Steamed Aubergines Marinated with Szechuan Pepper and Bigorre Black Pork Belly

Berenjenas al Vapor Marinadas con Pimienta Sechuan y Panceta de Cerdo Noir de Bi
Yam´Tcha
Chef: Adeline Grattard
Country: France
City: 75001 París
Address: 4, Sauval
(+33) 0140260807

She is expected to become a famous figure of the cuisine world. After working with Pascal Barbot (Astrance) and in Hong Kong, she opened this tiny and traditional restaurant in 2009, which welcomes 20 guests and whose kitchen is just 6-7 m2 for … four cooks! However, this limitation and her short experience on her own didn’t prevent her from proposing one of the most interesting tables in Paris in a dazzling period of time.
Her haute cuisine, clearly Asian as well as innovative, without sophistications, is for now eclectic, even difficult to define. What we can definitely say is that it has got an enormous personality and that it is different from any other. We are sure that in the course of time –the chef is still young and her project has just started–, she will define her style. She has got the necessary talents to do so. Talents and modesty. Modesty and persistence. Persistence and enthusiasm. Enthusiasm and vitality. Vitality and passion for what she does. Cooking makes her really happy, fascinates her and makes her dream… She is a kind of Cinderella, who dreams with moderation, without vanity. Utter talented realism: this is what we find here.
Here is one of the star dishes of the house, synonymous with mental essentiality and palatal explosion: the belly pork cooked at low temperature on big pieces of aubergine previously cooked and sautéed in a wok, generously spiced, whose pepper electric sensation is softened by the vegetable’s fleshiness. The whole is completed with a clear oriental touch of soy, ginger, sesame oil…



The Recipe



  

 

 

 4 aubergines
10 g Sezchuan pepper
2 garlic cloves
10 g ginger
1 tablespoonful sugar
2 tablespoonful clear soy sauce
2 tablespoonful sesame oil
1 teaspoonful chili paste
200 g Bigorre black pork belly  
 
 
METHOD
 
Slightly sauté the garlic, the chopped ginger, the chilli and the Sezchuan pepper. Add the soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil. Set aside.
Cut the aubergines in halves, cover with the marinade and steam for 10 minutes.
Let cool down and remove the skin.
Strain the juice, pour onto the aubergines and marinate for at least 12 hours.
Cut the pork belly into very thin slices.
Arrange the aubergines, sprinkle with chopped coriander and cover with pork belly previously cooked at low temperature in a plastic bag.