Buying guide · Two cuts of the asado

Entraña vs vacío

Entraña and vacío are two of the cuts that define the Argentine and Uruguayan asado, and they share no muscle. Entraña is the costal part of the diaphragm, the outside skirt: a strip of 600–900 g grilled in minutes over strong embers. Vacío is the whole abdominal wall between the last ribs and the hip, flap and part of the flank in one piece of 2–4 kg, cooked for one to two hours over low embers.

Buying guides written to the same standard as the rest of Steakpedia: tested or sourced, never ranked by payment. Some links may earn a commission; it never changes what we recommend.

Also known as: Entraña và vacíoLast reviewed 25 Oct 20267 sources

Where does each one come from?

The entraña lies inside the rib cage, against the sixth to twelfth ribs, on the plate: it is the outside skirt, the costal part of the diaphragm, the muscle that separates the chest from the abdomen. The vacío lies outside the rib cage, on the side of the belly, between the last ribs and the hip.

The entraña is one muscle, taken from the inside of the carcass together with the organs, which is why in Argentina and Uruguay it has long been sold and grilled alongside the achuras (offal). The vacío is several muscles cut as a single unit: mainly the internal oblique, which American butchers sell alone as flap meat, with other belly-wall muscles and, in the full cut, part of the rectus abdominis, which elsewhere is the flank steak.

Each animal gives two entrañas, one per side, so the cut has always been scarce compared with the vacío or the asado de tira.

How do they compare side by side?

The entraña is a thin strip of 600–900 g grilled fast to about 54 °C / 129 °F; the vacío is a thick, fatty piece of 2–4 kg cooked slowly to 65–70 °C / 149–158 °F. The table sets out the rest.

Why is one grilled in minutes and the other in hours?

Because the entraña is one thin, marbled muscle and the vacío is a thick mix of muscle, fat and connective tissue. The first only needs browning; the second needs time for its fat to render and its connective tissue to soften.

The entraña is salted with coarse salt shortly before it goes on, laid membrane side down over strong embers and cooked 3–4 minutes a side, until the membrane crisps like a skin. Past a punto (medium) it toughens quickly. Leaving the membrane on or peeling it is a matter of school: with it the meat keeps more juice; peeled, it browns more evenly and is easier to slice.

The vacío goes on whole over a low bed of embers, often with the grill raised, and cooks for one to two hours. Many cooks start with the fat and membrane towards the fire, to crisp them and shield the meat, and finish on the open side; others do the reverse. It is not meant to be rare: at 65–70 °C / 149–158 °F at the thickest point the fat has rendered and the meat is juicy and tender. Split into its parts, the vacío behaves like the entraña: the flap and the bife de vacío (the flank) are cooked hot and fast to medium-rare.

At an asado the two arrive at different moments. The entraña is usually served early, between the sausages and the larger cuts, with lemon or chimichurri; the vacío, which needs the fire longest, is one of the larger cuts.

Which names get them confused?

Outside the Río de la Plata neither name travels intact: entraña becomes skirt, arrachera or hampe, and vacío has no English name at all.

The entraña is outside skirt in the United States, thin skirt in Australia, hampe in France and ハラミ harami in Japan. In Mexico arrachera may be the outside or the inside skirt, and in Spain entraña gruesa is the hanger, a different muscle. The full table is in the skirt steak article.

The vacío is closest to the flap (bottom sirloin flap) and the flank together; importers often label it “flank (Argentine cut)”. Its main muscle is the bavette d'aloyau of France and the カイノミ kainomi of Japan, and Brazil cuts the same area as fraldinha.

The one real point of contact is the inside skirt (transversus abdominis), a thin belly-wall muscle. It is often included in a whole vacío, and it is also sometimes sold as entraña: wider and thinner than the outside skirt, it cooks drier.

How is each one bought?

In Argentina and Uruguay both are sold by the piece: the entraña whole, with or without the telita, and the vacío whole, with its fat and membrane. Much of the entraña produced in both countries is exported as outside skirt, which has made it one of the more expensive cuts at a local butcher.

A good entraña is evenly thick, deep red, with fine fat between the fibre bundles and an intact membrane; frozen, vacuum-packed entraña is common and is thawed slowly in the refrigerator. A good vacío has an even layer of white fat, a membrane without tears and edges that do not thin out sharply; pieces under 2 kg cook faster and are more forgiving.

Outside the region the vacío rarely exists as such and has to be described to the butcher: the whole abdominal wall behind the plate, flap and flank attached, fat and membrane left on. American flap meat is the nearest single-muscle substitute. Neither cut has been measured by the Steakpedia Field Kitchen, so no per-kilo yield is given.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

7

1. Instituto de Promoción de la Carne Vacuna Argentina (IPCVA). Cortes de carne vacuna argentina — nomenclatura y usos. Buenos Aires. www.ipcva.com.ar
2. Mallmann, Francis; Kaminsky, Peter. Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way. New York: Artisan, 2009.
3. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service. Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications: Fresh Beef Series 100. Washington, DC, 2014. www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/IMPS_100_Fresh_Beef%5B1%5D.pdf
4. Larousse Gastronomique, rev. ed. London: Hamlyn, 2009.
5. Brasil, Ministério da Agricultura, SIPA. Portaria nº 5, de 8 de novembro de 1988 — Padronização de cortes de carne bovina.
6. Japan Meat Grading Association. Beef Carcass Grading Standard. Tokyo, 1988 (rev. 2014). www.jmga.or.jp
7. McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, rev. ed. New York: Scribner, 2004.