Many people have probably already come across gastronomic twists, when key ingredients in well-known dishes are changed, so that in the end these positions begin to play with new flavors. This trend has existed for several decades and is called fusion, and its main principle is the mixing of different culinary traditions and cooking techniques. In recent years, fusion culture is experiencing another boom, thanks to which restaurant menus are replenished with new creative treats. "Izvestia" found out how this trend is developing in Russia by the example of hybrid dishes created by chefs of restaurants from different regions of our country.
Peking octopus
The emergence of this dish is largely due to the increased interest of Russian restaurant guests in Chinese cuisine, many of which have become clear favorites. Among them is Peking duck - an invariable decoration of the festive table on the New Year according to the lunar calendar in the Celestial Empire. But in Coba restaurants (Moscow) instead of the bird they serve octopus with the usual set of ingredients for Chinese classics - thin flatbreads, shavings of fresh vegetables, hoisin sauce and spicy mix with bonito tuna shavings.
- This is an interesting twist, in which familiar but more delicate shades of Peking duck can be easily guessed, - Eldar Muradov, brand-chef of Coba restaurants, told Izvestia. - However, the main thing is still the taste of octopus marinated and cooked with sauces and spices. I love this seafood and I am sure that it is better to cook it whole rather than one tentacle at a time, as it tastes better that way.
Half a Peking octopus.
According to our interlocutor, from the gastronomic point of view, such twists bring new flavors and new combinations, because any experiments are the engine of gastronomy. At the same time, he specified that not all experiments are successful, but a few percent of successful finds usually stay with us for a long time.
Jiaoji dumplings and potato cake-inspired munchake
Creating hybrids makes it much easier for chefs to be creative, as the process of interpreting well-known dishes doesn't require as much effort as creating an entirely new item. At the same time, many guests respond better to familiar names of treats, even if they are, in fact, experimental.
- In our menu dzyaodzi are called dumplings only because otherwise they will be chosen less often, - admits Dmitry Bogachev, chef and co-owner of Mr. Bo restaurant (St. Petersburg). - We cook them with shrimp using Asian technology - it is not at all what we expect from the usual dumplings, but the dish has been at the top of the sales list for years.
Chocolate munchake with "Potato" flavor.
In the set dedicated to the Chinese New Year, our expert also included a hybrid dessert, which was inspired by Chinese yuebing moon gingerbread, also often called munchies. In the new version, the dish fully repeats the traditional form of Chinese gingerbread, but inside it embodies the chef's childhood memories of the rich taste of the favorite "potato" cake based on sponge cake crumbs mixed with cream made of butter, condensed milk and cocoa.
Lazy carbonara dumplings and lasagna with Russian pancakes
Experimenting in the fusion style, chefs usually draw from the familiar properties of dishes and products that they would like to play with in a new way. The result is not only a new flavor, but also an unexpected intriguing item name, so that guests may want to try it for the first time out of curiosity.
- Everyone cooks sweet lazy dumplings, but I wanted to make them savory, and since they are on the breakfast menu, the recipe logically included bacon," said Arina Zhuravleva, head chef of Cape restaurant (Moscow). - The result was lazy carbonara dumplings made of salted cottage cheese with carbonara sauce in a creamy Parmesan mousse with crispy bacon crumbles.
Lazy carbonara dumplings.
For the Shrovetide menu, our interviewee also prepared a twist with pancakes. Their shape suggested the idea to prepare Russian-style lasagna with stewed duck and parmesan foam.
Arancini sushi and tonnato sprat
Any national cuisine can serve as a basis for gastronomic twists, but the combination of Japanese and Italian culinary traditions is especially popular nowadays. This gastronomic symbiosis is commonly called "itameshi". This is a relatively new phenomenon for Russia, but many chefs are already active in it.
- Arancini sushi is especially popular with our guests," Mark Shah Akbari, concept chef of Moscow restaurants Moon and Fish Culture, shared details. - They are slices of salmon and hamachi, which we put on arancini rice balls, serve them with avocado sauce and decorate them with black caviar and sea urchin caviar.
Sushi salmon-hamachi arancini sushi.
A lot of hybrid dishes today are based on the Italian appetizer vitello tonnato. In its classic form, it consists of thinly sliced slices of beef marinated in a special sauce that makes them similar in flavor to tuna. In summer, instead of meat in this dish you can often find fresh vegetables, such as peppers or cabbage, and, of course, juicy tomatoes. And in winter there are variants with fish. For Fish Culture restaurants, concept chef Shah Akbari has invented a version with delicately salted sprat, which is laid on a sauce and added to it pickled ramiro peppers and burnt capers.
Sprat with peppers and vitello sauce
According to our interlocutor, gastronomic culture can develop in the synergy of different culinary traditions, but in his opinion the cuisines of the East and France, Italy and Russia, Asia and the Russian North are particularly well connected. It is important to know the basics of combining products and not to limit your imagination.
Borscht cappuccino
Many dishes that were once hybrid are gradually gaining the status of classic dishes. The same tonnato sauce was first tried to add to meat as a trial, and now it is an established combination that does not cause doubts. Perhaps the hybrids of Russian and Italian dishes created by Mirko Dzago, the chef of Onest restaurant (Moscow), for the author's set "Russian Fairy Tale" will follow the same path.
- My borscht-cappuccino is a game of combinations and a real gastronomic experiment, - admits our expert. - At first I had thoughts about fish borscht, and I also remembered an interesting serving of soup with crab phalanges on the Kuril Islands and decided to combine these ideas. In developing the dish, I wanted to preserve the familiar flavors of crab and borscht.
Capuccino cappuccino borscht-poo in the set
According to our interlocutor, the characteristic flavor of borscht appears in his hybrid thanks to red cabbage, which is stewed with bay leaf. Also added to the soup are crab broth, a paste of onions, carrots and tomatoes, bisque sauce based on carrot juice, as well as beets, which gives the dish a rich color and sweetness. As a result, the flavors of borscht and crab harmoniously combine, alternating rather than mixing. Rounding out and integral to the course is a creamy, creamy beet crema reminiscent of milk foam on coffee, as well as dried carrots instead of cinnamon. In addition to the hybrid borscht, the set also includes pirozhki a la focaccia with cabbage, mushroom and stroganoff sauce kisel, Flotsky-style pasta with mustard pasta and vinaigrette, and other interesting items.
Homemade pasta from yesterday's bread
The origin story of many twists or mix dishes from different cultures can go back several centuries. For example, echoes of Asian cuisine, the oldest of all traditional cuisines, can be found in a wide variety of culinary traditions today.
- In my understanding, new hybrid dishes are invented in two ways nowadays," Nikolai Bobrov, brand-chef of the Tunguska restaurant (Krasnoyarsk), shared his opinion with our publication. - It is either a traditional recipe or technique, transposed onto modern local or imported products, or a borrowed recipe, but prepared purely from local ingredients.
Homemade noodles with Magadan shrimp and porcini mushrooms in shrimp bisque with dried yolk
Our interlocutor also confessed that he loves pasta and always wanted his guests to share his passion, but this dish in its classic version is not at all consonant with the concept of modern Siberian cuisine. So he decided to create its northern analog, preserving the Italian ritual of serving pasta in a head of cheese. The chef prepares homemade noodles, which are rolled not on semolina flour, but on crumbs from yesterday's borodino bread. This ingredient is responsible for the color, texture and taste of the dish. Instead of a cheese head, in which pasta is traditionally finished, Tunguska uses a circle of smoked marble fat with spices. The dish is served with Magadan shrimp and porcini mushrooms in a shrimp bisque with dried egg yolk.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
