Ordering Meat at the Butcher Shop (Carnicería) in Costa Rica

A few frustrated VIP Members have emailed me over the years about “how difficult” it has been for them to find quality meats in Costa Rica.

I cook for our family every single night, I LOVE to cook, we all love to BBQ and have never had a problem finding quality meats in Costa Rica and I think it’s simply because we’ve done more homework, maybe asked a few more questions and over the last 13 years we’ve tried and tested dozens of different cuts…

It’s actually doubly complicated for me because my wife is from Guatemala where they use different names for their cuts of meat.

We met here in Costa Rica where her family owned the franchise for a well know chain of shoe stores and when we first visited Guatemala together, she raved about puyaso being her favourite cut of meat, how she could never find it in Costa Rica and I had no bloody idea what she was talking about…

Thanks to my favourite butcher shop (carnicería) Don Fernandos now you have an easy to use chart showing you the different cuts of meat in 15 countries.

As you can clearly see, a puyaso in Guatemala is a ‘sirloin cap‘ in the U.S. and a Punta de Solomo in Costa Rica.

My wife is happy now that I can prepare her favourite steak at home. I’m happy because it’s actually quite an affordable cut of meat and while she enjoys her puyaso with chilmol and freshly made tortillas (although the store bought tortillas at Don Fernando’s are very good), I prefer my steak with a rich, garlicky chimichurri sauce.

Que rico!

• You can see the locations of Don Fernando butcher shops here.
• You can see Don Fernando’s Glossary of Meats here.
• You can see Don Fernando’s Products here.

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Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.