Un Asado

After work, one day earlier this week, Sonia told us we’d be having an asado with a large group, and that we’d be having lamb. We asked her about it, and instead of telling us anything, she ushered us out the back door of the living room and to the water tower. Inside the room at the bottom of the water tower is apparently a room with meat hooks. And inside, was the next day’s dinner.

Sonia and Kike had two lambs dry aging in there. One was for the asado, and the other to be quartered up and frozen to be used later. It was actually pretty awesome to see a full, butterflied lamb on the grill.

The lamb asado was even better than the beef asado. The meat was cooked perfectly, and seasoned really well with salt, and a squirt bottle of Kike’s mixture of olive oil, garlic, and fresh rosemary and oregano that he picked from the beds at the house.

Accompanying every asado is a huge array of side dishes. We enjoyed candied sweet potatoes, sweetened onions, potato salad, beets, pickled vegetables, and a salad of lettuce, tomato, and hearts of palm.

As an aside, we’ve been paying attention to Uruguayan table manners, and this group afforded us an opportunity to learn, as they were all locals from Montevideo. It’s completely acceptable to leave the table and grab seconds…or thirds. Which is great when the food is awesome. It’s also perfectly fine to scrape your plate over the large “discard” plate in the middle of the table in order to make room for more food. And it’s completely anticipated that, after stuffing yourself with multiple helpings of meat and sides, you must eat dessert.