Cross-cut beef short ribs, the literal backbone of the Argentine asado. Cut across the bone into strips, slow-grilled until the meat shrinks back from the bone and the fat renders. Eaten by hand off the bone.
Tira de asado, cross-cut beef short ribs, is the backbone of the Argentine asado. Unlike the American-style rib cooked whole, the Argentine butchery cuts the ribs crosswise into strips, each piece a row of bone rounds with meat and fat between. The cut is slow-grilled over moderate coals for 1.5 to 2 hours, bone-side down, until the meat shrinks back from the bone, the fat renders, and the surface develops a deep, salty crust. Eaten by hand, gnawed off the bone, it is the most primal and most beloved cut of the parrilla, and no asado is complete without it.
Deeply charred, salty crust giving way to tender, falling-off-the-bone meat with rendered fat, gnawed from the bone rounds. The most primal pleasure of the asado, eaten with the fingers, the bone sucked clean.
The technique is long, slow, moderate-heat grilling. The cross-cut ribs are placed bone-side down on a clean grill over moderate coals, salted coarse, and left largely untouched for 1.5 to 2 hours. The moderate heat renders the intercostal fat slowly, basting the meat from within, while the bone acts as a heat shield, preventing the meat from burning. Toward the end the ribs may be turned meat-side down for 10 minutes to char the surface. The meat shrinks visibly from the bone as it cooks, exposing the bone rounds, which is the visual signal that the cut is ready. The slow render of fat is the key, fast heat burns the outside before the tough meat tenderises.
Variations
Some marinate in chimichurri overnight. A version boiled first then grilled is faster but less flavourful.
On the Palate
Where Tira de Asado sits in the Argentinian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6How it's made
5 steps · 10 min
- 14 min
Get 2kg cross-cut beef short ribs (tira de asado), cut into 8cm strips.
- 28 min
Heat a grill over moderate coals; place the ribs bone-side down, salt generously with coarse salt.
- 34 min
Grill undisturbed 1.5 hours, bone-side down, until the meat shrinks back from the bone.
Watch outLeave them bone-side down over moderate coals and don't fuss — the ribs are ready when the meat visibly shrinks back off the bone; fierce heat chars them before the fat renders.
- 43 min
Turn meat-side down for the last 10 minutes to char the surface.
Watch outOnly now flip meat-side down for the last ten minutes to char the surface — any earlier and you dry the meat before the slow render is done.
- 54 min
Serve hot, eaten by hand off the bone, with chimichurri.
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