Camacho Watcho

This past weekend took our crowd to Punta del Este…which literally translates to East Point. Punta del Este is the point at which the Rio de la Plata, which is the river that runs between Argentina and Uruguay, and the Atlantic Ocean meet. It is a beach paradise in Uruguay that is popular among Argentinian and Brazilian tourists and celebrities as well. And, it is amazing!

Punta del Este itself is a busy, beach city with a large casino/hotel, many boutique hotels, a beautiful port and many many beaches. The restaurants and bars are very livey and fun and the nightlife is great! Surrounding Punta del Este, both to the east and the west, are smaller beach towns that are more unpopulated and they have a remote, wonderful feeling. We were able to experience both scenes and enjoyed ourselves immensely!

We were invited to stay the weekend at the house of the director of our program. He and his wife were amazing hosts and shared their home with the eight of us who travelled there. We had a wonderful time exploring the city, going to the beaches, horseback riding, gambling at the casino and eating more than our fair share of wonderful food, including an asado and the freshest seafood!

The most amazing thing that we experienced, however, was a true Uruguayan asado at the home of our host. An “asado” is a barbecue, but the experience is truly unique, as the barbecues here are not the typical Weber variety. They are large wood-burning barbecue (parilla) outside in a brick enclosed structure. The technique of an asado is quite an art! The way the meat is actually cooked is over the embers of the fire, rather than the larger fire itself. Therefore, a large fire is started on the side of the barbecue – it is usually a typical wood here that smells fantastic when it burns – and then the fire is tended to keep it hot. The embers are reintroduced to the fire during this step to keep them all hot until they are ready to be used. Once the fire has produced enough embers, then the grill is lowered and the embers are spread out under the grill. The fire is maintained to the side and as more embers are produced and fall through the grate, they are then spread out under the grill.

The meat of the asado is truly unique as well. The saying is that “no part of the cow goes to waste”. And it’s not only the cow, there are a variety of other animals as well. The girll is filled with all types of meat and as dishes are complete, the feeding frenzy begins. The appetizers were the following: thin sausages, provolone (which is grilled over the fire in a caste iron skillet), sweetbreads, and chorizos in a bun. Then we sat down for dinner and filled half our plates with salads and then the following meats were passed: pork ribs, beef ribs, chicken, lamb, steak, and blood sausages. Typically at an asado there are also all sorts of grilled intestines, but thankfully they didn’t have them at this one…with that darned New Years Resolution of mine, I would have had to try them…gulp! After the initial passing of meat, then anything else is put back on the grill. The tradition then is that you then take your plate out to the grill and pick any other meat that you want second helpings of. Needless to say, I was still full until the following night, but it was a wonderfully unique experience!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 at 6:35 am and is filed under Customs, Entertainment, Food, Travel, Uruguay. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.