Salavating in Patagonia
October 31, 2019
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| Asado al Palo |
When planning our trip to Patagonia, I kept running across photos like the one above of lamb being grilled by an open fire. Even though I have no particular craving for mutton, these photos made my mouth water and I was hoping that at one of the ranches (estancias) or hotels where we stayed, might serve some lamb cooked this way. As I have been lead to believe, gouchos who cook this meat have refined it to a fine art. They cook it a long time and the fat is not allowed to drip on the fire or it will catch fire, make smoke which ruins the taste -- at least to them. Adding seasoning or sauce would make it like American BBQ. Yuck! And, when the meat is ready about midnight, the asadero (cook) may be applauded by the ranch hands or tourists for his skills.
I had visions of gnawing tasty morsels of meat from hand-held, lamb ribs and tossing the bones over my shoulder for the sheep dogs -- or something. You know, real macho stuff, finger-licking good and all.
When we arrived at the Estancia Rio De Los Ciervos (Deer River Ranch) in Punta Arena, Chile, I figured the odds were improving that I might soon be tasting some of that delectable mutton al palo. But, after checking in, we soon realized that the three of us (son Jimmy, his wife Shenda and me) were the only ones staying there that night and they were not serving dinner. So, we found a near-waterfront restaurant downtown and were served a large platter of roasted meats, potatoes, tomatoes, onions and stuff they called BBQ.
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| Jimmy and Shenda's 31st anniversary BBQ -- so proud of them. |
Unfortunately, I don't eat late dinners, but Jim and Shenda dug in and ate most of that pile of meat and veges. They planned to take some long hikes in the next few days, so they needed to load up on calories. I had a few bites of mutton, but stopped in time to prevent nighttime belly aches. We did not see how the meat was cooked, so we were not convinced that this was really asado al palo (grilled on a open wood fire). Oh well!
From Punta Arenas, we travelled north toward the Torres del Paine mountains. There were a few houses here and there, but mostly open sheep and cattle pastures, until this handsome hotel appeared on a hill away from the highway. We had a very nice lunch there, then walked around a pond and gardens below. Shenda was sufficiently impressed that I got a nice hug in the process. But still no asado al palo.
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| Llanaras de Diana Hotel |
In the town of Puerto Natales, I thought maybe we had hit the jackpot -- a genuine asador restaurant. But it was closed. However, on our return trip from Argentina we ate grilled lamb here, but it was thrown on a grill and cooked quickly -- not cooked slowly outdoors. So, it did not meet my definition of the real stuff.
In the touristy Argentinian town of El Calafate, we saw through the restaurant window, lamb being cooked by an open fire. It seemed like we were finally gonna get some genuinely cooked Patagonian lamb. But, at the doorway we were met by someone who claimed that at 2:30 PM the restaurant closed -- and it was now 2:31 or something.
But the aroma of cooking lamb was overwhelming, so I protested. "I am very hungry and I may starve if you don't make an exception to your rule." His facial expression showed no evidence of sympathy and I could see that he was not moved by my argument, so I tried again. "I came almost 6000 miles to taste your lovely asado, so you must reconsider your rigid rules. I promise not to tell anyone that you made this one exception to your closing time rule. Your restaurant still has many customers with lamb suet dripping from their chins and they are too busy eating to notice an exception for three more tardy customers." I got the answer when he closed and locked the door in my face. By now I had convinced myself that I (and Jimmy and Shenda) might really be starving, so we found another nearby restaurant with the familiar-sounding name of "Wanaco". And, sure enough, the menu offered Guanaco Stew-- made from the meat of this camel-relative of South America. Although the meat was a little tough, it was not gamey but did not tasty like prime-ribs of lamb, and it kept me from starving.
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| Guanaco Stew |
OK, so we never got the genuine asado al palo in either Chile or Argentina, but I must say that the meals we were served were generally very good -- especially in Argentina. They know how to cook meat. We ate lamb several times and found it to be quite tasty. And really, eating was not all that we did on this trip.
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| No Shortage of Sheep |
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