The word ‘barbecue’ is a synonym to any kind of outdoors social gathering where food is being cooked and served fresh.  People around the world tend to think that it has been their country, nation, race, or ethnicity that invented barbecue.

The truth, however, lies elsewhere as different people from different cultures have been cooking their meat with the high heat of a fire, usually lit outdoors, since thousands of years ago. Smoking, baking, braising, grilling using would, charcoal, natural gas or electricity, barbeques have always been popular in every corner of the planet.

Argentina

‘Gauchos’, the traditional inhabitants of the vast Argentinean plains (Pampa) have a long tradition in ‘asado’ (grilled meat), accompanied by a piece of bread so they don’t get burnt.  Argentines claim they are blessed producing   ‘world’s best meat’, which may be true given the size of the country in relation to its population, as well as the free lifestyle of their cattle. Using high quality meat is half the secret, though. What makes the real difference is how the meat has been cut, which putting it in simple words is ‘as thick as possible’ but it is much more complicated.  The seasoning is always quite simple, as good quality meat doesn’t’ need any kind of special sauce, apart from a generous amount of salt.
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