Eating steaks in Argentina feels like joining a cult. You find yourself leaning on friends to come visit, and writing YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND in all caps more often than feels comfortable. Argentine beef really is extraordinary. Almost all of this has to do with how the cows are raised. There are no factory feedlots in Argentina; the animals still eat pampas grass their whole lives, in open pasture, and not the chicken droppings and feathers mixed with corn that pass for animal feed in the United States. Since this is the way of life a cow was designed for, it is not necessary to pump the animal full of antibiotics. The meat is leaner, healthier and more flavorful than that of corn-fed cattle. It has fewer calories, contains less cholesterol, and tastes less mushy and waterlogged than American meat. And the cows spend their lives out grazing in the field, not locked into some small pen. You can taste the joy.
Steak!
That's it! When (and I mean when!) I win the Lottery jackpot here, I'm boarding a plane and will be heading off to Argentina. I haven't had a decent steak in the Philippines since the old Casa Marcos in Roxas Blvd closed down. And I meant the original old Casa Marcos. It was beside an old bar called the Luau.
I'm digressing. Here in the Philippines, Argentina beef equates to canned corned beef. The Philippines is corned beef country. It's the poor man's beef. I prefer Palm Corned Beef but that one's imported from New Zealand. But that one is good, good, good.
Although, I'm not sure if the local corned beef ummm.... beef, I mean the one sold here in the Philippines, really came from Argentina. It could be someone named Argentina for all I know...
