Eat the Match: USA ضد Paraguay

A smash burger, a soup that is not soup, and everything you need to know about both nations before kickoff.

Group Stage · Opening Night · Los Angeles · June 12, 2026 · غوستو

The World Cup began tonight in Los Angeles. The United States against Paraguay. Forty-seven thousand people in a stadium. Several billion more watching from wherever they are.

And you are in your kitchen, which is exactly where you should be.

I am going to give you two recipes. One for each nation. Not because you must choose — the whole point is that you do not have to choose. You make both. You eat both. You learn something about each country that the television commentary will not tell you.

Here is what I know about this match from the perspective of someone who cares about only one thing: what does each nation put on the table, and why does it matter.

The American plate is not complicated. It was never supposed to be. A smash burger done correctly is one of the most technically honest things you can make — thin beef, hot cast iron, the Maillard reaction working at full volume, cheese melted by steam, not by hope. Americans took the hamburger and turned it into an argument, and somewhere along the way they found the right answer. Tonight, we make the right answer.

Paraguay is a different matter. Paraguay is a country most people could not locate on a map without assistance, which is their loss, because Paraguay has sopa paraguaya — a dish named "Paraguayan soup" that is emphatically not soup. It is a dense, golden cornbread built on cheese and onion and eggs, baked until the top cracks and the interior stays custard-soft. It has been feeding Paraguayans for two hundred years. It will feed you tonight. And the grilled meat beside it — the Paraguayan churrasquito, simple, direct, unashamed — is the thing that makes the plate complete.

Every country carries its kitchen with it. Tonight, both of them come to the table.

Bon. We begin.

The American plate — smash burger, fries, pickles.

The smash burger is not a trend. It is a technique that finally got the recognition it deserved after fifty years of people doing it correctly in diners and getting no credit for it. The principle is this: thin beef patty, extremely hot flat surface, immediate aggressive pressure, Maillard crust on both sides, American cheese melted by the steam from a covered pan, and a bun that is toasted in the beef fat while you are not paying attention to it.

I say "thin." I mean it. Eighty grams. No more. Do not make a thick burger and call it a smash burger. That is a different burger and it has its own merits, none of which apply here.

المكوِّنات

طريقة التحضير

  1. Start the pickles first. They need time and you need to be doing something else. Combine the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, peppercorns, and garlic in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Pour over the cucumber slices in a jar or bowl. They are ready in thirty minutes and better in two hours. Put them somewhere and forget them.
  2. For the fries: heat your oil in a heavy pot to 160°C. Fry the potato batons in batches for four minutes — they will be pale and soft and look unfinished. This is intentional. Remove them and drain on a rack. This is the first fry. Raise the oil to 190°C. Return the fries in batches for two to three minutes until they are deeply golden and audibly crisp when you tap them. They will sound hollow. That is correct. Salt immediately and aggressively.
  3. For the burgers: get your cast iron or heavy stainless pan over the highest heat you have. It needs to be genuinely hot — five minutes minimum, until a drop of water placed in the pan evaporates immediately without rolling around. Add a thin film of neutral oil. Add two beef balls to the pan. Immediately place a second heavy pan or a stiff spatula on top and press hard — you want the patty to be no thicker than 4mm. Season with flaky salt and black pepper. Do not move it. Do not touch it. Let it cook for ninety seconds undisturbed. You will see the edges go grey and the fat pool and spit. This is correct.
  4. Flip each patty in one decisive motion. Place a slice of American cheese on each. Immediately add two tablespoons of water to the pan — not on the patties, to the side — and cover with a lid or foil. The steam will melt the cheese in twenty to thirty seconds. This is the only correct way to melt cheese on a smash burger. Remove from heat.
  5. While the cheese melts, toast the buns in the residual fat in a second pan with the butter. Cut side down. Thirty seconds. They should be golden, not scorched. This step is not optional.
  6. Build: bottom bun, pickles, burger, burger, top bun. Two patties per burger. One layer of pickles underneath, one above if you like. Eat immediately.

Why the crust matters — and why your pan must be hot enough to get it

The Maillard reaction is a chemical process that begins above 140°C when amino acids and reducing sugars on the surface of the meat react to form hundreds of new flavor compounds. It is responsible for the browned, complex crust that separates a smash burger from a steamed grey patty. The smash technique maximizes surface contact between the beef and the hot metal, ensuring the entire face of the patty reaches Maillard temperatures within seconds. A pan that is not hot enough will steam the meat before it browns it. You will know your pan is not hot enough if the patty sticks, hisses without sizzling, or releases liquid before developing color. If this happens, remove the patty, wait two more minutes, and try again. The recovery exists. Use it.

On the cheese: It must be American cheese. The processed slices melt under steam in a way no other cheese does — they contain emulsifying salts that keep them liquid at the right moment. Aged cheddar will clump. Gruyère will slide off. American cheese was engineered for this exact application. I allow it enthusiastically.

The Paraguayan plate — sopa paraguaya, churrasquito, mandioca, tomato-onion salad.

Paraguay is a landlocked country in the center of South America with a cuisine built on corn, cheese, meat, and mandioca — what most of the world calls yuca or cassava. It is a cuisine of honest ingredients prepared with precision and eaten without ceremony, which is the highest compliment I know how to give.

Sopa paraguaya translates as "Paraguayan soup." It is not soup. It has never been soup. The story — perhaps true, perhaps not, but certainly useful — is that a cook in the 19th century accidentally added too much cornmeal to a soup and found, when it came out of the oven, that she had invented something better. What she made was a dense, eggy cornbread built on fresh cheese and sautéed onion, with a golden crust that cracks when you press it and an interior that stays soft for hours. It feeds a table. It travels well. It is the dish you make when you want to feed people something that will stay with them.

The churrasquito beside it is the simplest grilled meat in the world — thin beef, high heat, salt, the char from real fire. Paraguay is a country where beef is abundant and cooking it simply is a point of pride. Do not complicate it.

المكوِّنات

طريقة التحضير

Sopa paraguaya

  1. Preheat your oven to 180°C. Oil a 23cm square baking dish or cast iron skillet generously — the bottom and sides. Set aside.
  2. Sauté the diced white onion in one tablespoon of neutral oil over medium heat for eight minutes, until soft and translucent. Not golden. Soft. There is a difference. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
  3. Whisk together the cornmeal, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs until uniform, then whisk in the milk, sour cream, and oil. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined — it will be thick, closer to a batter than a dough. Fold in the cooked onion, the spring onions, and the crumbled cheese. The cheese does not melt into the batter. It stays as distinct pieces. This is correct.
  4. Pour into the prepared dish. The surface will be uneven. Leave it. Bake at 180°C for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top is deeply golden and cracked, the edges pull away from the sides, and a skewer inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs — not wet batter, not dry. You will know the difference. If the top darkens before the center is set, tent it loosely with foil and continue.
  5. Rest for ten minutes before cutting. It cuts cleanly and holds its shape. This is not an accident — it is the eggs setting the structure. Serve warm or at room temperature. Both are correct.

Mandioca

  1. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add the frozen yuca pieces and cook for twenty to twenty-five minutes until completely tender when pierced with a knife — they should offer no resistance at all. Drain and serve as they are, or toss briefly in butter and salt. Do not add more complexity than this. The yuca is the starch. Let it be the starch.

Churrasquito

  1. Get a grill or heavy cast iron pan to the highest heat possible. This is not negotiable. Season the beef pieces generously on both sides with coarse salt and black pepper. Add a thin film of oil to the pan.
  2. Cook the pieces two to three minutes per side without moving them. You want char — real dark char at the edges, a crust that sounds hollow when you tap it. The interior should be medium, with a faint blush. Cut one piece to check. If it needs more time, give it more time. Do not serve grey beef.
  3. Rest two minutes. Slice against the grain if using skirt steak.

Tomato-onion salad

  1. Arrange the tomato slices on a plate. Scatter the onion rings over the top. Whisk together the oil and vinegar with salt and pepper and pour over. Scatter parsley if using. This salad does not require more than five minutes and it should not receive more than five minutes.

Cutting against the grain — why it changes the entire texture of the meat

Muscle fibers in beef run in a specific direction — the grain. Cutting with the grain means your knife follows the fibers, leaving long, tough strands that require significant chewing. Cutting against the grain means your knife cuts through the fibers, shortening them dramatically. The result is meat that appears to dissolve in the mouth compared to the same cut sliced the other way. For skirt steak especially — which is a working muscle with long, pronounced fibers — this distinction is the difference between a tender bite and a demanding one. Look at the surface of the meat. Find the direction the lines run. Turn the meat 90 degrees. Cut.

On the sopa: If your center is still wet at 45 minutes, do not panic. Cover with foil and give it ten more minutes. The eggs need to fully set. Underbaked sopa paraguaya is a disappointment that can be recovered. Overbaked sopa paraguaya is edible but not the thing you are making.

Every country carries its kitchen with it. Tonight, both of them come to the table.

Why these two plates belong together

The American smash burger and the Paraguayan plate share more than a kickoff time tonight. Both are built on the same principle: honest ingredients, high heat, no apology.

The smash burger is a study in the Maillard reaction — thin beef against extreme heat, crust forming in seconds, cheese melted by steam rather than time. Every component earns its place. The fries are twice-cooked because once is not enough. The pickles cut through the fat because something must.

Sopa paraguaya is a study in structure — egg sets the batter, cheese holds the flavor, onion carries the sweetness, cornmeal gives it weight. It is not flashy. It has been feeding people for two centuries because it works, not because it is interesting. The churrasquito beside it is the fastest thing on this table and the least complicated. It needs only two things: heat and salt. It will give you more than you gave it.

Together these plates make a proper meal. Eat the sopa first — it is warm from the oven and it holds. Let the burger come off the pan and go straight to the table. The yuca alongside, the salad bright against everything else.

The match starts at 9 p.m. in Los Angeles. You have time. Use it.