Chimichurri
Also: Chimichurri
A herb and garlic condiment served at the table at an asado, described by the City of Buenos Aires as parsley, oregano, garlic and onion. It is not cooked onto the meat and carries no sugar, so none of the burning behaviour of a tomato sauce applies to it.
What it is
- Base
- herb
- When it goes on
- table sauce
- Burn risk over the fire
- low
Where it comes from
A documented association, qualified. BBQHQ records which source documents the link and does not make claims about authenticity.
- Argentine asado — documented in
What it goes with
Grouped by how the pairing is known rather than by how good it is. The first group is somebody else’s statement; the last is ours, and says so.
Documented in the same tradition
A source documents both this and the food within one tradition, without pairing them in a single sentence. The tradition is the link, and it is named.
- Picanha, whole — Documented as a table condiment of the asado, alongside the beef an asado is built on.
Structurally compatible
A structural fact rather than a cultural one: what the sauce is made of against what the cook does to it. Sugar burns over a long direct cook whoever is doing the cooking.
- Bavette steak — A raw herb, garlic and vinegar sauce is served after the cook, so it can meet any beef the fire has finished with. Bavette is coarse-grained and carved across the grain, and a spooned sauce sits in the cut surface rather than running off it.
BBQHQ's suggestion
BBQHQ's own suggestion, with the reasoning stated so you can disagree with it. Nobody published this pairing; it is not presented as though they had.
- Butterflied leg of lamb — BBQHQ's suggestion and nobody else's: a sharp vinegar-and-herb sauce cuts fat, and a butterflied leg is fatty and uneven enough that a table sauce covers the parts that finished first. No source in this catalogue pairs them.
What this rests on
- The City of Buenos Aires describes chimichurri as parsley, oregano, garlic and onion, and salsa criolla as bell peppers, onion and tomato. Both are table condiments at an asado rather than sauces applied during cooking.