The Río de la Plata parrilla's skewer course: beef, chorizo, chicken, and vegetables threaded together and cooked over the same wood embers as the asado, seasoned with little more than coarse salt and chimichurri. The French-derived name 'brocheta' masks a format that Levantine (turco) immigrants also reinforced across Argentina in the early 20th century.
Also known as brochetas, brochette criolla, brochetas de carne.
Reference video
Ingredients
- 500 g beef ribeye (bife ancho), 4 cm cubes
- 2 fresh chorizos criollos, thick coins
- 1 red bell pepper, wide squares
- 1 onion, thick wedges
- 1.5 tsp coarse salt (sal gruesa), plus more for the skewers
- 1 bunch flat parsley, chopped fine
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 0.5 tsp chili flakes
- 60 ml red wine vinegar
- 120 ml olive oil
How to make it
- 1
Stir the parsley, garlic, oregano, chili, vinegar, oil and a pinch of the coarse salt into a chimichurri and let it stand 30 minutes while the fire burns down.
- 2
Wait for a bed of grey embers with no visible flame — the parrilla rhythm is slow heat, not sear.
- 3
Alternate beef, chorizo coin, pepper and onion on sturdy skewers and season with coarse salt only.
- 4
Set the brochetas high over the embers and cook 20-25 minutes, turning just two or three times in total.
- 5
Rest briefly, then pass the chimichurri at the table like any asado course.
Pro tip: Salt with sal gruesa right before the grill — coarse grains season the crust without drawing moisture out during a long, slow cook.
Where Brocheta de asado comes from
Argentina has a large Syrian and Lebanese-descended population, and the skewer sits comfortably in a grilling culture that was already the most developed in the Americas.
One mixed skewer, slow embers, chimichurri after
Where Qotban sticks to lamb and Brochettes créoles to pork or chicken, the Río de la Plata brocheta mixes beef, fresh chorizo criollo, chicken, red pepper and onion on one stick. Only coarse salt touches it before cooking, with chimichurri passed at the table afterwards, never used as a marinade the way the créole skewer soaks in soy and honey. The fire is slow too: 20 to 25 minutes high over grey embers, while qotban flash-grills in six to eight. The patient approach is shared by Brochettes (East African) over moderate charcoal, though those end with grilled banana and beer, not a slot in an asado after the achuras.
Compare: Qotban (Moroccan Lamb Brochettes) · Brochettes créoles · Brochettes (East African)
How Brocheta de asado is cooked
The parrilla approach is the opposite of most kebab traditions: the fire is built to one side, embers are raked under the grill as needed, and everything cooks slowly at a distance. A brocheta on an asado is not seared — it takes twenty minutes or more at moderate heat, which is why the vegetables can share the skewer without burning.
Salt is the only seasoning applied before cooking, and it goes on as coarse sal parrillera. Chimichurri — parsley, garlic, oregano, vinegar, oil, chilli flake — is a table sauce in Argentina, applied after, and any asador will tell you that using it as a marinade is a foreign habit.
Ingredients and shopping
Beef — lomo, bife or a well-marbled cut — in generous cubes, with chorizo criollo cut into rounds, red pepper and onion, and chicken thigh if you want a mixed skewer. Argentine chorizo is fresh rather than cured and needs cooking, which is one reason the skewer takes as long as it does.
Coarse salt. Chimichurri made at least 30 minutes ahead so the flavours settle. Wood — quebracho if you can get it — rather than briquettes, since the slow ember fire is the whole method.
How Brocheta de asado is served
As one course of an asado, after the achuras (offal) and before or alongside the larger cuts, with chimichurri, bread, and a salad. Malbec. The asado is a long meal in a fixed order, and the brocheta has its place in that sequence rather than standing alone.
Common mistakes
Using chimichurri as a marinade
It is a table sauce in Argentina, applied after cooking. As a marinade its vinegar and garlic burn.
Searing over high heat
The parrilla method is slow, at a distance from raked embers. High heat is a different tradition.
Fine salt
Coarse sal parrillera is what an asador uses. It seasons without drawing out moisture as fast.
Cured chorizo
Argentine chorizo criollo is fresh and must be cooked through. A cured Spanish chorizo behaves completely differently on a skewer.
Brocheta de asado: questions and answers
What is chorizo criollo?
Fresh Argentine sausage, not cured. It must be cooked through, which is one reason a brocheta takes twenty minutes or more.
Why is the cooking so slow?
The parrilla method builds the fire to one side and rakes embers under the grill, cooking at a distance. It is a slow tradition by design.
Why the French name?
Brocheta is simply the Spanish borrowing of the French brochette. The format itself was reinforced by Levantine immigrants in the early twentieth century.
Sources and further reading
- Chimichurri — Wikipedia
- Asado — Wikipedia
- Syrian Argentines — Wikipedia
- Brochetas de lomo de ternera y verduras a la brasa — Canal Cocina (Argentine chef Christian Petersen, Maestros del asado)
- Brochette de carne y verduras — Clarín
