Meat & Fire

Spain has some of the finest, if not THE finest, asadores in the world. In the North, they have truly mastered the art of cooking with fire. Crunchy, juicy, buttery suckling pig and lamb; intensely flavoured, 90-day matured beef; this is a journey to a meat Nirvana not suited for amateurs.

Wood, fire and salt: the Holy Trinity of a good asador. The grill and oven: the Holy Grails. Together, these elements form the base of a religion as deeply infiltrated in Northern Spain’s culture as the fat in the choice cuts served in these meat temples.

Red cow beef or ox beef, sacrificed at four, seven or fourteen years of age. The meat matured a the chamber for four, 30, 90+ days, maturing processes that confer flavours and textures applauded by some and repudiated by others, master grillers sanctified or condemned to the bonfire. Myths and legends are forged in iron and fire in the north of Spain, but there is only one reality: we eat the best meat in the world.

Their life is short but the memories they leave behind are eternal scars in our minds. Both lechazo -suckling goat- and tostón -suckling pig- are alive for a few short weeks. Each bite of these choice cuts, roasted only with water, salt and fire, is a flavour bomb that explodes in three phases: first the skin, thin and crunchy; then comes the fat, of an indecently intense flavour, and finally the meat, delicate, silky, and juicy.

Touring these meat and fire sanctuaries is to visit deepest Castilian Spain, the land that saw Don Quixote bravely fight windmills, boasting an incredible cultural and gastronomic heritage. Wending through vineyards, wheat fields, castles and medieval monasteries, majestic cathedrals, Romanesque churches and universities, that have fed human curiosity for centuries. It is a trip through Spain´s most sensual stoves.

The Experience

A Taste of the Route

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