Famous Spanish chef embraces Chinese cuisine

Spain's Elena Arzak says traditional Chinese cuisine has been a long-time inspiration for her dishes. "My father and I have always been greatly influenced by Chinese cuisine as we have always liked it," says Arzak, whose father is the famous and award-winning chef Juan Mari Arzak.

Father and daughter work together in their restaurant, Arzak, located in the village of Alza, now part of the city of San Sebastian in northern Spain. The restaurant has received numerous accolades from the mid-'70s onwards, including a third star in the prestigious Michelin Guide in 1989.Arzak has been touted as one of the 10 best restaurants in the world, and Elena Arzak now also directs Ametsa with Arzak Instruction at the Halkin in London, which has one Michelin star.

Arzak says she has always really liked Chinese cuisine and one of the first books her father gave her was The Heritage of Chinese Cooking. "There I discovered many recipes," she says, adding, "we have always liked ... how they use sesame oil, spices. I love Sichuan pepper!"

While the "pepper that numbs the mouth" attracted her attention and taste buds, she says, "you cannot give it to everyone because for some people it would be too strong".

Arzak visited China in 2010, where she participated in the Shanghai World Expo involving 217 countries. On the "Day of Spain", she prepared dishes such as melon bread with ham, anchovies with strawberries, cod omelet and "chocolate burger", among others at the Melia Hotel.

"The experience was very interesting because I worked with the head chef at the Melia, who was Spanish, and with a Chinese team," she says.

Chinese cuisine drew Arzak's attention for several reasons, but what appealed to her most was the soups. "I really liked the soups, how they added soy and tofu to them. I found it amazing, any soup was good," she says, stressing that the Chinese have a good command of how to make soup.

Arzak also appreciates the diversity and history of Chinese cuisine. "It's a huge country and has many different cuisines. I loved it, it is a very ancient cuisine, also what I liked about the Chinese cuisine is that they eat everything, from rooster combs to the legs," she says.

Visiting China continues to be a source of inspiration for her dishes. For her, the most important thing is flavor and "making good use of the products and raw materials."

She is famously passionate about constantly evolving her technical skill and experimenting with both flavors and colors: "I often say that color is an extra flavor."

At her family's restaurant, there is a research area where they have a "bank of flavors" that stores about 1,500 ingredients, from black lemons from Iran to swallows' nests. "Not all of them are used," she says, "but when we need to finish a dish, we look around and always find something".

Among the latest creations coming out of the kitchen of Arzak is the duck with guitar shavings, which are used for smoking the dish.

Chef Arzak will be part of the prize committee that will evaluate the nominations for the Basque Culinary World Prize, an annual award in San Sebastian that will reward a chef for positive contributions to society.

China Daily contributed to this story.