Our guidebooks talk about all kinds of scams that can happen in Argentina. Cab drivers give out counterfeit bills, thieves wait at ATM machines, pick pockets throw mustard on your shoe. So far none of these things have come even close to happening.
The only scam so far, has been the old “this matambre steak is cow shoulder,” trick.
The restaurant looks innocent enough, but since they don’t have a menu, the waitress just told us what they were serving that day — matambre. When we asked what part of the cow that was, she said pointed to her shoulder.
Several things could have happened:
- it really was shoulder, but she just called it matambre
- it was flank steak which she thought came from the shoulder of a cow.
- she had a sore shoulder and was massaging it while taking our order.
- she was trying to trick me.
Now that I think about it, I’m not sure cows even have shoulders. Later when I googled matambre I got this.
Matambre is a beef dish from Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Of an Italian style, it is a rolled flank steak filled with vegetables, eggs and herbs that is then boiled or oven-roasted. (from Wikipedia).
So obviously, she tricked me into eating flank steak. The confusing thing is, there was no roll, vegetables, eggs or herbs. It was just a slab of meat. And, the other weird thing is it was super light, almost white. After much time on the internet comparing my photo to other photos of matambre, I’m pretty sure it was flank steak. You can’t really mind eating a flank steak twice.
Although, I’ve had a lot of flank steak both on this trip and in Seattle and it’s never looked like this. But, it was super good, so no matter what it is, I see lots of matambre in my future.
Notice how I had to edit out me saying “this is cow shoulder.”
Yum. Now I want to eat a whole cow in Texas. Think I can do it?
Texas is probably even a better place than here because you can actually ask them what you’re eating, or at least understand their answers. I think you should eat the entire cow EXCEPT the organs. i wish I had left that part out. As if the cow isn’t big enough without all those damn organs.
You and Jeff must be working out a lot because neither of you look like you’ve gained an ounce even after eating all that great food. What a life!
That is so nice of you to say, but you can only see me seated in these photos dulce de leche is catching up with me. 🙂
I had the same white beef experience in Greece. I had to keep asking if it was cow. The funny thing is it tasted like it. I heard the color difference may have to due with the cow’s diet. I’m not sure what they are eating to make it look this way. Oh, had the same light color experience in South Africa with a hamburger. I just figured it was another animal, especially since it tasted awful. I’m guessing monkey since there were so many at our resort.
Keep enjoying.
You should have done an “eat an entire monkey” thing. As long as it wasn’t an ape, that would have taken longer. This really did taste like beef, although it looked more like chicken.