and morcilla (and also the chimichurri) is genius. The empanadas, too.

UPDATED: The TS menu's specials section includes a list of steaks under the heading "Fine Argentine Range Grown Beef." Now, I'm not sure how many ways that language can be parsed. I suppose it is possible that some beef is "range grown" in Argentina then finished in Uruguay or Brazil (before the recent Brazilian foot and mouth outbreak, leading to bans). If the Argentine beef ban is still in effect here, I guess I don't see how TS can make the claim. I have no doubt that Uruguayan beef is indistinguishable, and maybe they figure that Americans don't know from Uruguay, but still. And if the beef is from Canada, well, the statement seems to be misleading at best. (In his defense, the butcher speaks no English that I can tell. Spanish or Italian work.)

PPS, in looking this stuff up (Beef-mag.com is a good source, though the title is confusing) I see that South American producers are now moving toward grain-finishing, to reduce the "negative impact" of "forage-finishing" (which I take it is a pejorative way of saying 100% grass-fed). Taste-wise, it's apples and oranges for me. Chewy, grassy beef can be tasty when properly butchered (the SA cuts account for the firmer grain) and cooked, and it is much better for you. But count me in for a big, buttery slab from Morton's (or Matsumoto?).

The environmental angle eludes me. While feed-lot finishing must be very unpleasant for the cattle, I can't help but doubt seriously that 100% "free range" cattle production is good for the environment. Brazil's need for grassy open spaces is directly related to deforestation, eg. (Brazil is the world's #1 beef exported, by far, BTW.) More cattle, at their largest, trampling and dropping waste onto more open land, for more days, seems to be a sum negative compared to growing more corn in a relatively microscopic space then feeding it to the cattle.

Thanks, Jeff. I will give it a try again.

Mike G wrote:Just to note, all the wagyu/Kobe sold in America at present is American-raised from cattle that are of Japanese stock.

Also, they are fed a different diet and given more exercise than Japan-raised Wagyu. Both the flavor and the texture differ.

Though Rosengarten says even the Japanese wagyu/kobe aren't fed the traditional way any more, if they ever were:

One thing is certain: no one in the U.S. is feeding with beer, and massaging with sake... or massaging at all. Why? American ranchers say all this beer-and-massage stuff is just a romantic smokescreen. First of all, it is hardly ever done even in Japan any longer. Secondly, the beer diet, I was told, was introduced only to get the animals hungrier for their real feed, grain, not to fatten them up with beer. Lastly, I was also told that the massage has nothing to do with beef quality-- only with the improved look of the animal's coat, which helps bring a higher price when the animal is displayed and sold. Supposedly, rubbing the animal with sake gives it the most luminous sheen of all. So... keep in mind... when you buy your "Kobe-style American Wagyu beef"... it has nothing whatsoever to do with those quaint myths that you've heard about Kobe feeding and handling!

If the raising and finishing of Kobe beef (wherever it's done) is now different, then differences, whatever they might be, between this meat and standard varieties would have to come down to genetic differences among the varieties, and how they are expressed. Given the pix of the marbling seen earlier in this thread, there would appear to be differences.

At least I've not *seen* briskets marbled in that fashion before.

Geo