Gaucho grill: Argentine cuisine glows with wood-fire cooking

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Flames glow, smoke billows and the aroma of slowly burning logs blends with the flavors of lightly charred calamari with broccoli and aioli cooked inside a handmade wood-fired oven.

Like other dishes at Proper restaurant, essential ingredients for this house favorite are timber and fire. Proper was recently named in the Latin American edition of the prestigious World's 50 Best Restaurants list, part of Argentina's growing international recognition for creative open-flame cooking.

The sacred Argentine "asado," or barbeque, brings together families and friends, regardless of social class, and is a source of national pride.