Carlos Hernández (ABaC) wins the Asian Culinary Awards
Of the more than one hundred proposals submitted to the eighth edition of the competition, only three reached the final, and it was won by Carlos Hernández, second in command of ABaC (Barcelona).
With a Thai-inspired chicken ramen, Hernández won the final. The dish consists of a broth with noodles and romesco sauce, accompanied by ninoyaki (Japanese fritters) filled with Thai chicken and topped with mirin mayonnaise.
The broth was made with roasted chicken carcasses, beef bones, bacon, leek, and spring onion, cooked for 12 hours at 100 degrees Celsius. Hernández added kaffir lime, ginger, and cilantro to give it the Thai touch he was looking for. He then submerged the pasta in this broth, seasoned with romesco sauce and a hint of curry, along with a poached quail egg, a cured egg yolk, maitake mushrooms, and slices of tonkatsu chicken marinated in coconut milk and teriyaki sauce.
The ninoyaki also served as a way to use up leftovers: it was filled with seared chicken breasts and scraps of meat from the bones, as 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). 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. Third place, with 500 euros, went to Javier Manceras (Hotel Only You in Málaga), with his Málaga-style ramen made with dried dogfish and egg yolk cured in Pedro Ximénez sherry.
The final, organized by UDOM Asian Food, was held on the last day of HIP (Horeca Professional Expo). UDOM has 73 restaurants and more than 850 employees in the main cities of the Iberian Peninsula. The jury consisted of Jordi Pascual, co-founder of UDOM Asian Food; restaurateur Jiaping Ma; Roger Ortuño, founder of the blog Comer Japonés (Eat Japanese); and journalist Pilar Salas, director of 7Caníbales, who evaluated the dishes. The decision was based on criteria such as flavor, texture, aroma, technique, composition, presentation, and innovation.