Steak Buenos Aires: Marinating Meat in Beer Could Prevent Cancer?

 

              Here is it boys and girls, you heard it straight from the(well not quite straight from but you know what I mean) scientists mouth; the combination of beer and meat could in fact help to save your life. Grilling traditions have been around for basically as long as man has existed. There’s nothing that quite compares to the taste of a piece of beef fresh off the fire. It’s a widely accepted cooking method and is popular from such places as Argentina to Tanzania but, unfortunately for us researchers have begun to find out more and more that the average coals used to heat your grill might in fact contain carcinogenic traits. However, some really awesome researchers from the University of Porto in Portugal may have come up with the best counter-cancer solution we’ve ever heard of. There recent study, published in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry states that by simply marinating meat in beer prior to grilling it helps to block the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (yeah, I don’t know what those are either but apparently they have been linked to causing cancer).

Anyway, Isabel Ferreira and her colleagues arrived at this conclusion after extensive researching and tests using different samples of meat marinated in one of three different types of beer. The three different types of beer they used were Pilsner beer, nonalcoholic beer and black beer. From what I gathered the comparison was done using charcoal-grilled pork and each test was compared against the control of unmarinated charcoal-grilled pork.

The results? Well, all meat samples were found to contain some level of the eight different possible polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which just as a side note are collectively labeled PAH8 by the European Food Safety Authority, BUT the meats that were marinated in beer prior to being cooked exhibited the lowest levels of PAH8. This is presumably due to certain compounds contained in beer that help to guard against harmful oxidation. While chemistry isn’t my forte and I couldn’t rightly pretend to know what I’m talking about as far as how the whole reaction works, bottom line: BEER TO THE RESCUE! I feel like it’s not often that you can loudly yell that and actually mean it.

Black beer came through with the strongest scavenging activity at 68%, followed not so closely by nonalcoholic beer at 36.5% and then Pilser beer at 29.5%. These numbers translate into an inhibitory effect of 53% for black beer, 25% for nonalcoholic beer and then 13% for Pilsner beer.

For those of you who for some reason or another are avoiding alcohol another option would be citrus-based marinades. These have also been show to have carcinogenic inhibiting properties. If you’re super-duper concerned about the whole thing you can try you citrus marinated grilled meat with a side of fermented something or other. Who woulda thunk that the classic beer marinated grilled brats topped with sauerkraut could actually help prevent you from getting cancer! Something to think about people..

 

 

Steak Buenos Aires: The Wood vs. Charcoal Dilemna

All over South America there is a lot of controversy over whether wood or charcoal should be used to create the heat source of an Asado.   To be clear, we’re not talking about charcoal briquettes that come in all uniform size and shape (commonly used in the United States), but rather lump charcoal created by burning wood at low oxygen levels to drive out the imperfections of the wood and turn it into carbon.  The answer can be very different depending on where you go.

Places like Chile and Uruguay at times have no problem burning pure wood under their meat, but this can pose a serious problem if the wood hasn’t completely turned to embers before hand.  The flames serve primarily to char the outside of the meat while the inside remains uncooked, purple, and cold.  When using carbon, this can also be an issue if the coals are not brought uniformly to the correct level of heat before applying the meat to the grilling service.  In other words, you can make the same mistake two ways with these two different materials.  Both of these styles require a keen eye by the Parrillero to make sure that the heat source is ready for the meat.  But with the simple implementation of the Argentinian style of fire making, and coal application, either one of these materials ca be used successfully.

It’s not so much the source as it is the technique of getting that source to a uniform heat level.  Here in Argentina whether we are using lump charcoal or wood, it is burned separately from the cooking area.  When the wood or charcoal is allowed to burn freely in a basket alongside the cooking station, bits and pieces of embers will fall through the grates, giving off roughly the same amount of heat as they have reached the similar level where they can be agitated and disconnected form the original log and/or lump.

By implementing this strategy the wood is only used in conjunction with cooking once it has been turned into an ember suitable for cooking.  When this is done you no longer have to worry about flames kicking up and charring your meat without actually cooking it.  As far as flavor goes, some argue that wood’s embers produce a smokier more natural flavor.  I for one don’t notice a difference and actually encourage using lump charcoal and wood together so that the charcoal can help ignite the wood more quickly allowing it to transform into embers.  The charcoal embers are the first to ignite and fall through, yet the wood which transforms at a slower pace continues to provide you with more embers to place under the grill over the entire course of the night.

In the end I believe both lump charcoal and wood are winners.  The clear loser is uniform shape briquettes of charcoal which although made from ground lump charcoal, also contain sawdust and other questionable materials.  They arent natural and certainly dont provide any positive additional flavor.  As for the first 2 options, there really isn’t much difference other than how quickly they can be utilized.  I always use a mix, so that I can begin grilling in no time and keep on grilling all night long if I choose.

 

Argentina Steak: Bife de Chorizo in Buenos Aires

Visitors to Buenos Aires looking for great steak often immediately seek out the local equivalent to the filet mignon, known as the bife de lomo. It is tender and succulent, and worth every penny, but truth be told, it is rarely first choice for Argentines meeting for their weekly quota of grilled beef. More often than not, they fill up on bife de chorizo.

Literally translated as the Sausage Steak, the bife de chorizo is cut from the short loin area and is known in the United States as strip steak or New York strip. It is usually cut into steaks that are about 5 centimetres thick and 15 centimetres lengthwise (vaguely resembling a sausage, hence the name) and each steak can easily feed one person. The meat is sparsely marbled but is lined on one side with a thick layer of fat that cooks into the meat when grilled properly. Because the muscle that the bife de chorizo is cut from is worked to a greater extent than the neighbouring bife de lomo, it is less tender and more fibrous, but this is matched by a much greater intensity of flavor. When I describe these two cuts to people who ask me for recommendations, I describe the lomo as delicate and tender, and the bife de chorizo as the option for those seeking to actually taste some beef. The bife de chorizo in that sense is the big bully when compared to the lomo, as it’s bigger, more intense and not as much as a pushover. Quick note on wine and this cut – this is precisely the cut of beef that screams out for a Malbec with a full body.

On the grill, bife de chorizo does best when cooked medium-rare, as the outer layer of fat needs a bit of heat to melt into the meat and the thickness of the steaks means that sometimes when cooked rare the steak can be quite bloody at the heart of the cut. Anytime that it is cooked medium and further you risk a steak that is chewier than you might enjoy. Unless you prefer your meat cooked all the way, it can be quite the letdown to get a bife de chorizo in that state.

Although uncommon and it requires  the presence of group of hungry friends, it is possible to grill the bife de chorizo whole, that is, to grill the entire piece that the butcher cuts the individual steaks from. This is difficult, because at this point you have a hunk of meat weighing at least 2 kilograms and the trick is to get the entire piece cooked evenly to the desired point. The thick outer layer of fat is prone to catching fire while sitting on the grill (in Argentina, the sight of flames licking the meat is terrifying enough to make the toughest gaucho cry. Flames should never touch any meat.) and it requires considerable more attention and fretting than a few steaks on the grill. The benefits though are worth it. As you have a limited surface area exposed to the heat, there is a reduction juice run off and hence a more flavourful steak. Furthermore, there is something quite special about cutting a perfectly cooked steak out of a 2.5 kilogram hunk of of meat. Anyone who enjoys carving turkey needs to try it, if only once.

Even more challenging is to grill a whole piece of bife de chorizo with the bone in. The key difference with leaving the bone in is that it adds even further flavor to the meat, but it also complicates things by making carving more difficult and more importantly, by adding an extra element for the parrillero to be aware of. Bone takes longer to heat up than meat does, but once it’s hot, it radiates heat and helps to cook the surrounding meat. Keeping that extra element in mind is absolutely necessary if you are going to serve an evenly cooked piece of bife de chorizo.

So, take a page out of the Argentine approach to beef and consider the bife de chorizo as a worthy alternative when out to soothe a beef craving. It will require more work than the lomo, but you will find its absolutely worth it.

 

Argentina Steak: Colita de Cuadril in Buenos Aires

Literally translated as the tail of the Rump Steak, the Colita de Cuadril is known in parts of the United States as Tri-tip or Newport steak. Unfortunately, the Colita de Cuadril doesn’t always get the recognition that it deserves as a cut for the grill. Ask for a Colita de Cuadril though at a steakhouse, and you might get a knowing look from the waiter indicating that you know what you are talking about.

Cut from below the sirloin, the area from where the mighty Bife de Chorizo is sculpted, the Colita de Cuadril has a triangular shape and typically weights at least 675 grams (1.5 pounds). It is a leaner cut of beef and has most of its fat around the outside and has little marbling, but is also tender and retains a lot of flavor, particularly if grilled carefully.

Three of them – That’s how good they are

As usual, salting the meat and letting the meat sit at room temperature before grilling is all that is necessary for preparation as the cut is quite lean and doesn’t need any trimming. Grilling carefully in this context means putting the entire piece on the grill over medium-low coals. Because the Colita de Cuadril typically thins out towards one of the tips of the triangle, the parrillero (grillmaster) must be careful to compensate and remember to keep this side over fewer coals so as to achieve an even grilling. The thinner nature of the cut also means that it will cook faster than a tira de asado for example, and in order for all the cuts to be served at the same time the colita de cuadril is usually one of the last cuts to go over the heat.

Because it contains less fat than other cuts, the Colita de Cuadril is best when it retains some pink in the middle and the juices are still flowing. It is also thin enough for anyone craving a primal fix of meat cooked blue, because a clever parrillero can warm the meat with actually cooking much beyond the outer edge of the meat. Once ready, it is cut across the triangle so that the slices are manageable and served, usually to much delight.

And here’s a tip that nobody at a steakhouse will tell you. The best thing about the colita de cuadril is that it is the ultimate day-after-steak-sandwich cut. Cold or warmed up, it doesn’t require the hassle of dealing with bones nor do you feel guilty about sticking top quality bife de lomo in a sandwich. Treat it correctly, and this cut will reward for you for trying something new and off the beaten track.