Lorraine sang |
Beijing (EFE).- With different cuisines but very close philosophies when it comes to sitting at the table, Spain and China combine their gastronomy these days in Beijing to celebrate, either with chopsticks or with a fork and knife, the 50 years of relations between the two countries.
Emblematic Spanish products and dishes such as olive oil, Iberian ham and ribs or black garlic will pass through the sieve of the culinary techniques of the Asian country in dishes created together by the Spanish chef Rodrigo de la Calle and Dadong, one of the most acclaimed Chinese chefs and both Michelin star laureates.
This is an initiative promoted by the Embassy of Spain and organized by Turespaña within the fiftieth anniversary of diplomatic ties between Spain and China and also the Dual Year of Tourism Culture.
Back and forth snacking
De la Calle, a lover of Chinese cuisine who has been traveling to Beijing for almost a decade, highlighted to EFE the similarities between the two countries when it comes to sitting at the table, “the way of eating.”
“What in Spain we call pecking, where a lot of us get together and put a lot of dishes in the center to share, is the essence of eating in China. Everyone eats with the food in the center and everything is to share”, she explained.
With what unites the two countries in mind, the two chefs have created a fusion and avant-garde menu that will be offered for several days in the famed Dadong restaurants in the capital and consists of eight courses and a four-course wine pairing. Spanish designations of origin.
Among them, the “zongzi” of Iberian ham -a small cone of rice typical of the Dragon Boat festival that is now celebrated in China-, the Chinese-style Iberian rib with piquillo pepper, the lacquered duck with olive caviar or the tuna salad with tomato soup that evokes the summers in Andalusia.
Paella with a lot of seafood
And of course the seafood paella, which according to De la Calle is “the icon of Spanish gastronomy in China” together with Iberian ham, “our business card in the world”.
“In Spain for us it is a dish that in the end has remained for tourism, but it is the icon of anyone in China, they think of Spanish gastronomy and they think of a paella and it also has to be seafood and they like that it has a lot of shellfish on top, more than rice, unlike in Spain, we really like that it has rice and few chunks”, he commented.
And it is that although Chinese and Spanish understand enjoyment at the table in the same way, they also sometimes differ in tastes.
According to the chef, who championed the reinvention of vegetables in haute cuisine with his “Green Revolution”, the “great handicap” for Spanish chefs here is that “the Chinese palate is not capable of assimilating the saltiness of our cuisine ”, which they find too salty despite their taste for strong bases such as fermented sauces or soy.
Nor are they fans of the acidity of citrus fruits, despite the fact that in their kitchen “they can withstand vinegar at very high levels”, nor of excessive sugar in desserts, which De la Calle reduces in half in his recipes when he prepares them. in China.
There are no spring rolls in China.
Not so Dadong, the other half of the tandem creator of the menu, who told EFE that during his career he has absorbed many ideas from Western gastronomy, “but above all from Spanish cuisine” and mythical names such as Ferran Adriá.
“We use Iberian ham to cook Chinese dishes, for example in small pieces to prepare Chinese fish, and we also use Spanish olive oil a lot because of its intense flavor,” he stressed.
Both chefs also hoped that initiatives like this would bring the “real” recipes of their countries closer to the public, since, according to De la Calle, “fighting against the stigma of Chinese restaurants in the West is very complicated.”
“When a Chinese sees spring rolls with sweet and sour sauce, he throws his hands up,” laughs the Spanish chef about a dish that does not really exist in China, like the famous three delicious rice, which in the Asian country It is a dish from the Sichuan region “made with cucumber, lotus root and green beans”.