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No. 46ArgentinianSauce

Chimichurri

I LOVE chimichurri -- so lets knock this one out of the park!

John Drummond

A stoneware bowl of bright green hand-chopped chimichurri flecked with red chilli, the golden oil pooling at the edges, an old spoon resting in it, a drip on the dark benchtop and a bunch of parsley and a garlic clove beside it
Prep30min
All up

1hr 15min+ 4 hours, best overnight

Serves6
LevelEasy

Mise en place

What you need

Tick each one off as it goes in.

Base

Finish

Makes 6 serves

The Argentine one: parsley, dried oregano, garlic, red wine vinegar, oil and a mild dried chilli. Raw, green and sharp, for beef straight off the grill. No coriander, no tomato, no lemon, and never the food processor.

What it came down to: - The oregano and chilli are dried, and they're bloomed in hot salted water first. That's the Argentine flavour, warm and savoury, not the green, medicinal hit of fresh oregano. - The garlic, vinegar and seasonings are made the night before, and the parsley goes in 45 minutes before you eat. Acid turns parsley khaki, so the garlic gets the hours and the parsley doesn't. - Sunflower oil leads and a mild olive oil follows. A big peppery extra virgin bullies the parsley and goes bitter. - Taste it on the meat, not off a spoon. Fat softens acid and salt, so a sauce that's right on a spoon is flat on the meat.

There's no weekday version. The good one is only a few minutes more work, and the only difference is starting it the night before. Do the base in the morning and it's still very good.

Ají molido is Argentine dried crushed chilli, mild and fruity. Try a Latin grocer or online. Otherwise use mild chilli flakes and a little sweet paprika, not smoked: the smoke belongs to the grill.

It goes with a flat iron steak, salted ahead and charred hard on the gas BBQ or the Kamado. It's just as good on anything else off the grill.

It hasn't been made in this exact form yet.

AI reviewed by Grok, Codex & Claude

The method

Six moves.

  1. Base, Bloom

    The night before, or that morning. Rub the dried oregano between your palms into a bowl. Add the ají molido, pepper and salt. Pour over the just-boiled water, stir, and leave 5 minutes.

  2. Garlic, Cut

    Stir in the 45 ml vinegar. It cools the brine, so the garlic never meets boiling water. Pound 6 g of the garlic with a pinch of the salt to a coarse paste. Chop the other 10 g into 2–3 mm pieces. Stir both straight in.

  3. Base, Rest

    Lid on, into the fridge. At least 4 hours, best overnight. No parsley and no oil yet.

  4. Parsley, Slice

    45 minutes before you eat, wash the parsley and spin it bone-dry. Wet parsley makes soup. Slice 50 g to 2–3 mm, straight down, in one or two passes. Stop while it's still clearly leaf. Fold it into the base, then fold in both oils. Don't whisk it: it should be loose and broken, not creamy. Leave it out to come to room temperature. Slice the last 10 g of parsley coarser, about 5 mm, and pick the fresh oregano leaves. Keep both for serving.

  5. Sauce, Taste

    Taste it on a piece of whatever it's going on, not off a spoon. It should be sharp, salty and warm with chilli, a touch more than you'd want off a spoon. Add the 15 ml finishing vinegar a teaspoon at a time until the bite crackles. Add a pinch of salt only if the meat tastes flat.

  6. Sauce, Serve

    Spoon some under the sliced meat and more over the top. Scatter the coarse parsley and fresh oregano over the hot cut faces. The rest goes to the table. It never goes on the grill. Leftovers go straight into the fridge, at 5°C or below. Use them within 4 days of cutting the garlic. A film of oil on top does nothing for safety.

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Chimichurriserves 6 · 1 hr 15 min + 4 hours, best overnight