Meat and sweets (not sweetmeats)

Argentina is big on meat, I guess that some of you knew that - but just for those who didn't - let me tell you that it's true.

On Saturday we went to "La Boca", which is a gentrified (i.e. Touristificated) island in the middle of a run down neighbourhood. The guide books recommend getting a cab in and out - so we did. I'm not sure that walking would have felt any less dangerous than the taxi we took in there anyway!

After a little wander around some arty stalls, we dropped into a Parrilla (A meat restaurant) and ordered the house special.

The house special appeared to be a cow - cut up and stuck on a mini barbecue it might have been - but I'm pretty sure we got a goodly percentage of a whole cow. The picture below shows the parts of the animal that we couldn't manage. I hope that the 'wasted' meat got a good home.

The size of a cow

Another local foodstuff that appears to be de rigeur is a caramel sauce known as "Dulce de Leche". It tastes a lot like the home-mad butterscotch sauce my mother used to make (in the days when she made such types of food) consisting of heated sugar and evaporated milk. Around here, there are whole supermarket aisles dedicated to different brands of it. I'm not 100% sure what differentiates them, but the one(s) I have tried all taste yummy (but not quite as nice as my mum's sauce - natch). Here is a pancake (panqueque - pan-kay-kay) full of it. Yum Yum - in my tum.

A pancake - full of Dulce

For those concerned about such things, I promise that this blog will veer away from food once more and not turn into a "Things I ate abroad" list that some blogs have been accused of.