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FEATUREWednesday 3 January 2018
Gaucho grill: Argentine cuisine glows with wood-fire cooking
In this Nov. 14, 2017 photo, chef Nacho Trotta prepares plates at the restaurant he co-owns, By LUIS ANDRES HENAO haricot bean puree with al-
Bestia, which uses fire and wood-burning ovens in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Associated Press monds and pumpkin-seed
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina mole to celery with kefir
Associated Press (AP) — Flames glow, smoke cream, green apples and
billows and the aroma of pecans. The owners take
slowly burning logs blends pride in their sourdough
with the flavors of lightly bread served with home-
charred calamari with made butter and ancho-
broccoli and aioli cooked vies from the coastal city
inside a handmade wood- of Mar del Plata.
fired oven. “Argentine cooking is go-
Like other dishes at Proper ing through a very impor-
restaurant, essential ingre- tant moment,” Nico Visne,
dients for this house favorite a local food critic and jour-
are timber and fire. Proper nalist, said as he tried the
was recently named in the calamari at a counter near
Latin American edition of the wood-burning oven.
the prestigious World’s 50 “It’s based in our gaucho
Best Restaurants list, part (cowboy), indigenous and
of Argentina’s growing in- immigrant cooking — and
ternational recognition for there’s this return to the
creative open-flame cook- real flavors and the fire.”
ing. It seems odd to call it a
The sacred Argentine “asa- trend since flames are the
do,” or barbeque, brings oldest way of cooking
together families and food. And yet a growing
friends, regardless of social number of chefs around
class, and is a source of na- the world have elevated
tional pride. While grilling wood-fire cooking to new
in other countries involves heights at some of the most
gas or store-bought char- acclaimed restaurants like
coal, the Argentine way is Spain’s Asador Etxebarri in
often more primal — just the Basque countryside.
wood, flames and meat. In Argentina, the precursor
“Fire is a very strong part of this movement is Francis
of Argentina’s identity,” Mallmann. The country’s
said Augusto Mayer, who most famous chef and
launched Proper last year owner of three restaurants
in a refurbished auto-re- began his career cook-
pair shop with fellow chef ing French food. At some
Leo Lanussol. “We have point, he returned to the
a bunch of ways of cook- elemental ways of cook-
ing with wood and we’re ing that he knew growing
harnessing the potential of up in his native Patagonia
that type of cooking.” region. Many Argentines
Diners stand in long lines grew up watching Mall-
every night outside the mann’s cooking shows on
restaurant in the trendy TV in the 1980s, long before
Palermo neighborhood of he entranced audiences
Buenos Aires, attracted by worldwide with his grilling
the scent of the vegeta- methods in the Netflix do-
ble-centric dishes. From a cu-series “Chef’s Table.”q
In this Nov. 11, 2017 photo, a hamburger sits for display before
a wood-fueled fire at Kon Kon restaurant in Buenos Aires,
Argentina.
Associated Press
