John Torode's Argentina A Cook Abroad

Six cooks.

Six countries.

Six incredible journeys.

WHOOPING

Aaaaahh!

Stepping outside their comfort zones...

DOGS BARK

It's not for the faint-hearted, for sure.

..our cooks will travel far and wide...

Route 7 all the way.

..to find some of the most exciting food on the planet.

If you're back in the UK, you've got a tandoori chicken,

nothing like this.

It's beautiful, this is the best food I've had in Egypt.

It's pure, it's got heritage, it's got love in it, you know.

They'll go off the beaten track...

Crocodile. Crocodile sausages.

..meeting extraordinary people,

exploring ways of life unchanged for centuries.

No electric blenders in the jungle, have to do everything by hand.

Take your life into your own hands, we're on the road now.

As they travel they'll see how the language of food

transcends cultural differences.

I've never huffed on a cheese before.

And a world away from home.

This is why I love Australia.

-There's no excuse for a bad pie in Australia.

-No.

This is the beginning, where do we end?

They'll learn lessons that could change the way we cook forever.

I've been cooking a barbecue wrongly all my life.

Wow!

This time, beef connoisseur and MasterChef judge John Torode

travels to what could almost be his culinary homeland, Argentina.

It's a bloke's dream, this is.

HE GRUNTS

He'll go native with the gauchos...

..learn the secrets of cooking with fire...

This for me is a revelation.

..and search for the best piece of steak in the world.

What a way to eat.

What a way to cook.

What a way to live.

'I've travelled halfway around the world to reach Argentina's

'capital city, Buenos Aires.

'This is the country that for the last 20 years has consumed

'more beef than anywhere on the planet.'

We are standing in Buenos Aires, in a suburb, on the roadside,

and here we go, a barbecue, and it smells great, absolutely great.

'In my 35 years as a chef, I've run restaurants built on beef

'and written books about beef, but amazingly this is my first trip

'to its spiritual heartland.

'And I can't wait to get started.'

I want to go to the Pampas. I want to meet the herdsmen.

I want to meet the gauchos. I want to understand the butchery.

I want to find the best possible cut of beef

and I want to be able to find out the best way to cook it.

'I've come here to find out about the foodstuff that

'dominates my professional life and the country that creates it.

'Beef is in Argentina's DNA.

'After the end of the Spanish colonial rule,

'the new country capitalised on the cattle grazing

'the lush plains surrounding Buenos Aires.

'Immigration helped build the country

'into one of the world's wealthiest.

'Behind it all was beef.

'In a city built on the fruit of the countryside, how appropriate

'that once a week the countryside comes to the city.'

Beautiful, aren't you? Aren't you beautiful?

'Here at the Mataderos market the people of Buenos Aires

'celebrate traditional rural life

'and the cowboys of the Pampas, gauchos,

'who rear this city's daily meat.

'I feel as though I need to pinch myself.

'This is the start of my very own beef odyssey.'

It is magical, absolutely magical.

It's a bloke's dream, this is.

'There is beef everywhere.'

And he obviously eats quite a bit of it.

That's beef...

That's beef, I get that, but that...

is an armadillo.

-Peludo.

-Palulo.

Great!

'The jury's out on armadillo, but there's plenty more on offer.

'Some I'm more familiar with.'

Loads of ladies over here making empanadas.

Every single one of them being handmade.

It's a piece of pastry, inside is a filling of meat or vegetables

or fish and it's deep fried.

'Empanadas may be a lovely starter,

'but they're really only the warm-up to the main course.

'And to help me get my head around Argentina's love affair with beef

'I've hooked up with Narda Lepes, Argentina's Nigella Lawson.'

Hola!

That's the problem with hanging out with celebrities,

you see, she's famous here.

I mean, you'd have to be blind not to see that beef is everywhere.

-Yes, it is.

-How important is beef to Argentinian culture?

Regular Argentinian thinks that if he doesn't eat meat,

he didn't eat at all.

He lost a meal.

Right, what are we going to eat from here, then? What's...?

Well, we have this.

When it comes to meat sandwiches, we cut our meat word in half

and we put pan beside it.

So what's a vaciopan? What's vaciopan?

-That's the big piece of meat.

-Yep.

Very well done it will be, of course.

Hola. Vaciopan y choripan.

'In the UK, barbecues are becoming ever more popular,

'but this is a whole new level.

'Here it's called an asado

'and it isn't a pastime, it's a way of life.'

Celebration is around meat.

Every Sunday you will have a family asado,

that's something you will have, so that's what we all did.

'And wherever there's an asado,

'there'll be a certain accompaniment.'

You have to put chimichurri.

-Chimichurri...

-Chimichurri.

..is garlic...

Garlic, oregano, chilli flakes,

vinegar, oil and some brine.

If it's really good, it's made with brine and not salt.

'See, my favourite cut of beef is a rump steak

'cooked really quickly over flame.'

Have it!

'But it looks like my first taste of Argentinian beef is going to be

'from a piece of flank that's been cooking all morning

'and then served in a bun.'

Delicious!

'If beef cooked simply on the streets is that good

'it bodes pretty well for the rest of my trip.'

This is properly delicious!

Oh, my God.

'So I've had my first taste of cooked beef,

'but if I'm going to understand what makes Argentinian beef so renowned,

'I need to see it a bit more fresh.'

'Here on the outskirts of Buenos Aires is the Liniers cattle market.

'Each week, up to 50,000 head of cattle come here

'to be sold at auction.

'Their next stop is the slaughterhouse.

'The official price of beef nationwide is set here.'

'And the first thing I notice is the breeds look pretty familiar.'

Great-looking animals.

'In fact, they're British, Herefords and Aberdeen Angus,

'a legacy from the 19th century, when British expertise

'and investment launched Argentina's beef industry.'

And the atmosphere is electric.

I mean, they are actually auctioning live animals here right now.

'Amongst those bidding, I've managed to find one English speaker.

'Mariano Richards buys cattle here for one of Argentina's

'biggest abattoirs.'

Tell me what breed are you...? What breed do you look for?

Aberdeen Angus.

-Aberdeen Angus.

-Yes.

But Aberdeen Angus comes from Scotland, not from Argentina.

Yes, but we have better Aberdeen Angus here.

Do you? Brilliant, and tell me, when you buy...

Black or red.

-Black or red, doesn't really matter which.

-Yes.

Tell me, when you're buying cattle like this, what are you looking for?

We're looking a young animal and...not too thin or not too fat.

'In the UK, prime beef cattle like this would cost

'up to £2.50 a kilo at auction.'

If I was to buy, say, that black one in the middle there,

that Aberdeen Angus, how much would it cost me?

19 pesos a kilo.

-19 pesos a kilo, which is about £1, £1.50 per kilo.

-Yes.

That's not a lot of money, is it?

Mmm, no.

'So live meat here, where cheap beef is considered a birthright,

'is around half the price it is in Britain.

'This is no accident.

'The government policy here is to keep the prices low.

'Now, that's good for the consumer,

'but it's hard to see how the farmers can make a living.

'American Mike Skowronek has been farming cattle in Argentina

'for domestic consumption for 11 years, so he would know.'

Feedlot!

During the auction I heard the word feedlot. What's feedlot?

Oh, feedlot is an animal containment facility

where the animals are taken and fed various grains

and dry substances to fatten them for slaughter.

Sorry, so...the animals aren't out on the land at all?

No, feedlot animals, no.

Isn't Argentinian beef all about the Pampas?

Traditionally, yes, but more and more,

every year that goes by, less and less.

What percentage of the beef in Argentina, then, now is on feedlot?

I would say that...upwards of 80%.

-Today.

-80?!

80%.

80% of the beef that you're eating in Argentina

is actually from feedlot?

That's right. Our official figures will be lower.

'Official figures for domestic consumption from feedlot are lower,

'in fact they're 25%.

'But all of this comes as a shock to me.'

I embarked on this journey to know more about Argentinian beef,

to go to the Pampas, to see the grass, to see these amazing cattle,

and what has just happened here is I've been dropped a bombshell,

and the bombshell is that somebody suggests

that maybe 80% of Argentinian beef is grown in feedlots on grain.

Well, that changes everything, doesn't it?

That changes the whole perception of what Argentinian beef is all about.

I feel slightly heartbroken.

'It's a million miles from what I expected

'and it doesn't fit the image I had at all.

'To discover more, I need to hit the road.

'Just two hours' drive from Buenos Aires and you're in the Pampas.

'In my imagination, the bovine paradise.

'But the first cows I'm going to see are in pens,

'because Mike's put me in touch with a feedlot that I can visit.'

This is absolutely nothing like I expected.

I hear feedlot and I thought more like a factory, but what this is

is just a whole lot of cattle...

..on mounds.

It's...

It's extraordinary.

There's thousands of animals...

..on dirt.

'It's a far cry from the image I had of cows roaming the pastures

'and gently munching grass.

'The feedlot here has been going for 18 years,

'managed by Federico Rivarola.'

How many head of cattle have you got here, Federico?

Right now we have 10,000.

10,000 animals?

-10,000.

-10,000 animals.

'This is a form of intensive farming,

'where cows are bought to be fattened for slaughter.

'A lifestyle very different from the traditional way of rearing cattle,

'where cows spend their whole lives on grass.

'In the UK, the vast majority of cattle are still

'completely grass-fed, so you know what you're getting.

'At this place I have no idea what these animals are eating.'

They eat corn - it's a primary -

maize and wet corn with their feed,

so they can get bigger.

These kind of animal can...

..can be...1.6 kilos per day.

-They can increase in size by 1.6 kilos a day?

-Yes.

'Cows raised totally on grass will take up to two years

'to reach slaughter weight.

'The high-energy feedlot diet offers a short cut.

'A cow coming here at six months old can be ready for the table at

'11 months old, less than half the time and at a fraction of the cost.'

'I can't help but wonder whether this all affects the actual taste.'

Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!

-That's...

-Look at this.

That's what I'm talking about!

'Up at the house, Federico's father has organised a little asado,

'composed exclusively of feedlot beef.

'A whole new experience for me.'

It's very creamy.

That's the only way I can explain it.

It's creamy, almost sort of milk-like.

It's very sweet

and quite, quite delicious.

-Very nice, no?

-Mm.

'It's all a bit confusing.

'I came to Argentina to find out what makes its beef so special,

'assuming it was the grass and the lifestyle.

'But here I'm greedily tearing meat off the bone

'that was raised totally differently.'

'So my first outing on the Pampas isn't turning out

'quite as I had expected.

'It looks like I've got a lot more to learn than I thought.'

The markets on the edge of Buenos Aires, on this busy city,

you drive down a road and suddenly there's a feedlot.

It's just a country which is... joined together by beef.

It's like this big conga of beef.

'No cow-conga on this stretch of road, though.'

The landscape's sort of like it's been cut up and divided into patches

and there's patches of absolute green and then there's just

this patch of scarred land which looks burnt and brown and grey.

'The brown I'm seeing is the aftermath of a soy harvest.

'Seen as a wonder crop which could save the Argentine economy

'in the 1990s, vast swathes of the Pampas were converted to soy.'

And so greedy are they for it they're not just

planting on their own land

but they're also planting on the verges on the roadside,

and kilometre after kilometre along the highways

is left behind with this brown-ness.

'Much of it is exported for use as animal feed.

'But in Argentina the cattle have lost out.'

Is this the future of what used to be once the verdant green-ness

of the Pampas of Argentina?

It's not very attractive, is it?

'In just a couple of decades, centuries of tradition

'have come under threat from the twin temptations of feedlot and soy.

'But I'm not prepared to accept defeat quite yet

'and, as I always say, tomorrow is a new day.'

I'm off to a place called Ombu,

which is an estancia, or a ranch, cattle ranch.

I've been recommended it because it's somewhere I can stay overnight

but more importantly it's still a working property,

which means they graze their cattle on the Pampas,

there's gauchos, or herdsmen, who look after the animals

and it's going to be a chance to actually

see the gauchos at their work and understand the cattle on the Pampas.

Good morning.

And I...I think this is what Argentina was supposed

to be like in my mind, this sort of Latin American architecture,

very sort of Spanish in feel.

Wide open spaces, horses, cattle,

but what I didn't expect is how verdant it is.

It's every shade of green.

You understand now why the cattle love it so much.

Lots of grass, no hills, a bit of shade.

They must have a happy life out here.

'Acres and acres of lush grass and flat terrain

'are the ideal conditions for cows to get maximum nutrition

'with minimum effort.

'That was the combination which built the industry

'and culture here in the first place.

'This estancia has all the romance I came looking for.

'But to survive these days,

'many traditional farms like this one have had to diversify.

'Ombu offers rooms for rent.'

Good morning.

-Good morning, sir.

-You're Jorge?

-I'm Jorge.

-Very nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

'So I have a chance to see gauchos at work.'

My experience on horses is not great,

but you know, hey, I'm out in the Pampas, there's horses,

there's cattle, I might as well get amongst it

and do the job, mightn't I?

Right.

As long as I can get my foot up. Arghhh!

No.

JOHN LAUGHS

Go on.

'72-year-old Oscar comes from a venerable line of gauchos.

'In his many decades in the saddle

'he's seen everything the Pampas has to offer.'

JOHN GRUNTS

'Well, nearly everything.'

This is a wide saddle.

Crikey.

That was fun, wasn't it?

Interesting way to get on a horse!

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!

'Good start.

'I feel I'm going to need a driving lesson before I get near any cows.'

We drive with one hand, yes, OK,

and the movement is not like that,

it's just...put the reins in the neck and make this.

-Oh, it's on the neck.

-Yeah.

I see.

We are ready to go.

'From chef to gaucho in five minutes flat.'

It's just so calm and so lovely,

erm...but we're off to work, can't talk now.

'Actually I don't think I could stop her if I wanted to.'

Stop it, stop.

'First we have to move the cattle from the far field

'towards the enclosures.

'It's a fascinating glimpse into the country's origins.

'The first gauchos lived wild lives,

'hunting the escaped cattle that roamed the vast grasslands.

'When rich landowners fenced off the Pampas

'they utilised the gauchos' skills to look after their cows.

'Since then, they've come to embody the spirit of Argentina.'

This is pretty amazing.

The fact is there are two of the largest bulls

I've ever seen in my life amongst that herd.

There it is, and we're looking after it. It's unbelievable.

I love it!

Good girl. Good girl.

Good girl.

'In terms of rearing beef, this couldn't be more different

'from the feedlot I saw yesterday.

'This is highly skilled, it's labour intensive,

'but it's what I was looking for.'

Feedlot, schmeedlot! This is how you make cattle!

'Once these cows are in the enclosure,

'it's no place for a beginner.'

-So this is the first time the mothers have been separated from the calves?

-Yeah.

-So that's why it's so difficult.

-Yeah, they are screaming too much.

-Better get out of the way.

-Be careful.

-Here come some more.

I mean, watching them work is quite incredible.

Actually, also... not exactly un-frightening.

To me this looks like something which is...it's like the Wild West.

And we are now stuck in a pen full of cows.

Suppose not much I can do, really.

This old guy here is Oscar.

He's 72.

And I've just watched him

whisper a horse out amongst a group of cattle.

'So job done, it's time for a tea break.

'But unless I'm much mistaken, that's not Earl Grey.'

-Shall I drink all of it?

-Yeah.

We drink a lot of mate. It's our culture.

If we have a free time.

-And I give it to you?

-Yeah, again.

'Mate is a caffeine-rich herbal infusion,

'part energy drink, part social ritual.'

It's very bitter.

Actually it tastes to me of fennel and aniseed and tobacco.

'If the gauchos personify the traditional way of rearing beef

'in Argentina, I'd love to know how they choose to eat it.'

You know, obviously as gauchos you guys are around horses

and beef all your life.

What sort of beef do you prefer to eat?

Do you prefer to eat beef that's been on the grass

or do you like feedlot beef?

We prefer the natural beef.

You can taste the difference in the mouth.

The meat is more... is a little more strong.

A little more hard but it tastes more good.

So we, the gauchos, prefer natural food.

You say that I should be able to tell the difference

and prefer to have naturally reared beef.

-Do you want to taste from a natural cow?

-Yes.

Yeah, here in this estancia we make natural cows every time.

-Good. And you'll share your favourite piece?

-Yeah.

OK, good, perfect.

'And here is Jorge's favourite piece. It's quite a big one.'

So this just seems to be the most basic barbecue in the whole world.

Because we are used to putting steaks on barbecues.

These guys actually have a fire and...that's it.

And the warmth of the fire cooks the meat

and at the same time the smoke smokes it.

There's not a sausage, there's not a steak and there's not a chop.

There's not a hamburger. This is a barbecue Argentinian style.

But what I'm... What I need to know is, where's yours?

I don't know how you eat, but I want to eat a little piece of this.

-If you want, it's all yours.

-THEY LAUGH

'Now, that's a recipe.

'Light a fire, stake a side of beef over it and roast for three hours.

'Up at the house the head cook, Oscar's wife Rosa,

'is busy with the starters.'

Hey, Rosa. Si.

What are we making?

'Rosa's making empanadas,

'Argentina's favourite little pasties.'

The great thing about cooking is that so much of it's visual

that you can learn just by watching somebody.

Thankfully, because I have no idea what she's saying.

'Once the onions and the red peppers are softened,

'Rosa adds the mince, then comes the seasoning.'

-Good amount of salt.

-Pimienta.

Pimienta. Which is pepper.

So salt and white pepper.

What's this?

Pimenton rojo, dulce.

Pimenton rojo.

(Paprika.)

So you're going to put little green onions in and they go in last.

OK. The meat's going to cook and then these will go in afterwards,

to be able to give some texture and more flavour, instead of garlic.

So, as you continue to chop, I suppose

I should make an empanada myself.

So you're going to do empanada carne?

SHE SPEAKS SPANISH

'Regardless of the language barrier, Rosa loves a chat.'

-And me...me, I make empanada verdura.

-Verdura.

'In short, my empanadas will be basically the same as Rosa's,

'I'm simply substituting the meat for cheese and spinach.'

Pimienta?

'Rosa's filling looks ready.'

If you look at it now it's almost like it's made its own gravy.

But it's not fine like mince, it's actually big lumpy bits, look.

'So Rosa transfers some of hers into a bowl to cool.

'She also seems in a hurry to start my veggie ones.

Just calm. I've got to finish. Si. OK? Mix.

Misto.

Just...piano, piano, gaucho.

So, in my mix so far I've got some onions and peppers,

some spring onions and spinach.

Add to that lots and lots of cheese.

-You like this?

-Muy bueno.

-Bueno?

-Muy bueno.

'Now for the real masterclass,

'the challenge of encasing your filling in the pastry disc.

'A skill which Rosa makes look like child's play.

'As for me...'

First... SHE SPEAKS SPANISH

-Ah? Si.

-Si? Muy bien.

Yep.

OK.

So go...

Muy bien.

Ah-ha, I got a "muy bien"!

So how many...how many empanadas does the average person eat?

Perfecto!

-Perfecto!

-Perfecto.

Good, so presently, if everybody eats three or four,

we've done enough for one and a half people.

Caliente...

We seem to have a deal. The deal is that the vegetable ones

are going to be baked - she likes baked ones - and we're

going to do fried ones with the meat ones because I like them fried.

'Rosa crimps her meat empanadas differently to identify them,

'while mine get an egg wash and popped into the oven.'

'And so we have it, Rosa's fried meat empanadas

'and my baked veggie ones, ready for the gauchos,

'who are outside whiling away the time

'the way I'd imagine they always have.

'This asado is a pretty different from the one

'I had in Buenos Aires but there's one thing that appears

'at every asado, chimichurri, and it's my turn to make it.'

And it's pretty simple, not made up of very many ingredients at all.

Salt, first,

and over the top of that, we're going to put some hot water

just to make a bit of brine.

Some dried parsley,

some dried chilli,

some vinegar,

a little bit of oil,

pepper,

leave that to sit for a second

and it starts to come together pretty quickly.

So the story goes that this sauce actually comes from English soldiers

who came here in the early 1800s

and they were saying, "Give me curry, give me curry,"

they wanted something spicy like they had in the days of the Raj in places like India,

and that was translated instead of "give me curry" to "chimichurri",

and chimichurri has stuck as the sauce.

That's really how simple it all is.

I like a bit more freshness

so I'm going to add a load of chopped parsley

and I think this is going to be perfect with this...

that big hunk of meat

that's sitting there slowly cooking away with the gauchos.

Look at that.

Give me curry, chimichurri.

Three hours ago, this was a stake of metal and raw meat.

Slowly all the fat's rendered away,

the meat is slowly coming off the bone, the fire is just licking it,

enjoying it, having fun with it, and it's just...

it...this whole thing has become something very, very beautiful.

I mean, this has been happening for centuries

and we in the UK know nothing about it.

I have not seen anything like this before in my life.

I've not felt like this for a very, very long time about food.

But that as a piece of meat, in my mind, is really special.

'Before I get stuck in to the main event,

'there's wine and Rosa's empanadas.'

That's good beer.

My first taste of Argentinian grass-fed beef,

straight off the Pampas,

as I've dreamt about for many, many years.

It looks amazing.

It tastes like real beef, it's smoky...

That's...heart-thumping stuff.

'Eating like this is a rare privilege.

'It's so authentic,

'and one thing's really clear,

'a gaucho is only as good as his knife.'

Little knife, big knife.

I want to taste this, it's really...

I made that.

-You made this?

-Yeah. I'm rubbish at getting on a horse

but I'm really good at cooking.

Good.

JOHN LAUGHS

The feedlot beef is creamy, absolutely,

yes, it's tender,

yes, it's got good flavour,

but this is bold, it's big,

and to me it tastes like beef.

Wow.

What a way to eat.

What a way to cook.

What a way to live.

'Estancia Ombu, what an experience.

'What strikes me is that one of the things

'that made it special last night was that cut of meat we ate.

'One you simply don't find in the UK.

'Again I'm learning about the meat I love,

'and to find out more I'm following a gaucho tip-off.'

Besides the breed of beef, besides the lifestyle of beef,

one of the things I want to know about in Argentina

is their style of butchery, and that's what I'm about to do.

This is San Antonio de Areco,

and I'm off to see a butcher.

'The gauchos' favourite butcher is in a corner shop

'on the outskirts of San Antonio.'

Here we have Juan Carlos

and his wife, who's running the shop next door,

with everything from deep-frying baskets,

pots and pans and biscuits, all the way to the butcher.

'Juan Carlos is a butcher of few words.

'He lets his tools do all the talking, but as he gets to work

'I get to see the cuts of beef found on asados all over Argentina.'

Brilliant.

This is exactly what we had on our asado, which was on the cross.

This is all of this.

'This part of the animal's composed of hard-working muscle,

'so it's strong and dense,

'but slow-cooked, as it was last night,

'still tender and very tasty.'

For us in the UK, we might use the ribs, but not very much,

most of the meat's stripped back down and it's all minced.

'Far from mincing it, in a country that loves beef on the bone,

'this whole side can be turned into a classic Argentine cut.

'Tira de asado, or short-cut ribs.

'What's left on the hook are the parts of the animal

'most prized and popular in the UK.'

So ribs up this end, then further up you've got your sirloins,

your fillet is still inside, attached,

so you take your T-bones from around here

and then at the back here your... this top bit here

is the rump, your love handles.

Everybody thinks rump's your bottom, it's not, it's your love handles.

'These steak cuts may be more tender but not necessarily the most tasty.'

So now he's taken the fillet off - filet mignon, fillet steak.

Or, if you wrap it in pastry, beef Wellington, mate.

So this is the sirloin coming off.

Look at that.

That's a proper sirloin.

There's only a couple of tiny things which are minced

and turned into empanadas or whatever,

but the rest of them they're using as whole bits of meat

to be eaten on the bone or off the bone

and it's a shame that we in the UK have lost that art.

We want food quick, so we cut our meat up into thin slices

or we make them into steaks

or we mince it so it cooks really, really quickly.

We don't take these big muscles any more and slowly roast them,

it's a shame, but it's the modern world.

'Here in San Antonio de Areco

'the modern world seems to be kept at bay.

'This is a real gaucho town.

'I'd love to stay longer, but I've got a long road ahead,

'because, now I've seen the cattle of Argentina, the butchery,

'and I've cooked gaucho style,

'it's time to turn my attention to the professional world,

'and far to the west,

'at the foot of the Andes in the province of Mendoza,

'is a restaurant that is said to be a temple to the cooking of beef.

'Driving there is a pilgrimage

'which I'm hoping will lead me to the holy grail -

'a perfect plate of beef.'

So there we are, we've turned onto Route 7,

and my satellite navigation system tells me

I've only got 942 kilometres to go.

Route 7 all the way.

'Looks like this journey's going to be well in excess of ten hours,

'a bit of an endurance test.

'But in terms of navigation, I don't think I'm going to be challenged.'

There's nothing on this Route 7 except for a straight road,

it's just a straight road.

I mean, if I look at my rear vision mirror

there's a straight road behind me,

I look in front of me there's a straight road in front of me.

As far as the eye can see, just a straight road.

It's just crazy.

This is the craziest road I've ever been on in my whole life.

'Ten hours of straight road.

ARGENTINE FOLK MUSIC PLAYS

'And Argentine FM isn't helping.

'Pit stop required, see if I can't find myself a decent tune.'

I think I need a bit of rock'n'roll for the road tip.

I've got Acca Dacca, AC/DC.

Hells Bells, Shoot To Thrill, What Do You Do For Money Honey,

Giving The Dog A Bone, Let Me Put My Love Into You.

Fancy.

How do I get the CD out?

Oh, I love this sort of stuff, look.

Every type of empanada you could want.

You pull into a servo, all I wanted was a wee and cup of coffee.

Tortas, tarts.

Fernet for tonight. Might as well take that with me, that's good.

These are called alfajores.

They're like a sandwich biscuit.

I'm going to walk out with mountains of stuff

cos it's like a treasure trove. Accer Daccer.

AC/DC.

So I'm going to have to try each one to see which brand I like.

Coffee to take away,

and I get given a mate while I'm here.

Brilliant.

MUSIC PLAYS: Hell's Bells by AC/DC

Got my biscuits, my Accer Daccer...

..and I'm eating up the miles.

As for the road, no change.

Ah, this is the straightest road I've ever driven in my whole life.

I'm loving it, though.

'The scenery hasn't changed much but,

'with 500km of Route 7 under my belt,

'thankfully lunchtime has come around.

'With it, my chance to experience an Argentine institution.'

This is a roadside cafe, a parrilla,

which is like a barbecue area

and it's called El Camionero, which is a truck driver.

It's a truck stop in the middle of nowhere.

Hola.

Hola.

Now that's what you call a fire.

Hola.

Hola. Can I have a look?

Si.

Wow.

I want... I want a fire and I want meat, look.

Meat?

That's meat.

Wow, nice.

This I've never seen before.

He's put coals inside so it stays nice and hot,

you've got your own little grill plate

with a mixture of bits and pieces,

and then everybody gets to help themselves.

And look, can you hear that? GRILL SIZZLES

So it's grilling.

I mean, this is a truck stop on a highway.

Pull up and this is what you get.

This is a meat lover's paradise.

'Beef sausages, fat blood sausages and intestines,

'a mixed grill like no other.'

Ah...

So by winching this up....

That's so clever.

This is called an asado

and the man who controls it is an asador,

a proper craftsman.

He understands fire and he understands food.

Because me, I would burn wood and coal in a barbecue

and then I would set the meat on top of it,

but this is what I should be doing, burning the wood separately

in a cage first, then laying it out and then cooking over it.

'So on my personal grill, tira de asado, the short-cut ribs,

'along with another cut I saw at the butcher's, vacio or flank,

'all for under a fiver.'

HE SPEAKS SPANISH

Ah, that should keep me going for lunch!

You've got to chew it.

It's not a steak, it's not a sirloin, it's not a rump,

it's not a fillet, it's a real piece of meat.

You've got to chew it and it tastes like beef

and it's been cooked beautifully.

'My meat feast hits all the right notes,

'but even my pit stop at El Camionero

'has taught me something new.'

I've watched somebody who understands fire

properly cook my lunch.

I've learnt something. I've loved watching it.

This is what I love to do,

and sitting down and eating it, I suppose, is the icing on the cake.

Brilliant! This is what I came to Argentina for.

'It's hard to imagine how I'm going to top the flame-fuelled meat

'I've eaten so far,

'but my next destination is legendary amongst beef lovers

'and there's not just one fire, but seven.

'To see this, I've got to keep my truck pointed west

'on Route 7, which is still -

'yep, you guessed it - straight.'

There's literally nothing but straight road.

Straight again, still a straight road.

Straight behind, straight in front.

I haven't been this straight for years!

HE LAUGHS

Oh, dear.

This will send you completely doolally.

If they're doing a bit of work on this road,

they've got a long way to go!

Ha, ha, ha!

Oh, look, exciting!

One of the electricity posts has changed,

it's different from the rest of them!

Ha, ha, ha!

'Route 7 is slowly but surely drawing me towards Mendoza

'to complete my beef-inspired road trip,

'but it's not just food I'm going for.'

DIAL TONE

'There's a friend there too.'

DIAL TONE

ON PHONE: Si?

G'day, Mata. It's John.

Hi! How are you?

I'm all right.

Tell me you're in Argentina.

I'm in Argentina.

I'm on a big, straight road.

So you're driving to Mendoza?

Yeah, driving to Mendoza now.

My birthday's on Saturday.

Your birthday!

I'm having a big barbecue, a big asado.

It'd be great if you can join us.

This weekend?

Yes!

How exciting! Argentina and your birthday, and an asado, brilliant!

Well, we'll see you then.

Bye, love.

That's pretty cool.

So, Mata... Mata's a friend of mine

I met doing food shows in England, and she makes wine so

when you're invited to a barbie, what do you do? You go to a barbie,

but what do you take to somebody who owns a vineyard in Argentina?

'Well, at least I've got, what?

'400km of Route 7 thinking time in front of me.'

Oh, look! Oh-ho, look!

We've got a little bend in the road!

Hold on tight, it's a bend!

Go around! Oh, guess what?

It's straight again. Ha, ha, ha!

'This road drives you crazy all right,

'but through the haze of madness,

'I've started to see something clearly.'

I thought I was a great cook, and I thought I was a great cook

at cooking outside, at cooking barbecues.

But what I've realised while I'm here in Argentina is that

I've been doing it wrong all my life.

That actually the fire that cooks the meat has to be made

before it goes anywhere near the barbecue.

That's pretty big to admit,

that actually I've been cooking a barbecue wrongly all my life.

Wow.

'The sun's setting but this drive's not over yet,

'and once again nature calls.'

Like anybody on a road trip I need to wee really bad,

so I stopped here at St Louis.

It's about 6 o'clock in the evening

and he's baking bread for tonight.

It's just brilliant!

The oven's obviously home-made,

because the chimney's an old tin can.

I love it!

Like the bread, right? This bread is just on trays, a tin,

there's a bit of metal all curled up, there's just bread.

'No dials on this bakers' oven. He's baking by feel.'

This whole country... This country is crazy. I love it.

The main highway from Buenos Aires to Mendoza, it's a thousand

kilometres long, it's straight and you go a bit bonkers on it, and then

you turn up there's a guy baking bread on the side of the road!

I've had lunch in a place that I never knew existed with

truckers and now I'm going to get some bread, look!

There you go, he's even got me some bread.

I mean, it's a great loaf of bread.

I mean, if it hit you, it'd kill you,

but, I mean, it's a big loaf of bread!

Yeah. Shall we take this with us? Cuanto? How much?

No!

I can't... I've got to do this, because I have to, my friend.

I've got to do a selfie.

Because you are rocking and rolling unbelievably amazing.

Right, come on, you, smile.

Let's see.

Bye, Mr Bread Man.

That guy was great.

Genuine, real, extraordinary and in a place like this, and look at this!

Look at that. Completely different landscape altogether.

Argentina just continues to surprise me.

'Route 7 actually continues all the way to the border of Chile.

'I'm not going that far. No way.

'Tomorrow brings me to my journey's end.

'A new day finds me back at the wheel,

'but now I've got mountains for company.

'This is Mendoza.

'The mountains are the Andes.'

'And I'm slowly approaching

'the place I've driven across Argentina to find -

'Siete Fuegos, the Seven Fires,

'a veritable temple of beef.'

I, erm, I think I may have landed in paradise.

There's kitchens in the world and then there's kitchens like that.

'In its short life, Siete Fuegos has become an essential destination

'for the foodie jet set,

'a place to experience the ultimate flame-fuelled beef.'

I want to learn about fire,

I want to know about beef,

and this place is as posh as you get in Argentina,

where fire and beef are king.

'In between services,

'head chef Diego Irrera has agreed to reveal its secrets.'

Hi. Hola.

So this is one fire, you have seven.

-Seven fires, yeah.

-Seven fires.

-This one.

-OK...

-This one.

-OK, Infernillo.

This is called the Inferno, Little Hell.

And you put stuff in between that plate and it's ferociously hot.

'Fire number five is a pit in the ground,

'giving vegetables deep earthy and smoky flavours.

'Above it, fire six has a cauldron over it for stews and the like.'

And this, now number seven. Brilliant.

So the deal is, this is really,

very, very similar to what we saw with the gauchos.

This pit can hold a lot of animals.

These balls that look like something you hang from a Christmas tree,

they put chickens in.

I want one of these in my back garden.

'And so to my final lesson in beef.

'Diego has opted for what looks like something

'Fred Flintstone might chew on.

'But it's actually three rib cuts in one.'

This here is the eye of the meat.

DIEGO SPEAKS SPANISH

So this here is the bit that we used with the gauchos,

then the bones of course are the bits that we ate with

the guys in the truck stop which had been chopped up.

So what we've got now is this massive steak.

I've seen one of these before, and we call it a Tomahawk,

but I've never seen them cooked over fire.

'First a good rub of salt, then to the coals.'

But you know what is amazing is that this is exactly the same process

as the truck stop, exactly the same, so it's a posh restaurant

but they're using exactly the same equipment,

and posher bits of meat, absolutely.

That steak will cost a lot of money.

International clientele, that's what I've just worked out,

this place is about international clientele, isn't it?

It's about international people. Look at the environment.

These people are used to eating steaks.

'The expectation of the customers may be different

'from yesterday's parilla or the gauchos' asado,

'but the basic elements remain the same.

'This place just throws in some cool architecture

'and a dash of rock and roll.'

Whole tomatoes on coals. That's cool!

Looks to me like we've got sort of pizza

and we're going to cook it on the coals.

I mean, look at this, this is just, it's not even just on the coals,

he's then putting coals on top as well.

'And I've just realised this is

'the closest I've come to a vegetable in a week!'

Argentina is about simplicity, but beauty with it,

and this is it. A revelation!

Chimichurri.

Chimichurri, chimichurri!

'Another old friend - chimichurri!'

Chop-chop or crush?

'As Diego's customers would expect,

'his sauce uses the freshest ingredients Mendoza can provide.

-Oregano?

-Oregano.

-Si.

'It's the gourmet version of the stuff

'I had on the street in Buenos Aires.'

Beautiful!

'The time has come to see what I can really learn

'from my Argentinian modern master.

'And what I've got is a feast.

'Things I'm familiar with prepared in ways

'I've never experienced before.

'A flatbread and tomatoes cooked directly on smouldering coals.

'And the centrepiece, grass-fed rib eye steak,

'not tossed quickly in a pan but roasted for an hour,

'on the bone and over those same amazing coals.'

-Thank you very much. A fantastic lesson.

-OK, enjoy.

Thank you very much indeed. I'm sorry you have to work.

What a bloke.

Very annoying, great cook, really good looking,

and looks like a rock star.

I mean, really? All in one?

'The question is how good is it?

'Time for my shot at the ultimate beef experience.'

The steak is tender.

It tastes of grass, it tastes of fire, it tastes of smoke.

It's just...

delicious.

I've come to this place to learn about the best steak cooked

in the best possible way over the best fire and that's what I've got.

It's about as good as it gets.

Si.

'My beef journey has come to an end.

'But my trip's not quite over yet.'

'Yesterday, everything I've learnt in Argentina came together.

'As for today, all I've got to do is to hang out with a friend

'at her birthday barbecue.

'And after much contemplation about her present,

'I've decided to get something at the last minute.'

Let's go.

'And so here I am. My last stop.

'And there's the birthday girl.'

Ah, happy birthday!

-You're here!

-How are you?

-How you doing? Lovely to see you.

-It's good to see you!

So, look, I know I shouldn't bring wine for you,

but, look, this wine I found on the side of the road.

-Is it, oh, so it's not Australian?

-No, no, it's not Australian.

It's church wine.

-Church wine?

-Yes.

-Oh, is that good?

-It's church wine.

'Slight faux pas but I'm still allowed to do some serving up.'

How cool is this?

Mata's birthday, sun's shining, meat on the grill.

To you. Happy birthday!

I'm so pleased you're here for my birthday.

I'm so pleased to be here. Chin-chin.

-You brought me a bottle of wine for my birthday...

-Yes.

I got you something.

-Oh, that's, oh, oh!

-It's the gaucho knife.

Oh, oh, thank you!

THEY LAUGH

-It's not ready because it's blunt, as you can see.

-Right.

You now as a gaucho, that knows how to make an asado,

you will have to sharpen it the way you like it.

You know, I'm shaking, I honestly...

Thank you so much, I feel...

I mean this, I feel really honoured,

I do, cos this country is like...

It's just been such an enlightening place.

You guys are so... No, seriously, you are so lovely,

and to come and see you and to finish my journey here with you

and get this to go away with...

-Well, it's a simple present.

-Thank you so much.

Happy... Happy bloody birthday!

That's more like it.

Argentina has been a surprise at every turn.

That is an armadillo.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

And me and my mate, my truck, have done about 1,200 kilometres,

and just loved every single minute of Argentina.

I got grease on my hands, smoke all through my clothes,

but I don't care.

What you should do is let the world unravel round the outside of you

and I am who I am, I do what I do.

You know, John Torode is a bloke who cooks and is lucky enough

to have driven across Argentina.

I say, Argentina, I love you.

Next time, in France, top chef Monica Galetti

searches for the origins of our favourite French produce.

This is like a candy store.

From the romance to the reality...

It's running for its life.

..she'll discover a world she'll never forget.

I could do a bit more of this.