EP 600. A Taste of Argentina–Fire, Flavor and Feasts with Chef Fede

I hear it from every single person for 17 years that’s walked into this lodge, the food. And it’s a real genuine taste of Argentina

Ramsey Russell: Welcome back to MOJO’s Duck Season Somewhere podcast, where today I’m in God’s country. I mean, one of my favorite places on earth and I exaggerate not, I’ve been coming down here to La Paz, Argentina for 17 years. Ducks, doves, pigeons, perdiz, but more than the trigger pulling, it is about the experience. And part of that experience is the food. I hear it from every single person for 17 years that’s walked into this lodge, the food. And it’s a real genuine taste of Argentina. In no small part due to my friend now, Mr. Fede Garcia, who is Martha’s husband. Before we jump into today’s podcast, let me give you all a heads up. Mark your calendars, Delta Waterfowl Expo blowing into Oklahoma City July 25^th through 27^th. And if you like duck dogs, hunting gear, guns, calling contests and meeting fellow hunters, tshis is a duck hunters Disneyland. And then the very next weekend, August 1^st through 3^rd, we’ve got Ducks Unlimited Expo DUX hitting Memphis like a freight train full of camo calls and everything outdoors. Best yet, both events are in the air conditioning, you can see the latest and greatest before the season gets here. I will be at both shaking hands, telling lies, probably talking too much, but come by and say hello, put your hands on any and all of the great brand product that you hear about here and let’s swap a few ducks blind stories. Don’t just hear about it, be about it. See you all there. Fede, how the heck are you, man?

Fede Garcia: Hi, Ramsey, how are you?

Ramsey Russell: I’m good. I think I’ve put on a few pounds like I do every time I come down here. I don’t know if it’s good or bad thing, but I’ve had the idea that we should weigh everybody when they step into La Paz Lodge, and then we should weigh everybody before they go home. What do you think that would happen then? We could sell weight watchers as an upsell to this program. Because you feed us good, Fede, that’s what I’m trying to say. You feed us really good.

Fede Garcia: Yeah. Thank you.

Ramsey Russell: You’ve been on here before. We’ve talked about a little bit about who you were and what you do, but where did your passion for cooking begin? Because here’s how I knew you. Gosh, you and Martha, you all have been a relationship since 2006 or 2007 for a long time. And when I met you, you weren’t a chef, you were working at the Pink Palace.

I’ve been working in the army for 18 years. Yeah. And then I retired like a captain, that was when I met Martha

Fede Garcia: Yeah, I’ve been working in the army for 18 years.

Ramsey Russell: 18 years?

Fede Garcia: Yeah. And then I retired like a captain, that was when I met Martha.

Ramsey Russell: In a tough time.

Fede Garcia: Yeah. 15 years ago.

Ramsey Russell: 15 years ago. What did you do at the Pink Palace? Like, what did you do?

Fede Garcia: Well, I was a squad commander.

Ramsey Russell: Squad commander.

Fede Garcia: Was a captain. Have 200 soldiers with me and 4 platoons, one platoon working every day in this security and escort, presidential escort. Ceremonial.

Ramsey Russell: Ceremonial.

Fede Garcia: Yeah. That’s when some president visits our Pink House. It’s a lot of work.

Ramsey Russell: I’m sure it is. So you were in charge of the safety for the Argentine equivalent of our White House?

Fede Garcia: You have 3 different ways to make security to the president, I was in charge of one of these 3. The other one is the policeman.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Fede Garcia: And another branch of the army. That’s the 3 different.

Ramsey Russell: I’ll be darn. Well, tell me again, where did your passion for cooking begin? Because that’s a big difference than being in charge of the ceremonial military for you all’s president. Where did your passion for cooking begin?

Fede Garcia: Really different things. But the only person in my family who used to cook was my grandmother. She’s the only person that I remember cooking in my family. Of course, my mom cook every day for us, but with passion, that was my grandmother. So I used to spend a lot of time when I was really young, maybe 4 years old, in the kitchen, watching my grandmother doing different kind of dishes for all the family and that’s really was experience, a good experience.

Ramsey Russell: A good experience, when you were a child.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, really very child, 4 years old. Then I grow up, and maybe what I was 8 or 10 years old, I start to help my grandmother in different dishes with empanadas, making some salad. That was the beginning of my passion.

Ramsey Russell: When you think back to your grandmother as a little boy and you’re in her kitchen in Argentina, what were the things that she cooked that you most remember? What was her specialty? What food was her specialty? Empanadas?

Fede Garcia: Empanadas. Every Sunday we start with empanadas at lunch and then maybe pasta or if the weather was good, maybe some barbecue asado. They used to have the grill outside, no, inside that we have here in the lodge or that I have at home. And if the weather was good, we probably eat some barbecue or asado.

Ramsey Russell: What kind of empanadas did your grandmother like to cook? What was like her thing?

Fede Garcia: Beef.

Ramsey Russell: Beef empanadas.

Fede Garcia: Beef empanadas. Ground beef is our empanada in Argentina.

Ramsey Russell: And on the asado, which is a barbecue, was it the short ribs? That was what she cooked every Sunday was short ribs?

Fede Garcia: Short ribs, flank, brisket, sausage, blood sausage, sweet bread, all.

Ramsey Russell: All the good stuff.

Fede Garcia: We used to eat all part of the animal. Sweet bread, kidney –

Ramsey Russell: That’s one thing about Argentina I’ve noticed, Fede is you all eat every part of the cow but the moo, you all eat everything. The only thing I’ve never seen on a menu or served at a restaurant here in Argentina is liver. I’ve never seen the liver. Do you eat beef liver?

Fede Garcia: Yeah, we used to do milanesas.

Ramsey Russell: With liver?

Fede Garcia: Yeah. And also some sauce to dip.

Ramsey Russell: Did your mother cook a lot of your grandmother’s recipe?

Fede Garcia: No. My mother used to buy the food. Ready to eat.

Ramsey Russell: Ready to go. From the grocery store?

Fede Garcia: Yeah. From delivery.

Ramsey Russell: That’s what we call TV dinner.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Put it in a microwave and –

Fede Garcia: Dinner or lunch? Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: When was the moment in your grandmother’s kitchen, maybe it was early on when you knew that cooking wasn’t just something you did, it was a path, it was a life path for you.

Fede Garcia: Well, watching my grandmother work in the kitchen, it’s not just about food, it’s experience. Give part of you for other person, for the family. Is the table, what you will talk on the table, the stories, the food is showing the family.

Ramsey Russell: It wasn’t just work.

Fede Garcia: No, it’s not just work.

Ramsey Russell: It wasn’t just the work of cooking for her, it was about getting the entire family together.

Fede Garcia: You’re right. Yeah, it’s not just food, it’s keep the family closed every Sunday or Friday.

Ramsey Russell: How many brothers and sisters did you have? How many people would come to Sunday to eat dinner with your grandmother?

Fede Garcia: I have one brother and two sisters, but all the table, maybe 15 people. Also my grandmother used to invite neighbors because they used to do a lot of food. So they invite neighborhood, some neighbor.

Ramsey Russell: Where in Argentina did this take place? In Buenos Aires?

Fede Garcia: No, Cordoba.

Ramsey Russell: Cordoba? In the city of Cordoba.

Fede Garcia: In the city of Cordoba where my parents live.

Ramsey Russell: So that’s where you’re from?

Fede Garcia: No, I’m from San Nicolas is in the north of Buenos Aires, close to Rosario.

Ramsey Russell: Okay.

Fede Garcia: It’s maybe 2.5 hour from Buenos Aires city.

Ramsey Russell: Okay.

Fede Garcia: My father was working there with the army too.

Ramsey Russell: So he was military.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, he’s retired too.

Ramsey Russell: You told me one time that sometime you were a teenager, you were a young man and you wanted to be a professional cook, you wanted to be a chef. What did your father think about that?

Fede Garcia: No way.

Ramsey Russell: Is that what he said?

Fede Garcia: Yeah. That was 26 years ago and he said, no. You can study later, but now you can choose a different career.

Ramsey Russell: Why did he feel that way, do you think? Why did he want you to start a different career instead of just do your passion?

Fede Garcia: I don’t know if it was my passion, when I was a teenager. I always loved to cook, but my passion start maybe 15 years ago.

Ramsey Russell: Okay. Your passion?

Fede Garcia: Yeah, my passion.

Ramsey Russell: Do you think the military structure shaped the patience and your discipline?

Fede Garcia: Yeah. The army is really a good school for everything.

Ramsey Russell: When you think back to your army experience and how you cook and approach life today, what did you bring from your military experience into cooking and into life?

Fede Garcia: A lot of things. I had to do everything settled before start.

Ramsey Russell: Prepping.

Fede Garcia: We call missing plus. Missing plus mean everything in your place before I start to cook and I’m not going to the fridge and I have all that I need in the place when I’m cooking.

Ramsey Russell: It’s right there on the table. Right there, ready.

Fede Garcia: Yeah. And in the army, it’s the same.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Very organized, very structured. I notice, if I’m ever wondering what we’re going to eat tonight, I just go in the kitchen and pick up your notebook.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Because you got it all written down. What we’re going to eat, what we’re going to eat for breakfast and lunch and dinner, what the sides are, what the desserts are.

Fede Garcia: Every Friday I make the menu for the next week, and also I go to the downtown and buy all that we need for the next week.

Ramsey Russell: So your dad said, no way. Do not be a cook, you’re not disciplined enough. And he encouraged you to follow his footsteps and join the military?

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: When did you decide, I don’t want to be in the military anymore, I want to follow my passion. What happened between the time your dad said no, join the military and today? Where did you decide to step off the military and go into cooking? Not just a little cooking, Fede, a full time.

Fede Garcia: Yeah. Well, after my military career, I moved to La Pampa, where we live with Marta now. I quit working for the government, you know that now I quit. But I really started to cook maybe 2 years ago, and I decided that’s my way. Because I feel the feedback with the people, when you cook, the feedback is in the moment.

Ramsey Russell: You like that.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, everything is about the feedback in the good way or in the bad way, but the feedback is immediately.

Ramsey Russell: So you’re sitting at the grill over here, I watch you grilling, and you cut your eyes over and look, or you and Flavia serve the plates and then, I mean, you hear the feedback at the table?

Fede Garcia: Of course, I hear.

Ramsey Russell: There’s two things I say is, like, the same thing can be said at the kitchen table where everybody’s eating, as in the duck blind, is when the clients are making sex noises.

Fede Garcia: Okay.

Ramsey Russell: Or when a duck guide is making sex noises behind you. Generally, that’s a very good thing. That means a lot of birds are coming in, or the food is good. And I’ve noticed every week I’ve ever eaten here, it’s either stone cold silent because people are seriously eating and they’re making these little sex noises, little grunts and moans, that’s good. I started laughing last week, there was a lot of ladies in camp and there was all these sex noises going on around the table, and I called them out on it and everybody bust up in laughter.

Fede Garcia: And do you remember last season, the couple weeks, the noise?

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Fede Garcia: What do you tell about that? You compare with that XXX movie.

Ramsey Russell: XXX movie, that’s what I’m saying.

Fede Garcia: That is the feedback.

Ramsey Russell: That’s what it sounded like.

Fede Garcia: That is feedback.

Ramsey Russell: That’s what it sounded like. And you can tell that. And when did you go to chef school?

Fede Garcia: Well, let me think, that was 14 years ago in Cordoba.

Ramsey Russell: And why did you decide, you were working for the military, so did you just take vacation and go or go at night?

Fede Garcia: Yeah, twice a week at night, after work.

Ramsey Russell: What did you learn in chef school that was different than what your grandmother did or her approach?

Fede Garcia: Well, chef school is more fancy. You have little dishes and my grandmother used to cook in a big pan. And that’s the difference.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. What about the structure? Was the culinary art structure, the recipes or the preparation? Was it different than how your grandmother did it?

Fede Garcia: Yeah, of course. My grandmother used to use that, she has clothes, and the professional kitchen, you have to have all that recipe say, every single step. My grandmother used to open the fridge and say that, eggs, butter, and that’s what’s good, it’s really good food, too.

Ramsey Russell: Let’s change the subject just a little bit. Because during the average week at La Paz, we’re down here for 6 nights, 5 days of hunting. So that makes 5 breakfast, 5 lunch, 5 dinner, 6 dinners, actually. And it’s all got a very Argentine flair to it. What defines authentic Argentine cuisine to you? Because you come to America a lot, I see you once or twice a year in America, you come to America, so you know how we eat, you love barbecue in America?

Fede Garcia: Of course.

Ramsey Russell: We go to the barbecue joints.

Fede Garcia: Martin’s in Nashville.

What defines authentic Argentine cuisine to you? And what do outsiders, people, the guests, what do they misunderstand about Argentine food?

Ramsey Russell: That’s right. But what’s different? For the listener, what defines authentic Argentine cuisine to you? And what do outsiders, people, the guests, what do they misunderstand about Argentine food?

Our food is about simplicity. Yeah, that’s it

Fede Garcia: Okay. Our food is about simplicity.

Ramsey Russell: Simplicity.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, that’s it. We don’t need too much to make a good food, just a piece of beef with salt or chimichurri sauce on the grill with wood. And the most important thing for me is the time. You need time to cook a good dish.

Ramsey Russell: No hurry.

Fede Garcia: No hurry. If you are in a hurry, don’t start the fire.

Ramsey Russell: Well, you talk about starting a fire, and that’s one thing that I think of is authentic about the La Paz experience is that over half your meals, lunch and dinner, are cooked on the parrilla right here. It looks like a fireplace, but it’s about belt high, and it’s got a grill cover and you cook everything. You cook the meat, you cook the empanadas, you cook the pizzas. You cook everything right here over the flame, over the coal. And I find myself, when you put your hamburgers down or you put the beef down, or you put the pizza down, I like to hold my hand and feel just how hot is it? And it’s always very low, never high. It’s very low.

Fede Garcia: That’s time.

Ramsey Russell: It’s a function of time.

Fede Garcia: We used to eat different. We usually the beef well done and in the state, medium rare, rare. It’s depend what part of the animal are you eating? You can do a ribs in 45 minutes. You need at least two hours.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, longer. I’ve noticed that because back home, I might eat an American steak medium rare, but in the last couple of years, I’ve gone more to medium because here in Argentine, I want just a little bit more cooked. It makes it a little more tender, it makes it a little more flavorful and I’ve brought that back home. And I’ve noticed that I like my short ribs or my steaks cooked more medium than medium rare here in Argentine. And one of the things that you talk about cooking very simply, Fede and I was sitting right there in front of the parrilla just a couple of nights ago, you were cooking milanesa or something, and we were talking to the client. And the only thing you put on your meat when it’s over that grill, the only seasoning at all is coarse salt, that’s it.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, that’s it.

Ramsey Russell: There’s no A1, there’s no ketchup, there’s no marinade, there’s no Worcestershire. The meat speaks for itself.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, you’re right.

Ramsey Russell: And what he and I were talking about is, I think every single person that’s ever come to Argentina, here or elsewhere, they come home and they talk about how good the beef is in Argentina. And I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s really not a function of what kind of cows or how they’re grazed, it’s a function of the fact that when you eat meat in Argentina, it’s normally cooked with just a little salt over live coals and the meat speaks for itself. It’s not camouflaged with a bunch of flavoring.

Fede Garcia: No, over seasoning it. We used to put on the table some chimichurri sauce and criolla sauce, just in case.

Ramsey Russell: I love both of those.

Fede Garcia: Now, just in case the hunter want to use. But when we cook, it’s just salt, sometimes salmuera, water with salt and garlic. That is really good for beef and lamb.

Ramsey Russell: Salmuera is a sauce you all have, a basting sauce for the grill, but I’ve noticed that yours is a little bit different than somebody else’s. Everybody’s kind of got their own little basting recipe.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, sure. Of course. You are improving your recipe every time.

Ramsey Russell: Does that keep the meat moist or does it flavor it some? Does it keep the meat moist or does it flavor it very subtly? Does it flavor the meat?

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: It flavors it just very slightly, but not much.

Fede Garcia: Nope.

Ramsey Russell: Not much. Fede, if you could serve only one dish, one thing. If somebody from America was going to come right here and you could only serve them one dish, what would it be and why?

Fede Garcia: If I have only one shot.

Ramsey Russell: One shot.

Fede Garcia: Probably ribs.

Ramsey Russell: The ribs?

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Why?

Fede Garcia: Because it’s the real Argentinian flavor and also is what we used to eat every Sunday.

Ramsey Russell: Would you say that’s one of the most traditional Argentine, one of the most definitive Argentine dishes is the short ribs?

Fede Garcia: Probably, yeah. Also flank, but I prefer ribs.

Ramsey Russell: Well, when you say flank, I don’t want to confuse you, but when you say flank, we say flank back home, it means the thin part down by the – but you all got all kinds of flank down here. It’s like you all got sections of flank in that cow, and it’s all got different names. Some of it’s thicker, some of it’s thinner, some of it’s got more fat. One of my favorite cuts is that that little piece that comes way up on the top over the shoulder, it’s matambre, a twitch muscle.

Fede Garcia: Matambre.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Fede Garcia: Very slim.

Ramsey Russell: Very slim, but it’s all got good fat. Talk about the ribs, the short ribs. For those of you all listening, what he’s talking about is, we’ve all seen either the little real thin Korean ribs, the way they slice the beef ribs real thin and cook them fast, or down in the great state of Texas, those big dino ribs. Well, down here, they cut those dino ribs in about 3 inch slabs. And it’s about a 3 inch long bone with a big, thick chunk of meat on top, and they grill it over live coals. And I think it’s a little tougher than if I’d taken that big dino rib and smoked it to 225 and wrapped it and loved on it for 4 hours. But it is the flavor is unbelievable. In fact, the guest here tonight and I are going to go to Buenos Aires tomorrow, and I had already decided, knowing we’re going to go to Estilo Campo that I’m going to get short ribs.

Fede Garcia: You need time to make a good ribs, maybe 2 hours and if it’s the huge one, all the ribs you need maybe 3 hours. I would love to cook just with fire, that is good.

Ramsey Russell: You do a lot of cooking over live coal, over the wood. You do a lot of cooking over the fire. What is your favorite wood to you down here?

Fede Garcia: We have different kind of wood. I prefer the hard one. We have different kind. Pikachin in Spanish, I don’t know the name in English, but pikachin is hard one it is really good.

Ramsey Russell: Is that the little bush?

Fede Garcia: Yeah. It’s not a tree.

Ramsey Russell: It’s a short tree.

Fede Garcia: It’s more than a bush.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, you’re right.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Have you ever cooked meat Fede, like I see where they build the fire, get the hotbed cold going and then they put the sticks up above it, they kind of play the out the whole animal? You cook like that also?

Fede Garcia: Of course. I used to do that at home with lamb or pork. Yeah, it’s good.

Ramsey Russell: Argentina beef is famous. Argentina beef is absolutely famous. Why do you think it’s so famous? Is it what we talked about previously? Just the way it’s simply cooked?

Fede Garcia: Why it’s so famous?

Ramsey Russell: Well, yeah. Why is Argentina beef so famous among Americans? You’ve eaten beef in America?

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Which do you prefer?

Fede Garcia: Probably in my opinion we have different kind of grass. The cow grow up eating a good grass.

Ramsey Russell: Grass fed.

Fede Garcia: Open farm, open field it’s not – also you can find a feedlot, but that is not good meat in my opinion.

Ramsey Russell: You don’t like feedlot?

Fede Garcia: No. It’s different flavor, I prefer open fields is the real –

Ramsey Russell: So grass fed beef you believe because you’ve tasted both. When you come to America, those are all grain fed beef and you like Argentine better?

Fede Garcia: Yeah, we don’t use to over season the meat. And in the state they used to put a lot of things to the meat. Different kind of paprika, salt, pepper, I don’t know.

Ramsey Russell: You just don’t like it as much.

Fede Garcia: I mean, of course I like the beef in the state, but I prefer simplicity, just salt, a little bit of salmuera and the flavor is the beef.

Ramsey Russell: Again, let the meat speak for itself. I was down here, I don’t know one time and Martha and I were eating with some clients in a restaurant. Martha’s not a cook like her husband Fede, but I just made the comment, she goes, how’s your steak? And I told her it’s very good, the flavor’s amazing, but it’s tough. It’s a little tougher as compared to America. And I said, I wonder what grade this is. And Martha, I don’t know what she knows or what she doesn’t about beef. But what she said, I’ve always remembered she said, in America, they grade beef based on fat. For example, Fede, we’ve got select choice and prime. Prime is a lot of fat, very tender. And she said, but in Argentina, what little grading that our beef has done is graded on flavor, not on fat.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Would you say that to be true?

Fede Garcia: Yeah. We have different kind of meat. I prefer with a little bit of fat, always the fat is good to –

Ramsey Russell: Oh, I love the fat.

Fede Garcia: It’s good to cook. But at the moment, to eat, I prefer cut the fat and just eat the meat.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Fede Garcia: But it’s good to cook, help.

Ramsey Russell: Yes. Besides the ribs, the short ribs, that’s the one dish you would serve anybody if you had one shot. What other cuts of beef or cooking methods do you use that Americans might be missing out on?

Fede Garcia: Well, flank is one of them. The other one is tri tip. colita de cuadril.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Fede Garcia: Tri tip.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, tri tip.

Fede Garcia: That is really good piece of meat to grill. It’s full of meat. It’s a huge piece, really tender, juicy. It’s really good.

Ramsey Russell: You all cook a lot of sirloin down here, you cook rib eyes, you cook New York strips, at the restaurants, I’ve seen porterhouses, of course, the tenderloin. But my favorite cuts are the cuts of beef that we don’t get at home. The matambre.

Fede Garcia: Matambre.

Ramsey Russell: The basillo. What is this you’ve got cooking over here?

Fede Garcia: That’s ribs.

Ramsey Russell: That’s rib. You’ve got a lot of cuts. And one time, about 2 years ago, we were here at La Paz, and one of the men was a butcher, I think, from Montana.

Fede Garcia: Okay.

Ramsey Russell: And he knew it. We went to Estilo Campo, where they got all the different cuts of meat, and he knew what every cut was. And at La Paz, he knew what every single cut served was. He knew where on the cow it came from.

Fede Garcia: Okay.

Ramsey Russell: Because he was a butcher.

Fede Garcia: We have different kind of cuts, right?

Ramsey Russell: Yes, you do. And that’s what I was getting at, because I asked him one time, I said, man, this is so good. I mean, why don’t we eat this at home? And he said, Ramsay, we’re rich and we’re spoiled.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: As a butcher for 50 years, he explained, we eat the choice cuts, the sirloin, the rib eyes, steaks. He said, everything else goes into hamburger because we like to eat hamburger. But he said that at times when he’s trimming cows and doing his own stuff, he cuts a lot of those Argentine cuts. And I said to myself, well, I think what I’m going to do when I get home, I’m going to buy a grass fed steer and I’m just going to buy it and tell the guy that cuts it up. And I took a picture somewhere down here, I took a picture in Argentina of all the different cuts of meat and I sent it to him and I said, I want these cuts. I don’t want much hamburger, I want the short ribs, I want the matambre, I want the basillo – And the guy wrote back and said, I can’t do that. Out of a half a steer, I can cut this many rib eyes, this many sirloins, this many filet mignons and this much hamburger meat and that’s all I can do, that’s all I’ll do. He didn’t want, I don’t know, so I didn’t buy the steer because I wanted to eat some of this stuff.

Fede Garcia: Well, we have different kind. For example, we don’t used to eat a tomahawk, the huge one.

Ramsey Russell: Big tomahawk.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, we don’t used to eat that. And also, the beef in the state is expensive and here is not so expensive.

Ramsey Russell: How much more expensive would you estimate that beef is in America? Twice as expensive? 3 times more expensive?

Fede Garcia: Maybe twice? Sure.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Fede Garcia: Even more.

Ramsey Russell: Even more.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: What is your favorite cut of American beef? How do you like American beef cooked? You’ve been to enough steakhouses now. When you go into a steakhouse in America, what are you going to order?

Fede Garcia: Brisket.

Ramsey Russell: Brisket. Smoked brisket.

Fede Garcia: Smoked brisket.

Ramsey Russell: You all don’t do that down here?

Fede Garcia: No, I used to cook brisket, but not in that way.

Ramsey Russell: How would you cook it over the live coal?

Fede Garcia: In the grill. Yeah, with a long time. It’s good too. But it’s not the same that in the state. It’s the smoke, it’s really good.

Ramsey Russell: How does cooking at a Get Ducks Lodge differ from restaurant work or your private events?

Fede Garcia: Well, it’s really different. 3 different things here in the lodge, I used to spend all the week with the clients, so it’s like a friendship. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, 6 days. And it’s not just about food because in the middle we speak about family and other things. The other way, for example, when I make my dinners at home, you know about that, I told you. It’s just about food. People come to my house to eat, and the only important is the food. They want to –

Ramsey Russell: They want to eat the food with their circle of friends that they bring.

Fede Garcia: They finish to eat and they go home. And I don’t know if I will see you again, but this is different. We spend all the week together, I know what they want, what they like. The other thing is a random table with different kind of people. And the other way, when I cook in huge events is all about rush. Probably, I don’t see the clients because I am in the kitchen with my 5 or 6 people helping, doing the dish and the dish go out. I don’t speak with the clients in a huge event.

Ramsey Russell: Right. But here at the lodge, it’s a lot like, it sounds to me, it’s a lot like you’re borrowing from what your grandmother told you about meals beyond just the meal, just the food itself. I mean, because to her it was about bringing people together and about visiting and getting to know and how was your week and how was your month and how have you been and how is school?

Fede Garcia: This is like a family, it’s a family. A week family, all together, every time. Also, they can go to the kitchen and watch what I’m doing, you can’t do that in a restaurant or in a huge event.

Ramsey Russell: Well, I come in there all the time and visit with you while you’re cooking.

Fede Garcia: That is good.

Ramsey Russell: Well, that’s my favorite. I mean, I love to go into a kitchen, anywhere I’m at, I like to go into a kitchen just because to me, whether you’re at home or at a lodge somewhere around the world, the kitchen kind of is the heartbeat of a hunting camp or a home. That’s where it all comes. It’s kind of borrowing from what your grandmother said. The kitchen is the heartbeat. It’s not the food, it’s the time and energy put into the food.

Fede Garcia: Of course.

Ramsey Russell: That’s what it’s all about. It’s about an experience.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, of course. I love when the hunters come to the kitchen and watch what I’m doing. And they have few of question about. 2 weeks ago, I’ve been doing empanadas with a lady that was amazing. She wants to know how make empanadas so we make time empanadas together. That was really good.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, yeah, that’s right. One of the clients was here.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, of course. Last week.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right. I had dinner with them in Buenos Aires. She was a non-hunter that joined her mother and father and brothers, and she spent a lot of time in the kitchen learning to cook.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, that was great.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, she had a great time.

Fede Garcia: Of course, that’s the idea. Kitchen is to keep close with the client, with the hunter, with non-hunters.

Ramsey Russell: I’ve always felt that whether the hunt is really good, or if for whatever reason, the migration or the weather or the shooting ability, the hunting is not as good, you control the controllables. And food is one thing you can control.

Fede Garcia: Of course.

Ramsey Russell: Speaking of which, Fede, do hunters and guests bring a different energy or a different expectation to the table? Do they show up – how would you describe the average hunters that come in here, what are their expectations when they come to a lodge to eat?

Fede Garcia: My expectation or -?

Ramsey Russell: Their. What are the client expectations?

Fede Garcia: I don’t know. I don’t know what they expect, but I’m doing my best here. So they are always happy with the food, with the table.

Ramsey Russell: They like it.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, of course. It says simplicity, it’s not a fancy food, but it’s really flavorful and I’m trying to do my best. Different ways to cook, the grill, oven, fire. I try to mix in a week different ways to cook different dishes.

Ramsey Russell: When I’m here at the lodge, you do 3 courses. I can remember today, because today you cooked a beautiful perdez for a starter, and then we had red stag for lunch. And then I can’t remember the name of dessert, it was the peach dessert, Chajá. And during the time it takes to bring out the courses and eat the courses and drink wine and get a refill on wine, we end up spending hours right here at the table talking. When you got a full table, like we have here now, 8 people, it might be an hour or two. We’re just telling stories and catching up and sharing stories and reminded of something.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, they probably spend maybe 3 or 4 hours a day on the table between breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Ramsey Russell: You talk about time that you like to have time to cook proper, that’s another thing I’ve noticed about Argentina versus America. Whether you’re at a lodge or you’re at a restaurant in Buenos Aires, there’s no hurry. It’s like, when you go to an American restaurant, come in, order your food, get served, leave somebody else comes in behind you.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: When you go to a restaurant in Buenos Aires, you got an 8 o’ clock appointment and they just assume you’re going to be at the table until they close. And you see every family show up, friends show up and they come in and they order and there’s no hurry. Because it’s more than just the food, it’s the night, it’s the entertainment, it’s the experience. It’s more a collection of people, going back to your grandmother, it’s more of just a collection of people sharing a good time over a meal. And I really appreciate the pace of that.

Fede Garcia: That is about our roots, you know what I mean?

Ramsey Russell: Your roots, your culture.

Fede Garcia: Italian and Spanish. If you watch some Italian movie, is a huge table, all the people talking, laughing, little child’s running –

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Fede Garcia: And spend all day long.

Ramsey Russell: No hurry.

Fede Garcia: This idea is the way to enjoy the food, the table, your family, the wine.

Ramsey Russell: I’m going to break just a little bit to ask you this question because in the past year especially, you were working for the government, you went to chef school, you were still working for the government. And last year you were telling me that an Argentine government employee gets a one career sabbatical for 6 months. You can take a sabbatical and get paid, but one time during your career, you can take 6 months off to go do something.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And you took six months off and came to the lodge the entire 4 month season and cook for clients.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And I remember, I’m just going to call you out. I remember we were talking in the kitchen and you said, how do bookings look next year? I said, we’re nearly sold out. That’s the way we run it here at La Paz, we run nearly a year out on bookings.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And a lot of repeat guys, a lot of people have heard about this hunt over the past 17 years and want to come down here and. And break, you went back to government work, said, I quit.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: I’m going to retire and I’m going to become a cook. Well, La Paz is only open for 4 months, but then you started doing private events we talked about, the people that come to your house or you go to their house.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, the two different kind. I received people at home, it’s a table for 10 or 12 people, random people. I used to do four dinners 4 months at home.

Ramsey Russell: 4 dinners a month?

Fede Garcia: Yeah. At home.

Ramsey Russell: Once a week. At your house?

Fede Garcia: In my house, yeah.

Ramsey Russell: So how do people hear about this dinner? You advertise on social media?

Fede Garcia: Instagram.

Ramsey Russell: Do they contact you and say, we want to eat short ribs and sweet bread or do you say, here’s the menu, who wants to come?

Fede Garcia: I chose the menu.

Ramsey Russell: You choose the menu?

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Here’s the menu I’m going to work on this week.

Fede Garcia: It’s a 5 step menu.

Ramsey Russell: 5 course.

Fede Garcia: 5 course. But that’s my idea what I would do. I asked if they have any problem with, for example, lobster or shrimps or that kind of food, but I choose the dishes.

Ramsey Russell: You make up the dish, you’re going to –

Fede Garcia: And every month I change.

Ramsey Russell: Change the menu.

Fede Garcia: It’s not always the same menu.

Ramsey Russell: And sometimes you get invited to go to somebody else’s house or to another place and cook for a private group.

Fede Garcia: Yeah. That is not a 5 step course.

Ramsey Russell: That’s not 5 steps.

Fede Garcia: It’s a starter or appetizer, main course and dessert.

Ramsey Russell: 3 course.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Do they choose the menu? They choose there?

Fede Garcia: No, we have a meet some days before and we arrange what they want to eat.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. I want to talk about the pop up menu that you have at your home. You put it on Instagram, here’s what I’m cooking, 10 spots available, they sign up and they show up. Oh, you’re sold out. I heard the other day you’re sold out through September, I mean, you’re just sold out. And people want to come to your house to eat. Does Martha serve them? Do you keep her busy or does she just go out for the girlfriend for the night?

Fede Garcia: Martha is a waitress.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, she’s a waitress.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, she helps me.

Ramsey Russell: Good.

Fede Garcia: She cleaned the dishes and she attended the table. Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. You all are partners in that way.

Fede Garcia: It’s a huge help for me.

Ramsey Russell: How does the menu that you cook at those events differ from the menu you cook here at La Paz?

Fede Garcia: Well, here in La Paz, dishes are huge in compare with portion sizes.

Ramsey Russell: Okay.

Fede Garcia: There’s main difference. And at home is more fancy, shrimps –

Ramsey Russell: More fancy.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, it’s different. I don’t know how to say.

Ramsey Russell: More artistic.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, you’re right.

Ramsey Russell: Are people paying for the flavor or for the presentation?

Fede Garcia: Both. But the presentation, I think, is more important at home down here.

Ramsey Russell: To hear Martha say it, you’re becoming the most popular restaurant in La Pampa, that’s what she says.

Fede Garcia: Did she say that?

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. She says, we’ve got some restaurants, but everybody’d rather come over here and eat like this homemade, there’s no restaurant serving the way you do and the food you do.

Fede Garcia: Yeah. Mostly of people say that they can’t find a good place in La Pampa to eat, so they come home.

Ramsey Russell: She also told me a couple of weeks ago that you had been invited somewhere and you were very excited about it, Fede, it was an honor. You’d been invited to cook or to demonstrate for somebody. Was that a TV show or was that a -?

Fede Garcia: The first one is gastronomic school.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, gastronomic school.

Fede Garcia: Yeah. I cook for the guy, they are in the second grade.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, the second year in culinary art.

Fede Garcia: Second year in school is the last year, so I had to go make some food. The food is not important, they want I speak about my experience in gastronomy area. Also, I have a degree in administration, so I can speak about that.

Ramsey Russell: About the business of being in business, right?

Fede Garcia: Yeah. That’s good. And the other is a restaurant, it’s a small restaurant that you can find in Buenos Aires. It’s not a fancy restaurant, but it’s a nice restaurant and the owner want to, he used to invite one chef a month, so I am the list for October.

Ramsey Russell: Really?

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: How many people will you cook for there, do you think? How many people?

Fede Garcia: How many people? It’s not so big, maybe 25.

Ramsey Russell: Still kind of a private restaurant.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, but it’s really a good experience.

Ramsey Russell: Will you decide what the menu is?

Fede Garcia: I don’t know yet, I had to talk with the owner. We will have a meet and we decide what we do.

Ramsey Russell: That’s good. Well, congratulations.

Fede Garcia: Thank you.

Ramsey Russell: I’m going to get the name of that restaurant from you and I’m planning on going there to eat, that sounds like a nice place that I need to go eat.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: What are some of your favorite restaurants in Buenos Aires? If you were going to Buenos Aires for 3 nights, where would you eat?

Fede Garcia: Well, Estilo Campo in Puerto Maderos.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. You do like these?

Fede Garcia: That’s so good to eat beef, some really good empanadas, good wines.

Ramsey Russell: Very good tiramisu.

Fede Garcia: Yeah. The other one is in Palermo, it’s about sushi. I love sushi.

Ramsey Russell: Really?

Fede Garcia: Yeah, of course. You too?

Ramsey Russell: Well, I love sushi, but I didn’t know there was good sushi in Buenos Aires. I see sushi restaurants walking around Recoleta, but I’m scared to go in there.

Fede Garcia: You have a lot of restaurant sushi in Buenos Aires, a good one. Yeah. And the other one is Fogón Asado.

Ramsey Russell: So you do like for Fogón Asado?

Fede Garcia: That’s good.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, I love it.

Fede Garcia: A little bit expensive.

Ramsey Russell: It’s a little pricey. But it’s more than just –

Fede Garcia: It’s experience.

Ramsey Russell: It’s more than just the food, it is the experience. in fact, Fede, it’s funny you say that, because Anita and I, for the past few years, as have been organizing couples trips down here.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, I know.

Ramsey Russell: And we don’t just show up and come to La Paz, we transfer to La Paz on Sunday, so the clients show up Friday morning, and Anita has done a, what I call a YOLO tour, You Only Live Once. Yeah, that woman hits the ground, everybody goes and whatever puts their stuff away, and we’re gone, all day Friday. And we finish with dinner at Fogón Asado and they only have 32 seatings a night, so you better make an early reservation. And they bring out 9 courses of gourmet Argentine food named provoleta, sweet bread, all the different, the short rib, and end with a dessert, which is a flan, the pancake with the glazed sugar, they brand it to glaze it. And every servant has a wine pairing, so you need to call Uber afterwards. And we start there and then on the second night, well, for lunch on Saturday, we go to Sottovoce, which is Italian.

Fede Garcia: Italian, yeah.

Ramsey Russell: But it’s very good Italian. And to me, that’s a very Buenos Aires experience. Most people don’t think that, Buenos Aires, Argentina, it’s got a very deep history in Italy.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, of course.

Ramsey Russell: This is really good Italian food. Matter of fact, Fogón Asado, is a Michelin restaurant, Sottovoce is a Michelin restaurant and then we go to Estilo Campo, which is just damn good food.

Fede Garcia: Did you eat pasta in Sottovoce or no?

Ramsey Russell: You know what I ordered this time at Sotto Voce, I normally get the, I normally get the raw meat, the beef that’s – they shave it thin and top it with pine nuts and lettuce and olive oil. Carpaccio. That’s what I normally get because it’s very good Carpaccio. And this time I got flagged off by the veal liver, because I’d never seen liver on a menu in Buenos Aires. I said, well, I like beef liver, I’m going to try it.

Fede Garcia: You can find a lot of places to eat in Buenos Aires, really good. But the real flavor is outside Buenos Aires, you know?

Ramsey Russell: Yes, I agree.

Fede Garcia: In the food, in the place that you eat, when you come to Buenos Aires to La Paz.

Ramsey Russell: Absolutely. We never pad halfway on the way here from Buenos Aires, we stop and we get a barbecue lunch, an asado lunch with a selection of meats and sausages, and everybody loves it. And it’s not terribly expensive like Buenos Aires, but it’s just really good. And I’ve been there so many times now they recognize me when I come in. They all follow me on Instagram, and I follow them, too.

Fede Garcia: And we used to say, where the truck drivers stop to eat, that is a good place.

Ramsey Russell: I agree.

Fede Garcia: Yeah. Also, the taxi drivers in Buenos Aires, where they stop to eat, is a good place to eat and it’s not expensive.

Ramsey Russell: You know how I found Sottovoce? And this is a tip for anybody listening. When you go to a big city and you’re on a tour, you got a taxi driver, if you ask them where to go eat, they’re probably going to take you to a tourist spot where they get a kickback, that’s how tours work. And knowing that many years ago, 15 years ago, I was in Buenos Aires, I was with a client, he wanted to take a hired tour, so we were taking a tour, pretty little tour guide giving us a quick tour. And he said, well, I want to go eat lunch. And she said, oh, we’ll go over here, it’s a great restaurant. And so I asked her, I said, how old are you? Just made conversation, you know. She goes, oh, I’m 27 years old. And I go, when is your birthday? She goes, oh, it’s December 10^th. And then I asked her, I said, where do you and your family go on your birthday? And she says, oh, now we go to a little restaurant called Sotto Voce in Recoleta, I said, that’s where I want to go eat dinner. And we went, and I have eaten there now for 15 years. Every time I’m in Buenos Aires, that’s where I go. You just dig a little bit deep beneath the surface, I want to go where the locals are going. When we go to convention, so many of the restaurants we find in Nashville or Dallas, I’ll ask some of the locals, where do you eat? Where do you go eat on anniversary, where do you eat dinner? Where do you and your wife eat every Friday night when you go out? And that’s where I want to go. I don’t want to go just somewhere in the yellow pages.

Fede Garcia: You’re right. You have to ask the people where they go.

I think that the highest honor that you can bestow on a wild game animal is cooking it properly. And just this week we’ve eaten and pigeon and perdez and others

Ramsey Russell: How do you balance honoring Argentine flavor with showcasing the unique character of wild game? Because I think it’s very important, some people, I don’t like duck. It’s a duck, pigeon, dove, parakeet, perdez, and I think that the highest honor that you can bestow on a wild game animal is cooking it properly.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And just this week we’ve eaten and pigeon and perdez and others.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, different way. I mix our food with this product like barricades, duck, fish and duck. For example, pigeon empanadas. All the country loves empanadas it’s really traditional food in Argentina. We don’t used to eat duck in Argentina. So it’s a mix.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Fede Garcia: And it’s really good with chimichurri sauce, crioche sauce, also the brochette ducks.

Ramsey Russell: Brochette duck. Shish kebabs, what we call it.

Fede Garcia: Red stag with Argentinian Malbec wine, it’s a good combination. It’s really great.

Ramsey Russell: What’s the secret to making a good empanada? Are they all the same?

Fede Garcia: The secret to a good empanada?

Ramsey Russell: Like you make an empanada, the stuffing that you put in an empanada Fede is it the same recipe but a different meat or do you change it subtly?

Fede Garcia: It’s the same recipe, different meat

Ramsey Russell: Okay, different meat.

Fede Garcia: Garlic, always. Onions, different spices like paprika.

Ramsey Russell: Paprika?

Fede Garcia: A little bit of fat and oregano.

Ramsey Russell: Oregano. The duck brochettes were a hit. We had 8 people at the table last night, you cooked duck brochette, shish kebabs, onions, peppers, ducks, never seen this before, pear. Because I love having fruit on a ducks shish kebab, you put pear. Never had that before, amazing.

Fede Garcia: You told me that.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, I did. I didn’t tell you pear, I said, I’ll probably tell you pineapple.

Fede Garcia: You told me you shall try with pear or pineapple.

Ramsey Russell: A piece of fruit, no pear. To me, duck just for some reason lends itself to some form of fruit. Whether you’re cooking poppers or shish kebabs or, if I’m cooking duck breast, make a reduction, it’s got just a little bit of fruit in it. I don’t know, to me it just goes so good.

Fede Garcia: Yeah. In the brochette.

Ramsey Russell: Yes.

Fede Garcia: Every piece, every vegetable have an order.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Fede Garcia: And the pear is close to the meat.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, yeah. In parts that sweetness.

Fede Garcia: For the shish on this and the sugar, that’s idea. It’s not very same, if touching the duck or is at the last.

Ramsey Russell: What did you marinate the duck meat with? Because it was –
Fede Garcia: The Rochette one?

Ramsey Russell: Yes.

Fede Garcia: It’s teriyaki sauce.

Ramsey Russell: Teriyaki.

Fede Garcia: Yeah. With a little of honey.

Ramsey Russell: Honey.

Fede Garcia: Spicy, a little bit spicy.

Ramsey Russell: Red cayenne?

Fede Garcia: No.

Ramsey Russell: It had just a little bit, just a hint of –

Fede Garcia: Soya sauce. Yeah, but not the liquid, the reduced.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, reduced.

Fede Garcia: That one.

Ramsey Russell: Concentrated.

Fede Garcia: Concentrated. Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Something gave it just a little bit of a bite, just a little bit of heat.

Fede Garcia: Probably. But all these sauce, the sauce caramelized the brochure and that is the flavor.

Ramsey Russell: One way you cooked up that you didn’t cook this year, I guess you cooked it last year and I know you cooked it back in the day that you would the clients at Rio Salado. You cooked duck breast, it was breasted ducks with the fat on and I don’t think you cooked it over coal, it’s like you cured it, it was coal duck breast, it’s in your recipe book, I asked you about it.

Fede Garcia: It’s in the recipe?

Ramsey Russell: Salt and sugar and something else and you rub it down and cure it for 48 hours.

Fede Garcia: And you should wait for 15 or a month.

Ramsey Russell: So tell me about this. You put sugar and salt.

Fede Garcia: It’s sugar and flake salt.

Ramsey Russell: Flake salt.

Fede Garcia: You put the breast with all that mix in the fridge for at least 2 days, and then you put all the seasoning that you want, paprika, pepper, that is up to you. And put on the fridge for 15 days, if you can wait for a month.

Ramsey Russell: So I put the sugar and salt.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And put it in the refrigerator for at least 48 hours, then I rinse the sugar and salt off? Or do I rinse it off or just –

Fede Garcia: No. After 48 hours, you clean the sugar and the salt, and then you put all the spices that you want.

Ramsey Russell: And then I put it back in the refrigerator for 15 days and the salt and sugar is still curing it.

Fede Garcia: Yeah. The sugar and the salt cook the meat.

Ramsey Russell: And so after 15 days, it’s still cooked, but it’s chemically cooked with the sugar and salt. I slice it thin and eat it like sausage.

Fede Garcia: We used to eat with cheese. We call picada, I think, in the state you call charcuterie.

Ramsey Russell: Charcuterie, yeah.

Fede Garcia: That is what we use. It’s really good.

Ramsey Russell: You got to cook that next time I’m here.

Fede Garcia: Okay.

Ramsey Russell: Of course I’m going to cook it at home, I got your cookbook now, I’m going to cook it at home. I’ve got some duck breast waiting to go. Have you ever had any memorable reactions from guests who didn’t think that they liked duck or pigeon or dove until they had something you cooked?

Fede Garcia: Yeah, of course. Every time.

Ramsey Russell: Every time.

Fede Garcia: We used to cook parakeet, we had many people say, I’m okay. No, I don’t want to try. Okay, but you should? You should try it with different sauces and they like it. Also with the sweet bread.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, sweet bread. See, that’s one of my favorite cuts.

Fede Garcia: Many people don’t know what the sweet bread is.

Ramsey Russell: Sweet bread is the hypothalamus gland, it’s a gland.

Fede Garcia: I don’t know if you used to eat in America.

Ramsey Russell: Never had it in America. I have seen it. Matter of fact, I bought some at a specialty butcher. And all I do is salt and pepper and grill it over coals, put some lemon on top of it.

Fede Garcia: This year, I have a new recipe that you eat is on the pan with a spicy sauce with white rice bread, green onions, some seed that is really good.

Ramsey Russell: It’s in your recipe book?

Fede Garcia: No, it’s for the next one.

Ramsey Russell: The next one. Okay. You’ve been saying that all week. Next year, version 2.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, you’re right.

Ramsey Russell: Version 2. You talk about cooking those parakeets and I can see people reacting now. We shoot a shit pile load of parakeets around these feedlots. The other day, last Saturday, I was here between clients and I worked here at the camp and then I decided, I’m going to go stretch my legs. So Char dog and I took off, and we walked about a mile behind the house, just walking around back here in the woods, and I came across a parakeet nest that was as big as a school bus. I’ve never seen one as big. It was unbelievable. It seemed as big as this house. And thousands of parakeets were buzzing around. And I’ve learned that, for those of you all listening, parakeets, these little monk parakeets, they eat grain just like a dove, they’re 3 times as productive as a dove, so they overpopulate. We’ve been shooting a milo field for the last couple of weeks, they just finished harvesting it, so now we had to go elsewhere to shoot birds. But we shoot doves and parakeets and pigeons. And by the time it got dry enough for them to move the equipment in and cut it, half the grain was gone and most of it was parakeets eating. The crop depredation loss here must be astronomical. And as funny as it is to eat this little green bird, I’m serious when I say this, it tastes like dove.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: It looks way different, sounds way different, flies way different, tastes exactly like dove.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Do you always cook them by using empanada melanessa? Is that your favorite way to cook them?

Fede Garcia: Yeah, very good melanese. Fry it with some sauce, like barbecue sauce, it’s good for parakeet, and they love it.

Ramsey Russell: Speaking of barbecue sauce, you learned to cook barbecue sauce from a client?

Fede Garcia: Yeah, last season from a lady.

Ramsey Russell: A Tennessee client was down here with her kids last year, she taught you how to make barbecue sauce. Is there anything else that you’ve learned from American cooks or from a guest that you incorporate into your own cook?

Fede Garcia: Of course, every time.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Fede Garcia: Also the gravies for breakfast.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: You learn how to make gravy.

Fede Garcia: That’s great. I love to learn about the client and the food and the culture, the American culture. It’s great.

Ramsey Russell: Fede, what inspired you to write your cookbook?

Fede Garcia: Sorry?

Ramsey Russell: What inspired you to write your cookbook, and what do you hope that readers take away from it?

Fede Garcia: I never expect to have a book, that was really suddenly. But last season, many clients, hunters, non-hunters, his wife, he asked me about their recipes. So I took a paper and I wrote the recipes. And someone of them say, you have to have a recipe book. I said, what does he talking about? But it’s right. Well, that was how the recipe book –

Ramsey Russell: Everybody wants recipes.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, of course. Even Anita.

Ramsey Russell: Anita. But I collect, I have started collecting recipes around the world. You just go somewhere and you don’t expect it, but all of a sudden you’re like, God, this is so amazing. I’ve got recipes from Peru, Azerbaijan, I’ve got several of yours and elsewhere in Argentina that I go, man, I want to get this recipe, and just collect them, if nothing else. And I remember a client asking you for a recipe. We talked about some of the meat that you serve and the popular meat and game meat, what are some of the most popular desserts pastries that you cook here?

Fede Garcia: Most popular?

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Fede Garcia: Let me think.

Ramsey Russell: They’re all excellent.

Fede Garcia: Maybe Malbec Pear with ice cream.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, that’s very Argentine.

Fede Garcia: Yeah. Also the lemon with sugar on top.

Ramsey Russell: You ain’t cooked that this year. I’ve been waiting on it.

Fede Garcia: Okay, tonight.

Ramsey Russell: Okay.

Fede Garcia: Next season.

Ramsey Russell: Next season.

Fede Garcia: Next season.

Ramsey Russell: Well, there’s another one, it’s hard to describe., it’s like a little custard in a shot glass.

Fede Garcia: Sambayón.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Cheese and quince and something else.

Fede Garcia: And sweet potato.

Ramsey Russell: Sweet potato. It’s unbelievable.

Fede Garcia: That is really an Argentinian dessert.

Ramsey Russell: Would that have been something your grandmother cooked?

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Would she have cooked the pear?

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Okay.

Fede Garcia: That’s great. So you asked me about what I expect the book for the client. The book is what we are, what Argentinian people are, what we eat and also it’s a part of La Paz. So every hunter or every client that have the book, he can remember when he came to our lodge, our food, and also he can do all the recipes, that will be great.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Will Martha-Martha be able to cook those recipes?

Fede Garcia: No, she couldn’t cook a sausage, a hot dog.

Ramsey Russell: Okay.

Fede Garcia: Boil egg, that’s it.

Ramsey Russell: So she can boil water?

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Okay. Well, she does make coffee. I’ve noticed that she pushes the button and the coffee comes out.

Fede Garcia: Not too much.

Ramsey Russell: Okay. How did you decide what recipes to include in your book? And were there any of them that you just didn’t make the cut?

Fede Garcia: When the last season end, I start to watch what dishes the people prefer. It’s about the feedback, when we talk about the feedback, so I decided, the book is about 10 appetizers, 10 main course and 10 dessert was the best of the last season for the hunters.

Ramsey Russell: The most popular.

Fede Garcia: Yeah. But I have a lot of dishes for the next one.

Ramsey Russell: Right. So you really are going to have a next one. You keep saying going to be an edition too, but you really are going to make another book next year.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, of course. We are working on that.

Ramsey Russell: I think you ought to take addition 2. Addition 2 ought to be the new recipes plus the old recipes. Same book, it’s bigger.

Fede Garcia: I will put sauces, different sausage and also salad, many clients ask me about the salad, if it’s in the book, I will put for the next one.

Ramsey Russell: What do you love most about cooking for hunters, for private clients, for catered events? What do you love most about the different settings and which settings are most challenging to you?

Fede Garcia: Well, the most challenging is huge events, maybe 50, 60 people is crazy, it’s rush, a lot of dishes, but it’s like a exercise, it’s a good exercise, it’s hard, but it’s a good exercise. If you can handle huge events, you can handle table for 10 or a table for hunters. The dinner that I make at home I really enjoy because I am in my house, this is the place where I feel comfortable, it’s my kitchen, my staff. But hunters are different.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Fede Garcia: It’s better. It’s better than the rest.

Ramsey Russell: Easier, laid back.

Fede Garcia: Yeah. You just talk about life, you heard the history that they told when they are eating. And also you spend all the week and I feel like a friend.

Ramsey Russell: It makes it more sociable a little bit, doesn’t it? Makes it just a little more sociable.

Fede Garcia: Can you hear me?

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Fede Garcia: So it’s different. I feel like between friends when I am in the lodge with the hunters.

Ramsey Russell: More relaxed, more laid back.

Fede Garcia: And I have another opportunity to improve.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Fede Garcia: Every day.

Ramsey Russell: Changing gears because I’ve said this to a lot of people. One of my most indelible moments in the past 25 years with getducks.com was the realization that I’m not really in the duck hunting business, I’m in the hospitality industry. And boy, duck hunt is a big part of it. Good hunting, good organization, yada yada. But really and truly, I’m in the hospitality business. What does the word hospitality mean to you, especially when serving guests from around the world?

For me, the hospitalities make you feel at home. You are so far to your house, but here in the lodge, you have to feel at home and that’s what I would do

Fede Garcia: For me, the hospitalities make you feel at home. You are so far to your house, but here in the lodge, you have to feel at home and that’s what I would do.

Ramsey Russell: Relaxed and comfortable.

Fede Garcia: Yeah. When you come from the field, I will be here waiting for you with a hot coffee, a hot shower, that is what I think. Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Speaking of going to the field, most weeks here, if the weather’s nice, we’ll do an all day field hunt.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Pigeons usually, pigeons in the morning, something else in the afternoon, and here comes Fede, are you in your element. You’re slightly different, you just seem a little unleashed, a little happy out in the field than you do here, you know what I’m saying? Because like the other day, a TO had the fire going when you pulled up, and the first thing you did, hey, how you doing? You said. And you step out and you dump all these bell peppers and onions right on the live coals. And then you go set the table, you go do some stuff, you come back, you start peeling the peppers off, you make this pepper and onion salad. And then you rake the coal and you start grilling big slabs of meat.

Fede Garcia: I have to move my kitchen to the field.

Ramsey Russell: Do you like that?

Fede Garcia: It’s not what I really prefer, but yeah, this is a good experience.

Ramsey Russell: Because every single person that’s ever been here at La Paz that does that field lunch, says, this is awesome. Nothing screams Argentina Asado.

Fede Garcia: Is it real?

Ramsey Russell: Like sitting in the shade tree midday, your shoulders still tingling from all the shooting you did, and you’re drinking wine, you’re drinking cold beer, you’re moving your chair around to get away from the smoke and there’s all this meat, I mean, pounds and pounds of meat cooking over the charcoal.

Fede Garcia: They really enjoy because they are watching what I am doing. Close to the fire with the smoke on the face, it’s really interesting.

Ramsey Russell: And it always amazes me how food just tastes better outside. It’s something about just being outside.

Fede Garcia: I don’t know why, but you’re right.

Ramsey Russell: It just feels good to be outside, you know? And I come back at the end of the day, whether we’ve been on the river, because sometimes we’ll do an all day fishing trip and grill steaks and fry fish on the river. And sometimes we’re pigeon hunting, we do it and it’s something about just being outside that’s just very relaxing and the food always tastes so good.

Fede Garcia: Also the wine.

Ramsey Russell: Also the wine, and the cold beer.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, I don’t know why, maybe for the views, the landscapes does help.

Ramsey Russell: I think it’s something about nature. Boy, nature and grilled meat just go together like nothing else. Talking about your concept of hospitality and dealing with clients around the world, have you discovered any universal truth about food or about people since you started this line of work?

Fede Garcia: I think when we are sitting on the table eating, we are all the same. You know what I mean? We are all the same person, it doesn’t matter if you speak English, Spanish, if you are a high society, when we are eating, we are the same. We do the same.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Fede Garcia: That’s what I mean about the food.

Ramsey Russell: It’s a unifier, isn’t it?

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: A good meal just brings everybody and we’re all equal around the dinner table. Never thought about it that way, but it’s exactly right. And we kind of lower our guard and we all just start to visit and socialize and become human no matter what we are in the real world.

Fede Garcia: We used to share table with people, different social classes and different language and every time it’s funny.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Fede Garcia: All are enjoying the meals, that’s what I think.

Ramsey Russell: Last question, Fede, for someone coming to Argentina for the very first time, what should they eat? Where should they go?

Fede Garcia: Well, they should eat, firstly, empanadas.

Ramsey Russell: Empanadas.

Fede Garcia: I’m not talking about beef empanadas or chicken empanadas, just empanada, different kinds. But the first thing is empanada. And then a good asado. I say before you can find a great places in Buenos Aires, everybody come to Buenos Aires to Argentina, but you should go outside Buenos Aires.

Ramsey Russell: Get outside the big city into real Argentina.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, you’re right. The real flavors are outside Buenos Aires.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: I appreciate you Fede, I’m sitting here eyeballing these ribs you fix and start cooking and my mouth is already watering. And as normal, I’ve had a really good time up here at La Paz with you all. The food is just amazing, I love it and I’m glad I got a cookbook. Do you think you’ll ever have a cookbook available to where anybody listening could order it?

Fede Garcia: We are working on that, now is the physical version on the lodge. But we are working to post in some websites where the people can load.

Ramsey Russell: Can order it.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Order it online.

Fede Garcia: Yeah. We are thinking on that, we are working on that.

Ramsey Russell: What is your Instagram account handle?

Fede Garcia: Let me check.

Ramsey Russell: @fedegar13.

Fede Garcia: That’s me.

Ramsey Russell: That stands for Fede Garcia. @fedegar13, you all can check him out on Instagram. See some of this good food he’s cooking at home parties and here at the lodge and whatever else come next. I told, Martha, I’m going to end it on this note and just tell you, Fede, I told Martha, I said, for 17 years she and I have been working together and just with each growing year, I look back and it’s almost hard to remember when Martha and I met and this hunt was brand new and there was a lot of kinks to work out.

Fede Garcia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: I mean, 17 years, a long time.

Fede Garcia: Yeah, of course.

Ramsey Russell: And she and I were messaging back and forth yesterday, I was hunting, she was here doing something. I’m like, who would have dreamed? Who would have dreamed when she and I met and came up here for the first couple of years that 17 years later we’d still be working together and it would have grown into what it’s become. And I told her, she was telling me about your cookbook and about your successful pop up parties, I call them, your entertaining. You’ve been invited to come debut at some different restaurants and some different programs. I told her, I said, man, you and I have kind of done it, we’ve grown and we’ve done our thing, Martha, I said, Fede has just now, he’s left the military, he’s been cooking for a few years, his passion has taken off, it’s going to be fun to see where you go with this.

Fede Garcia: We’re growing together.

Ramsey Russell: But see, I’m thinking you may be on television or something. What was that American chef that traveled around and did all that stuff? I know he was special to you. What was the famous American chef from New York?

Fede Garcia: I know a guy from England, Gordon Ramsey.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Ramsey Gordon. But I’m trying to think, there was another chef, he passed away.

Fede Garcia: He passed away?

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Fede Garcia: Anthony Bourdain.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, Anthony Bourdain.

Fede Garcia: That’s great.

Ramsey Russell: What do you think about Anthony? You may be the new Anthony Bourdain. I mean, it could happen. You’re still young.

Fede Garcia: Why not?

Ramsey Russell: And now that you’ve broke away entirely and you’re focusing entirely on cooking, who knows? You may be the Argentine Anthony Bourdain.

Fede Garcia: Sounds good.

Ramsey Russell: Keep Martha busy cleaning dishes and waiting. But thank you very much, Fede. I think you appreciate everything you do here. And folks, thank you all for listening this episode of MOJO’s Duck Season Somewhere podcast. You all have been listening to my buddy, Fede Garcia, Martha’s husband and the chef here at La Paz, Argentina, and probably a lot of other places coming soon. See you next time.

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