ah, perhaps that's it then - that's the standard, and it's overcooked for my carnivorous tastes.

I may be crazy but I swear "a punto" in Argentina is slightly less cooked than "no ponto". I have no empirical evidence to back this up, but would be perfectly willing to start a 'study'

About points 1, 2 and 3, I agree with everything in them. About point 4 (salting), there is difference based on how you are going to cook the meat:
- If you're going to cook it in a moist environment (such as a pan), or on a contact grill, then what Mr. Bassi said applies, otherwise you will end with a too salty meat.
- If you're going to cook it on dry heat, as on a wire grill or as the churrascarias do it, on skewers, you can use lots of coarse salt: it (the salt) will be absorbed in the right quantity, only by the meat juices that go to the surface of the given piece. To serve, you just discard the excess, not dissolved salt. Mr Bassi's restaurants serve very good beef, but he is not a "churrasqueiro".

As for the use of garlic (or any other sauce), I know that there are people that like it, but to me it is an heresy. The only seasoning that goes with a good piece of (grilled) meat is salt.

And for the comment about the origin of the meat, in the past most beef sold in Rio and São Paulo came from Minas Gerais' cattle, which is a mountainous region, where the cattle roamed free. As a consequence, their meat was savory, but too firm and fibrous. With the introduction of cattle raised in the Pampas (Rio Grande do Sul) and new farming techniques, the quality of the beef raised and sold in Brazil now is much better than in the past.

I usually find argentinean meat too much cooked. Try asking for "rare" or, in portuguese, "Eu quero a carne ainda mugindo" (I want the beef while still mooing).

And take in account how the meat is cooked: it is more difficult to cook the meat using a contact grill. At some places the cook keeps pressing the meat against the grill to accelerate the cooking process. This easily results in a drier, overcooked meat. On a contact grill, the less handled the better the meat: you should turn it only once, and never press it. Heat air dry cooking, as the churrascarias do, is much more forgiving to the meat.

I find that asking for "mal passado" (literally "badly passed")usually gets me a piece of picanha that is medium rare. Usually I have to ask for "muito mal passado, quase crua" ("very badly passed, almost raw") to get the very rare beef I enjoy best, though, and it always comes with a "crazy gringa" look from the server/carver. rsrsrsrs/hahaha
Brazilians seem to like beef that is (over) cooked to well-done shoe leather, salted of course. Maybe it stems from generally observed poor hygiene standards for meat storage prior to purchase in many places.

Haha definitely going to remember that one next time I hit the churrasco


I usually end up saying something like "medio/mal passado" with a variety of hand gestures to try and put across the level of "medio" and "mal" i'm after.... Despite all said here, I'm not that fussy

Speaking of which, do y'all have 'carne do sol' or is that strictly a nordestino thing? Talk about exercise...

My local churrascaria is now well trained and my picanha is always muito mal passado e sem sal - delicious. Just like my caipirinha, com pouco acucar e casca em dentro. Everything here is either too salty or too sweet :eek:.

Nothing heretical intended with your filet.

Molho de Campanha, perhaps ?

Not for the beef . . .

But from time to time I like to eat my farofa w/ molho à campanha :)

Sounds good.

The cows are different too. Brazilian cows are derived mostly from Indian breeds that evolved for high temperatures and were imported to Brazil mostly from Goa, with Garcia d'Avila being the first major importer. Rib eye comes mostly from very sedentary temperate climate beasts, mostly matured in closed lots. That process is uncommon in Brazil so the seriously unhealthy cuts are harder to find.

Not to argue.... but the pest Rib Eyes come from the not closed lots beasts that feed out in the pastures. Granted, non feed lot beef is getting harder to find (sadly) even in Argentina and Uruguay, one has the darned Soybean to blame for that... in any event, if you can find a proper Rib Eye from a grass fed animal then its probably the most orgasmic beef experience there is.... :p