How Gaucho Green Chimmi- Churri Came To Be
In the 1960s, a young correspondent named Barnard L. Collier was bureau chief for the
New York Times in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was smitten by the rich textures and flavors of the country’s famous beef which, unlike American beef, is sold very, very lean and is
never aged for tenderness. How did the Argentines do it? The answer was chimmi-churri, a
marinade and cooking sauce invented by the gaucho (cowboy) cooks of the Pampas grasslands to tenderize and flavor beef they cooked on the trail. Chimmi-churri was a concoction
of fresh herbs found among the Pampas grasses, old wine vinegar, some oil, wild garlic and
peppers. Each cook’s recipe was different and often kept a secret. A jug of chimmi-churri
hung from the cook’s wagon. History books say that the unusual name is traced to the
mid-1800s and a Scotch and Irish-blooded gaucho cook in northern Argentina named Jimmy
McCurry. His cooking sauce was so tasty and his beef steaks so easy to chew that his crew,
who couldn’t pronounce his name correctly, would call out in Spanish: “Dame [accent over
the e] el Chimmi-Churri!” which translates nowadays into “Gimme the Chimmi!”
Over the years, chimmi-churri recipes found their way into every Argentine kitchen, and
soon there were as many chimmi recipes as there were Argentines. The recipes around the
port of Buenos Aires tended to be influenced by the multitudes of Italians who immigrated
to the river port in the late 19th Century; they loved leafy parslies, oregano, olive oil and
garlic. In the north, where English and Spanish ranchers reigned, the chimmi often contained
ingredients like honey, Worcestershire sauce, cilantro, lemon and tea. Every recipe was
touted as “the best and most authentic” and the recipes from all other places were
dismissed as bogus. This history holds true to this day.
In 1994, Collier was persuaded, after a particularly delicious chimmi barbecue for friends, to
bottle and sell his chimmi recipe for Americans, whose tastes were then turning from heavily
fat marbled prime to leaner beef. The first chimmi was brewed in Annapolis, Maryland. The
label was drawn by Collier’s 18 year-old son, Alexander, and the decision was made to put a
vintage date on the label because the tannins in the tea cause chimmi to get mellower in the
bottle, like good red wines do. Alexander also suggested the name Gaucho Green. About
100 cases of the 1994 Gaucho were hand-made and sold that summer door-to-door to
particularly fine stores and restaurants on the East Coast, many of which still carry it.
In the beginning, the vintage date on the label seemed strange for a barbecue sauce, and few
knew what it actually means to “get better in the bottle.” But as years and vintages rolled
by, the older reserved bottles of Gaucho Green Chimmi-Churri were opened by people
with discerning taste buds, and the tasters were amazed by the harmony, seductive
perfume and sophistication of these older vintages. There are a handful of 1994 bottles in the Gaucho cellars. 1995 bottles, when located, bring premium prices. The hard to
come by Gaucho 2004 is a vintage that chefs plead for. The first batch of the 2006 vintage
(made in February by Collier’s daughter and son-in-law, Kate and Eric Gertner) is showing
early signs of greatness.
Gaucho Green Chimmi-Churri is distinguished by its freshness, even after the years go by.
Gaucho chimmi contains only fresh frozen (never dried or reconstituted) organically grown
and certified parsley, cilantro and other herbs. Many products sold as “chimichurri” are
made from mixtures of dried herbs, even in Argentina, where once all chimmi ingredients
were fresh. The result is often thick, slick, gritty, and dominated by oregano. On a recent
visit to Argentina and Uruguay, to research the natural history of chimmi-churri, Collier
found only a few restaurants where chefs still make chimmi-churri from scratch, and the
quality is vastly superior.
Gaucho Green Chimmi-Churri’s label has evolved since 1994, and so has the recipe.
Gaucho Green Chimmi-Churri does not taste the same every time you get a new bottle.
So far, almost every vintage has been better than the next, and always slightly different.
People who love Gaucho chimmi are alert and delighted by the differences. In some
vintages the flavors of certain herbs or spices rise to prominence while others somewhat
recede. Some Gaucho chimmi is made “Hot” and some “Not As Hot As Hot.” In short,
Gaucho Green Chimmi-Churri is a barbecue sauce that is always very good and sometimes
absolutely brilliant. Aficionados of Gaucho chimmi love the vintage-to-vintage,
batch-to-batch surprises.
Gaucho Green Chimmi-Churri was created for the customers of the finest purveyors in
America. The ingredients in Gaucho chimmi are the very best available. There are
no thickeners, no flavor enhancers and no preservatives. The leafy parsley and
cilantro are grown, cut and selected for Gaucho Green by the trustworthy Van Drunen
organic farms in Illinois. The honey is from wildflowers. The teas, tannins, and peppers are
chosen to complement each batch. Collier recently took a bottle of Gaucho Green ChimmiChurri to Buenos Aires, where it all began. Gaucho was treated with the utmost affection
and respect in all of the best places and by the most discerning chefs and diners. If Argentina
had a king, Gaucho Green Chimmi-Churri would have been presented at court.
“Yet Another Intimate Party Ruined By Gaucho Green Chimmi-Churri!”
The night sky dripped with stars. On the terrace, Gaucho Green, in his traditional black
accordion boots, green trousers, silver peso belt and white linen tunic, lovingly dashed his
private reserve stock of Gaucho Green Chimmi-Churri (Vintage 1994) on four lean, lightly
scored skirt steaks. Gaucho tucked the steaks into a Zip-Loc bag to marinate for half an
hour while the guests sipped Maipo Valley wines from water glasses and munched happily on
cashews and pecans sautéed until caramel-coated in half a cup of Gaucho Green ChimmiChurri and a half-cup of brown sugar.
Within minutes after decimating a bowl of ChimmiNuts, the leggy blonde with the sea blue
eyes could not restrain her hands from caressing her blushing body. The petite brunette
licked her pomegranate lips again and again, while moaning passionately, “Gimme the
chimmi!”
Gaucho reappeared with long, strong barbecue tongs and arranged the chimmied steaks on
the iron grill over the bed of red hot charcoal. A cloud of steamy perfume soon filled the
air and swirled magically about the heads of the guests. The affects were electric and instantaneous. Shy couples openly embraced; clothing flew; lips and teeth entwined. The gods of
Inhibition and Procrastination fled on the warm breezes . . . .the same breezes that carried
the cloud of Gaucho Green Chimmi-Churri aromas downwind into the neighborhood.
Before the chimmi-crazed couples reached their bedchambers, their ears were assaulted by
the demanding voices of people downwind shouting:
“Hey, what’s cookin’ over there?!”
In minutes, the front screen door was all that stood between Gaucho’s grill and the pack of
very friendly neighbors from across the street, up the hill and down in the dell.
“We brought lots of wine and beer,” explained their eager spokeswoman. The neighbors
surrounded Gaucho and waited impatiently for him to splash more Gaucho Green ChimmiChurri onto the sizzling meats.
As our happy couples prepared to be cordial to their neighbors, the
brunette, who was highly desirous of privacy, shook her head in
annoyance and sighed:
“Yet another intimate party ruined by Gaucho Green Chimmi-Churri!”
The High Season of Chimmi
Rave Reviews from New York’s Most Opinionated Food Authority
“Now is the most hallowed time of year for those who celebrate grilling and roasting - it’s
The High Season of Chimmi ~ and if anybody in the universe does not have a bottle of Gaucho Green Chimmi-Churri® on their cooking counter, they are entirely missing the greatest
part of the summer, the part we wait all year for.”
So speaks Steve Jenkins, the outspoken expert on top-quality foods at the famous Fairway
Markets in New York, about the unique and delicious green barbecue sauce that is brewed
from an old Argentine family recipe adapted by a former New York Times bureau chief in
Buenos Aires.
“This is the time of year when you add Gaucho Green Chimmi-Churri® to everything,”
explains Mr. Jenkins enthusiastically. “You put it on every steak and burger and chop. You
use it as a side dish to dip bread in. You roast or sauté vegetables with it. You season oysters
and clams with it. You use the Gaucho to marinate chicken and lamb and fish. You grill
sausages with Gaucho chimmi and then serve them on crusty bread brushed with more
chimmi. Makes my mouth water! Now is when you’ve got to ‘Think Chimmi!’ and Gaucho
Green makes the world’s best chimmi, and the longer the Gaucho ages the better it tastes.”
In just 11 years, Gaucho Green Chimmi-Churri® has become the best-selling chimmi-churri
in the United States, and there are reports of Argentines shipping cases of the older vintages
of Gaucho back home to the Pampas. All Gaucho Green Chimmi-Churri® is vintage dated
like fine wines because it grows mellower and richer in the bottle. Original 1994 vintage
Gaucho is a very rare and welcome gift among chimmi connoisseurs.
The motto of the company is:
“Gaucho Green on the grill makes you fast friends downwind.”
The stewardship of the Gaucho Green recipes belongs to Kate Collier and her husband, Eric
Gertner, who are co-owners of Feast! - a fine food store in Charlottesville,Virginia, which
was named by Saveur Magazine as one of the top 20 cheese shops in the nation. Kate’s
father is Barney Collier, the Times reporter who brought back to America the best thing the
Argentines had to offer.
Kate Collier
416 West Main Street
Charlottesville,VA 22903
www.gauchogreen.com