Eating Chilean Beef

Foreigners find Chilean cuts of beef confusing. They don’t look like the cuts they know and the names are even less helpful: lomo vetado (literally “vetoed loin”), lomo liso (smooth loin”), pollo ganso (“chicken goose”), huachalomo (“orphan loin?”), posta negra (“black post”), etc. 

Lomo vetado on the grill

And of course, there is a good historical reason.

Cattle were introduced into Chile in 1554 by Don Francisco de Alvarado, and as in California, Mexico and Argentina, they adapted to the local conditions and multiplied quickly.  By the 18^th century they were so plentiful that:

...they were worth no more that 2 to 4 pesos and very often they were killed to take the tallow and the hide; the rest was thrown out as almost useless, or else they cut the defatted meat in thin strips, and sold the sun dried strips under the name charqui. This entirely indigenous method of conserving meat, characteristic of dry and burning climates, has since spread, developed greatly, and has become one of the most fruitful industries of the country.[1]

Road from Valparaiso to Santiago – Claudio Gay 1854[2]

This charqui (“jerky,” from the Quechuan for dry meat) became a staple of the Chilean diet.  (see Charquicán, tomaticán and other “—cáns”).  To make charqui the beef carcass is dissected into boneless pieces following the muscle structure. Expedition artist, Edmond Smith, Captain's clerk in the U.S. Navy on the U.S. Astronomical Expedition to the Southern Hemisphere, describes the process as he saw it in the 1850s.[3]

Each of the pieces was named and both the names and the tradition of boneless cuts continue in today’s Chile.   The chart below shows the major Chilean beef cuts.

By contrast, most American and European cuts of beef include bones, as shown below, and as a result there is simply no direct Chilean equivalent for many American and European cuts, and visa versa. 

Other differences between Chilean beef and American and European beef stem from the nature of the Chilean livestock industry.  Beef production in Chile is highly variable and much production is in the hands of small producers.  Average herd size is only 41 animals (compared to 200 in Argentina), and most of the beef comes from dairy breeds like Holsteins or from Holstein/Herford crosses  as many dairy operators “freshen” their milk cows by insemination with Herford semen to produce better beef animals. Additionally, beef is grass-fed rather than being fattened on corn in feed lots, as in the US.  This produces leaner beef, but since it is the “marbling” of fat within the muscle tissue that makes beef tender, it also means tougher beef. And finally, the grading system is based on the animal’s age, so that critics claim that identically graded carcasses (the top grade is “V” followed by “A”) may be of very different quality.[4]  

Never the less, beef continues to be Chileans’ favorite (and most expensive) meat, though it is now third in consumption at 22.1 Kg (48.6 lbs.) per year behind pork and chicken and is declining.[5]

  

Of course there is better (or at least more tender) Chilean beef available.  Certified Angus beef and other quality feed-lot beef is available for about twice the price of standard beef (presently loin cuts are selling for around $10 US/lb) and there is also “Premium Quality Kobe Style Wagyu Beef, Naturally Raised in Chile”  for around $60 a kilo for the best cuts; cuts said to sell for $300 a kilo in Japan and $200 in the US.[6]

Beef from Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and the US is also commonly available in supermarkets at about the same prices as Chilean beef, but whether this is better beef is a matter of opinion.[7]  Chileans surveyed in 2004 preferred Chilean beef over imported beef, even when the imported beef sold for 15% less, and only 7% of the sample considered imported beef better; an admirable (if misplaced) example of culinary patriotism.[8]

So, how do you know what Chilean cuts of beef to buy? 

For BBQ, Chilean asado, as roasts:  lomo vetado (rib eye) or lomo liso (short loin/sirloin) are good choices.  Lomo vetado is fatter and produces a juicer roast (essential for those poor souls who prefer well done); lomo liso is leaner and is apt to be dry if cooked beyond medium-medium rare.  Sobrecostilla and asado carnicero from the shoulder or chuck are also good on the grill, full of flavor, though tougher, as is asado de tira, short ribs.  All are best cooked no more than medium.

Lomo vetado

For grilling, American Style, as steaks:  lomo vetado (rib eye), lomo liso (short loin & sirloin) and filete (tenderloin), cut into steaks.  Entrtecot (T-bone steak) is common on restaurant menus, and is occasionally available in supermarkets. Entraña (“skirt  steak”) is a tender thin cut that can be grilled quickly.

Filete

For braising and stews: The Chilean favorite is plateada (“rib cap”), but any of the shoulder cuts (huachalomo, choclillo, malaya, posta paleta, asado Americano [Imported US chuck roast] etc.) or the leaner and dryer round/rump cuts (posta negra, posta rosado, asiento picana, ganso, pollo ganso [eye of round], etc.) are suitable.  Expect to simmer 2 to 2 ½ hours.  Brisket is tapapecho.

For soups, cazuela, etc.:  Cuts with bone like osobuco (shin), asado de tira (short ribs), or any of the cuts for braising, above.

Osobuco

Links:

TÉCNICAS DEL BUEN ASADOR provides Chilean names for cuts of beef, along with photos of the cuts and cooking recommendations, in Spanish.  For a computer translation, with some imaginative literal translations, see English version.

Beef Cuts is a chart put out by the Argentine government which gives names of beef cuts in Argentina, Spain, Brazil, Chile, Portugal, USA/UK, France, Germany/ Switzerland, and Italy.

          Whole Foods Market Chilean Grass Fed Beef Program - It's not exactly the same beef you get at your local Chilean supermarket, but it's an interesting development.

---

[1] Gay, Claudia 1862 Agricultura Vol 1, p. 20. Chile: Museo de Historia Natural de Santiago. Online at http://www.memoriachilena.cl//temas/documento_detalle.asp?id=MC0002687 

[2] Gay, Claudio. 1854.  Atlas de la historia física y política de Chile / por Claudio Gay. París : En la Impr. de E. Thunot,  On line at  http://www.memoriachilena.cl/temas/documento_detalle2.asp?id=MC0001981

[3] Smith, Edmond Reuel   The Araucanians or, Notes of a tour among the Indian tribes of southern Chili.  New York, Harper. P. 100 on line at http://www.archive.org/details/araucaniansnote00smitrich

[4] Azzopardi, Tom.  2004 Putting meat on the FTA’s bones. bUSesschile November 2004 - Nº219. On line at http://www.businesschile.cl/imprimir.php?w=old&lan=en&id=40;  Dresdner, J. 2004. La industria bovina en Chile: enfrentando las desventajas comparativas.   Ciencia e investigación agraria: revista latinoamericana de ciencias de la agricultura, Vol. 31, Nº. 1, 2004 , p. 51-65.  On line at http://www.rcia.puc.cl/Espanol/pdf/31-1/ensayo.pdf; Long, Bob. 1996.  Beef logic: The beef industry in Chile. Angus Journal Sept. 1996.  On line at http://www.angusjournal.com/ArticlePDF/0996_BeefLogic.pdf

[5]Anonymous. 2009. Chilean production of wine and meat increases.  Communications Office National Statistics Institute, September 15, 2009 On like at http://www.ine.cl/canales/sala_prensa/noticias/2009/septiembre/not150909_eng.php?lang=eng

[6] Harison, Sophie. n.d.  Breeding Wagyu Cattle in Chile. bUSiness Chile. On line at

 http://www.businesschile.cl/imprimir.php?w=old&lan=en&id=206

[7] Lasmallen. 2008. Carne Nacional??... Sííí, Por Favor!!!  La Buena Vida. On line at http://www.labuenavida.cl/content/view/226288/Carne-Nacional-Siii-por-favor.html

[8] Schnettler, B., O. Manquilef & H. Miranda. 2004. Atributos valorados en la selección de carne bovina por el consumidor de supermercados de Temuco, IX región de Chile. Ciencia E Investigacion Agraria, Vol 31 No 2 Mayo - Agosto 2004. p.91-100. On line at http://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2174054