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Want to find out what makes Gaucho’s beef so excellent? In this article, we explore the provenance of our beef and take a detailed look at our Beef Board, which showcases the cuts of beef we offer to help guests pick the perfect cut.
To us at Gaucho, flavour and provenance are our guiding lights in our steak selection. Since we launched in 1994, we have served only the finest grass-fed beef from Argentina, which is 100% pure pedigree Aberdeen Angus, a Scottish breed of cattle brought to Argentina in 1879 by Don Carlos Guerrero. It has achieved worldwide prestige due to its superior quality, marbling, texture and, of course, taste.
Argentina is renowned as one of the world’s best for standards of beef production and animal husbandry, as the farmers focus on nutrition and purebred evolution. All our beef is sourced from Las Pampas, the great open grasslands that sprawl across Argentina and are home to our namesake ‘gauchos’, whose lives revolve around their cows and the traditions of outdoor living passed down by generations.
For guests at Gaucho, we always offer our legendary Beef Board, which shows diners the cuts of Argentinian beef they have available to them in their raw, uncooked state. It comes with an explanation of the flavour and texture characteristics of each steak, plus the optimal cooking temperature to extract the most flavour from the meat.
Our table hosts are also well-trained on our extensive wine list and can recommend a great pairing for your chosen cut to enhance your dining experience. Gaucho is the largest stockist of Argentinian wines in the UK. Take a look our Sommelier’s Guide to Argentina’s Wines & Regions.
There are five cuts we display on our Beef Board to help guests understand our beef offering which our table hosts will run you through. The four main cuts are Cuadril, Lomo, Ribeye, and Chorizo. The last cut is a special cut called Churrasco which is a spiral cut that we marinate in our house marinade.
This cut is from the backside of the cow, a well-worked part of the posterior which allows the meat to develop a brilliant deep, gamey flavour profile and the overall taste can have an irony, minerally savouriness. The richness of the beef would pair well with a red wine from Patagonia, such as a Pinot Noir.
Thanks to the muscles of this part of the cow, the rump is incredibly lean with a fat marbling percent of 2%. We would recommend ordering this cut at medium rare or below to optimise the texture. We serve this cut in 225g, 300g, and 400g and we can increase the size of the steak by 100g.
The Lomo or Fillet is a beautifully delicate and lean cut which comes from the lower middle of the back. It is a prized cut of beef, as it is one of the most tender cuts due to it being the least worked muscles and has a low intramuscular fat ratio with only 4% marbling. The flavour of fillet is often described as elegant and subtle and is great at any temperature from blue to well done.
We serve this cut in 200g, 300g, and 400g and we can increase the size of the steak by 100g. Fillet is complemented well by wines from the Uco Valley, which are typically fresher in taste and lighter in body with less overtly sweet notes and a slight tartness in mouthfeel.
The Sirloin or as it is known in Argentina, Chorizo – not to be confused with the spicy pork sausage – is a classic cut of beef cut from the middle of the back between the ribs and the rump of the cow. The sirloin has wonderful marbling and boasts a well-balanced steak flavour. The marbling sits around 6-8%, which when rendered down as it cooks imparts an excellent juiciness and softness to the beef.
We would typically recommend a cooking temperature of medium rare or above to allow the intramuscular fat enough time to melt and enhance the quality of the cut. Our table hosts can provide you with some excellent wine recommendations to go with your steak, but a classic Malbec red always washes down well with a sirloin!
The Ribeye or Ancho is another impeccable cut of beef that we serve at Gaucho. Cut from the rib section of the cow, the defining feature of the Ancho is the delicious channel of marbling running through the centre, the ‘eye’, which renders down beautifully on the grill to create a true melt-in-the-mouth experience. The resulting taste is incredibly rich and pairs well with an equally flavoursome, full-bodied wine from the Salta region of Argentina such as a Torrontes or Malbec with intense notes of dark red fruits.
This cut is served in 300g-500g portions and can be increased by 100g, like the Sirloin, we recommend a cooking temp of medium rare or above to allow that 12-14% marbling time to melt and impart a juicy quality to the steak.
The final cut of steak you will find on our Beef board is the Churrasco de Lomo, a special spiral cut of the fillet which is marinated for a minimum 12 hours in our house marinade of parsley, garlic, and oil. As with the Lomo cut, the Churrasco can be enjoyed optimally at any cooking temperature.
This cut is often a favourite amongst guests as it is delicate and tender but is also enhanced by the marination process. A Chardonnay such as Terrazas De Los Andes would complement the steak nicely. We also serve a Churrasco de Chorizo, which is a similar spiral cut of the sirloin and offers a great classic well-rounded flavour in tandem with the house marinade.
