Carlos Hernández (ABaC) wins the Asian Culinary Awards
Out of more than a hundred proposals received in the eighth edition of the Asian Culinary Awards competition, only three made it to a final that was won by Carlos Hernández, second in command of ABaC*** (Barcelona).
He has done so with his Thai-inspired chicken ramen consisting of a broth with romesco noodles accompanied by ninoyaki (Japanese fritter) filled with Thai chicken with mirin mayonnaise.
Hernández competed with a broth made from toasted chicken carcasses, beef bones, bacon, leek and spring onion cooked for 12 hours at 100 degrees, to which he also added kaffir lime, ginger and coriander to give it the Thai touch he wanted.
In that broth he submerged the pasta dressed with romesco touched with curry, poached quail egg, cured yolk, maitake mushroom and slices of tonkatsu chicken marinated in coconut milk and teriyaki sauce.
The ninoyaki, besides being a great accompaniment to his ramen, was a testament to using up leftovers, as he filled it with seared chicken breasts and scraps of meat from the carcasses, he explained to 7Caníbales. This creation has earned him a trip to an Asian country of his choice valued at 3,000 euros.
In second place, with a prize of 1,000 euros, was Marcos Castillo, from the Arya restaurant in Úbeda (Jaén), where he offers Asian-inspired dishes alongside traditional local fare. In fact, he competed with a seafood ramen inspired by gazpachuelo, in which he substituted coconut milk for mayonnaise, a dish he plans to add to his menu.
And the third place and its corresponding 500 euros went to Javier Manceras (Hotel Only You in Malaga) and his Malaga ramen with dried dogfish and egg yolk cured in PX.
The final of this competition, organized by UDOM Asian Food, which has 73 restaurants and more than 850 employees in the main cities of the peninsula, was held on the last day of HIP (Horeca Professional Expo) and featured a jury made up of Jordi Pascual, co-founder of UDOM Asian Food; the gastronomic entrepreneur Jiaping Ma, the founder of the blog Comer Japonés, Roger Ortuño, and the director of 7Caníbales, the journalist Pilar Salas, who evaluated the dishes.
following criteria such as taste, texture, aroma, technique, composition, presentation or innovation of the proposal.
