The many facets of Peru

Peru is a perfect representation of the Strength of Freedom. This is why the South American country had to participate in Identità Milano 2016: because it’s a natural mix of cultures and thus cuisines, «and don’t call it fusion, which too often falls into confusion», says from the stage Sanjay Dwivedi, who’s Indian but cooks Peruvian food in London. One of many stories worth telling.

There’s that of Mitsuharu Tsumura. A Peruvian with that name? Indeed, because in the late 19th century, Lima and the surroundings were the landing place for many people: Chinese (there are 3K restaurants in town serving dishes from China), Spanish, Africans, Creole, Italians, especially from Genoa (you can find local versions of minestrone, carpaccio, pesto…) and of course Japanese, such as Mitsuharu, who points out: «Our story is a story of freedom, biodiversity and micro-climates».

How can you make the culinary styles of Japan and Peru meet if 20 thousand km of oceans set them apart? By contrast and assonance: «The contrast is in the general tone. Peruvian cuisine is hard rock, strong, spicy, vibrant. Japanese is classical music, it’s subtler, delicate and focused on products». Yet sushi recalls ceviche… The result is nikkei cuisine, of which Tsumura is a sublime representative. For instance, he prepares a sausage with paiche, a large fish from the Amazon, which can weigh up to 300 kg, with octopus and another fish, similar to abalone. He cuts a slice and places it on some rice cooked and then dehydrated and fried, seasoned with chips of dry bonito. Then ripe chargrilled plane tree, and an emulsion of sacha tomate and ponzu.

It’s then the turn of the guys from Pacifico, a Milanese fine dining Peruvian restaurant which we presented here. On stage we had the three young partners, Guillaume Desforges, Jacopo Signani and Leonardo Signani (the first is from Paris, the others from Carrara) as well as the young chef, Peruvian Ernesto Espinoza, who cooks in the same way he speaks Italian, that is to say well. «His secret? Freshness and simplicity». At Pacifico the Amazon ceviche with sea bass has a touch of hazelnuts, acidified shallot, sugar and coriander, on top of the inevitable leche de tigre, an emulsion of fish stock and lime, with a complex balance. Then we move to causa, another traditional delicacy based on a cold purée of yellow potatoes, which in the restaurant in Via della Moscova is served de-structured, seasoned with onion mayo, coriander and cream of rocoto chilli peppers, very fresh red tuna and a purée of avocado emulsified with lime, milk and salt. Mullet bottarga is grated at the end.

We’ve already mentioned Dwivedi’s story: born in London, he lives in India for a long time and then returns to London – the city of freedom par excellence –, and gets a Michelin star for his Indian restaurant. He charms an entrepreneur, Arjun Waney, who already owns popular places in London such as Roka and Zuma, and offers him to become the chef of his new restaurant: Coya. Except Coya offers Peruvian food: «Do you feel like learning its secrets?». «No». But people change their minds: two weeks and 36 meals in Peru later, Dwivedi returns to London where he has a deserted kitchen at his disposal where he can experiment again and again. The result is a Peruvian menu with a contaminated style yet with rigorous harmonious foundations: «You need the perfect balance between lime, fish and chilli pepper to get the right leche de tigre». At Coya they serve 12 different types, because they are flexible: «We also have a place in Miami. Over there they love mackerel so we often use that fish. In Dubai they adore vegetables, so we create many vegetarian ceviche recipes». There are a thousand possibilities in the kitchen: «You don’t need to put coriander, many Italian chefs are not fond of it. You can add a sweet potato, or wasabi, or celery or ginger juice, or one made with king prawn carapaces, or sesame oil, or tomato, or artichoke...». What’s important is for the foundations to be pure and the raw materials excellent: «We receive 4 types of lime every day. But we only use the juice from the first pressing because the one that follows is enriched with essential oils which give a bitter taste that doesn’t suit ceviche [while it’s excellent for other recipes]».

The session ends with Peruvian Virgilio Martinez: «We till the soil, work with the soil. We’ve been made aware of the Andes’ culture and we want to communicate it in the best way. We wanted our restaurant to have a sort of transcendence. Is it too big a word? Years ago we began to explore the peaks of Peru, and found incredible ecosystems, very varied micro-climates only a few minutes apart. We wanted to represent this in the dish right from the start». Today Martinez’s work is experiencing a later phase, even more delicate: offering a cuisine that recalls even the cultural ecosystem, which is more complex to understand. At Identità Milano he presents dishes that perfectly represent the many facets of Peru: one recalls the ecosystem of mangroves in the North, with black snails, seafood, an extract from the white pulp of cocoa, leche de tigre with desert cactus, leaves of camote (sweet potato) and a crispy web made with a cream of dehydrated camote. In the second recipe, which recalls the desert surrounding Lima, chips of edible clay show off.