Provoleta.

Provoleta is provolone reborn on the parrilla. It was created in the 1940s by Natalio Alba, an Italian immigrant to Argentina, who pressed provolone into a thick disc that could be grilled whole without slipping through the grate — and in doing so invented what became the definitive opening act of the asado.

Made from cow's-milk provolone (a pasta filata cheese carried to the River Plate by Italy's great emigration), the seasoned disc is cooked in a small two-handled cast-iron pan — a provoletera — or laid directly over the coals until the underside forms a crust and the centre turns molten. It is flipped once, showered with dried oregano and ají molido (ground chilli), finished with olive oil, and eaten straight away with crusty bread: the first thing off the fire at asados across Argentina, Uruguay and southern Brazil.