France v Argentina

Stade de France, Paris, Friday September 7, 8pm UK (9pm France).

Hey, what a belter to kick off our culinary guide to the Rugby World Cup. I may be struggling by the time Namibia take the field (“First, catch your zebra...”), but in these two countries they know how to eat.

So you’re thinking, yeah, right: what does Argentina have to teach France about good food? Well, you would be wrong - specifically in the matter of beef.

Show a gaucho a French steak - a thin sliver of a thing, flash fried, tough, stringy - and he’ll fall about laughing. When a mountainous Argentine fillet isn’t hanging off the side of your plate, it’s melting in your mouth. I was in Buenos Aires not long ago, and as our restaurant asador wiped a cow’s bum and slapped it on the grill I asked him why Argentine beef was so sensational. “It’s the pampas,” he said. I had a momentary vision of Aberdeen Angus/Hereford crossbreeds munching happily on disposable nappies before I worked out what he meant: on the grass plains of Argentina every cow has something like seven rugby pitches of pasture to herself, she grazes and roams as nature intended, and you can taste the difference. Your local butcher is unlikely to have any on his counter and flights to Buenos Aires are improbably expensive, so for a reliable supplier try here:

www.pampasplains.com

And we’ll be having some French mustard with that, right? Wrong. The condiment of choice with your Argentine steak is chimichurri, for which there are almost as many recipes as there are Argentinian cooks - but the basic ingredients are chopped flat-leaf parsley, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, onion, perhaps a little vinegar, and some chilli if you think you’re hard enough.

The French contribution to our meal? Well, they’ll win on the pitch, but on the table they’re relegated to the veg. So let’s eat...

ARGENTINE FILLET STEAK WITH CHIMICHURRI AND GRATIN DAUPHINOIS

Serves 2

Prep 10min

Cook 70min