Asado (from asar , to roast) originally referred to a particular cut of beef, the brisket, meant to be slowly grilled or roasted, but now refers to the barbecue as a process and a rite; the Sunday asado is a sacrosanct male preserve, the pride of the true host, the length and breadth of the country. Since barbecues are an integral part of life in Argentina - and some of your best meals will be had at parrillas , restaurants specializing in barbecued food - it's good to know your way around the special vocabulary of beef-eating, especially as in Argentina beef isn't cut in the same way as in the rest of the world, although the cuts most resemble the British ones, sliced through bone and muscle rather than across them.

The first thing to note is that Argentines like their meat well done ( cocido ), and indeed some cuts are better cooked through. If you prefer your meat medium, ask for a punto , and for rare - which you'll really have to insist upon to get - it's jugoso . Before you get to the steaks, you'll be offered achuras , or offal, and different types of sausage. Chorizos are excellent beef sausages while morcilla , the blood sausage, is an acquired taste. Sometimes provoletta , slices of provolone cheese, grilled on the barbecue till they're crispy on the edges, will be on the menu. Otherwise, it's beef all the way.

After these "appetizers" - which you can always skip, since Argentine parrillas are much more meat-generous than their Brazilian counterparts - you move on to the asado cut, followed by the tira de asado (aka costillar or asado a secas ) - ribs. There's not much meat on them but they explode with a meaty taste. Next is the muscly but delicious flank, or vacío . But save some room for the prime cuts: bife ancho is entrecôte; bife angosto or lomito is the sirloin (referred to as medallones when cut into slices); cuadril is a lump of rumpsteak, often preferred by home barbecue masters; lomo , one of the luxury cuts andoften kept in reserve, is fillet steak; bife de chorizo (not to be confused with chorizo the sausage) is what the French call a pavé , a slab of meat, cut from either the sirloin or entrecôte. The entraña , a muscly cut from inside the beast, is a love-it-or-hate it cut, but aficionados claim it's the main delicacy in an asado . Rarely barbecued, the peceto is a tender lump of flesh often braised ( estufado ) and served on top of pasta, roasted with potatoes ( peceto al horno con papas ) or sliced cold for making vittel tonné .

Although mustard ( mostaza ) is usually available, the lightly salted meat is usually best served with nothing on it, but the traditional condiments are chimichurri , olive oil shaken in a bottle with salt, garlic, chilli pepper, vinegar and bayleaf, and salsa criolla , similar but with onion and tomato as well - everyone jealously guards their secret formulae for both these "magic" dressings.