Spain and Thailand both cook beef over live fire, and both serve it in slices to share. The results taste very different. In a chuletón the beef is the point and salt is almost the only addition. Suea rong hai is eaten with a sour, smoky, chilli-hot dipping sauce that carries much of the flavour.
The Spanish side: chuletón
The chuletón (txuletón in Basque) is a large bone-in rib steak and the centrepiece of the asador, the grill house tradition of the Basque Country and Navarre. It is traditionally cut from mature cattle, including older dairy cows, which gives deeper flavour and yellow-tinged fat.
The cooking is plain on purpose. The steak is seasoned with coarse salt and grilled over wood or charcoal, seared hard outside and left rare in the middle. It usually comes to the table already carved off the bone, often with the bone alongside, and it is shared. In Spain it is often priced by weight, so check the menu before ordering one for two.
The Thai side: suea rong hai
Suea rong hai (เสือร้องไห้) means 'crying tiger'. It is grilled beef associated with Isan, the northeast of Thailand. The beef is usually marinated, grilled, sliced across the grain and served with nam jim jaew, a dipping sauce of fish sauce, lime juice, dried chilli flakes and toasted ground rice. Sticky rice and fresh vegetables usually come with it.
Where the name comes from is uncertain. The cut also varies between cooks and regions, so a menu won't always tell you which part of the animal you are getting.
Where the two dishes differ
- Seasoning: chuletón gets coarse salt; suea rong hai is usually marinated before grilling and then dipped in a sauce that does much of the flavour work.
- Doneness: chuletón is served rare inside. Suea rong hai is sliced thin, and how pink it is varies with the cook.
- Scale: a chuletón is a single large steak for the table. Suea rong hai arrives as a plate of slices, one dish among several.
- What goes with it: chuletón is the main event, with a few simple sides. Suea rong hai sits alongside sticky rice and raw vegetables, usually as part of a spread of Isan dishes.
What they have in common is live fire, very little fuss, and a plate that everyone eats from.
How to order chuletón abroad
- Ask the weight and whether the price is per steak or per kilo.
- Ask what kind of cattle and how long the beef has been aged, if the menu doesn't say.
- The traditional way is rare in the middle. If you want it cooked further, say so when you order.
- Order it for the table and add a few tapas or vegetable plates, the way it is eaten in Spain.
Where to try chuletón
These venues in our directory mention chuletón in their own records:
- Txula Steak, New York: built around an imported Spanish oven, serving 60-day aged txuletón ribeyes alongside Ibérico pork and Spanish lamb.
- Pata Negra Asador Tapas & Steak, Budapest: a Spanish grill house opened in 2017 near the Opera House, cooking Iberian pork and Basque chuletón in a charcoal oven.
- Plan B, Jakarta: founded in April 2012, with a traditional Spanish menu that includes chuletón, piglet and paella.
