Healthy, creative and local cuisine proposals: foodies have had a new virtual meeting point for a few months now, the Vichy Catalan Gastronomic Experience. It is a space where prestigious national and international chefs show their passion for cooking and gastronomy and share their recipes. All of them, with the distinctive touch of Vichy Catalan waters, either as an ingredient or as a perfect accompaniment. The initiative represents a further step in the historical relationship that the mineral water brand has always had with gastronomy and with the best chefs.
The objective is to create a community between chefs and the public to show how to take advantage of the characteristic mineralization and natural properties of Vichy Catalan water when cooking, since its use provides a great wealth of nuances and flavors in the final result of the dishes. Due to its composition, in addition to being an excellent pairing water, Vichy Catalan can be used as an ingredient in various dishes.
Especially interesting is its contribution in the preparation of batters and tempuras, where it achieves a different texture, or in any boil, where its mineral properties provide an extra flavor. The true protagonists of the Vichy Catalan Gastronomic Experience are the chefs, including some such as David Heras from Barcelona, ​​from the Delicious restaurant, at the Gran Hotel Balneari Vichy Catalan, a specialist in cooking with the prestigious carbonated mineral water.
Foodies will also find attractive creations by Ollie Dabbous, chef at London’s Hide restaurant, which has a Michelin star, or Ramon Simarro, chef at Madrina Tapas in Canada. Through their advice, readers will be able to add new ideas to their culinary repertoire to surprise their guests with sophisticated recipes or discover how with a few simple steps you can cook healthy and fast, since they have different levels of difficulty.
Thus, for example, David Heras proposes an artichoke with shrimp tartare, egg and truffle. A perfect gourmet recipe to start a 5-star experience that will not leave any diner indifferent and with which any lover of cooking will be able to shine.
Heras, who confesses that he grew up in the kitchen and that cooking has lived in him for as long as he can remember, at the age of 34 he has won numerous awards thanks to his cooking, a mixture of traditional flavors, seasonal products and avant-garde cuisine. For his part, Ramon Simarro proposes from Canada some surprising black squid croquettes, a real twist on that starter that always triumphs at any table. An eye-catching recipe like all those of this chef, who has extensive experience behind him both in traditional food restaurants and in Michelin-starred restaurants, where, for example, Via Veneto or Can Fabes, in Spain, and Pearl Restaurant or Zuma, in the United Kingdom, among others.
Currently, he directs the kitchens of the Madrina restaurant, where he triumphs with his creations, which, as he himself explains, “combine fantasy with the classics.” The most fresh is the proposal that comes with Ollie Dabbous, who reinvents with great imagination the way to enjoy Vichy Catalan, adding borage and celery to give it a very special touch. The chef at Hide, a restaurant that has the largest wine cellar in Europe, assures that he identifies “with cooking that respects the integrity of the ingredients and the work that goes into their production.”
Under this philosophy, he focuses his culinary proposal on the product, where he seeks to highlight the qualities of each one in the most organic and respectful way and becomes a unique experience. Rafuel, for his part, shows that the romesco sauce is much more than one of the protagonists of the calçotadas, and he prepares it as a surprising accompaniment to some delicious asparagus from Navarra. The veteran chef, whose real name is Rafa AntonÃn, is one of the most influential chefs in the country, with more than 700,000 followers on the networks. His cuisine, close and with quality products, has made him one of the public’s favorites, of which he admits to being very aware: “I like to cook what my followers want to see,” says the influencer. Cheese bubbles with Vichy Catalan, cockle and avocado ceviche salad or cherry tomato and cherries salmorejo with blue cheese are just a few examples of the other delicacies with which the project’s chefs will whet the readers’ appetite.
Vichy Catalan has more than 140 years of history. It all began in 1881, when Dr. Modest Furest Roca discovered the mineral-medicinal properties of the water that flowed from a spring with its own gas in Caldes de Malavella, in the La Selva region. In 1890, the Vichy Catalan brand was registered and began to be sold in pharmacies, and three years later the first stone of the spa was laid. Thus began a successful business initiative, with numerous milestones, such as the inauguration in 1959 of an innovative bottling plant, the beginning of the diversification of the brand, in 1979, and the choice of Vichy Catalan and Font d’Or as Olympic waters in the Barcelona 92 ​​Games. Since then, the brand has been innovating year after year, until positioning itself as the category leader thanks to its mineral composition, which gives it unmistakable properties and flavor.
