I NEED TO EAT尋味之旅

Slow-aged steak from the culinary capital of Spain來自西班牙美食之都的慢熟牛扒

Slowly cooked Basque steak 細烹慢煮的巴斯克牛扒

OBSESSIVE : MANUEL PALACIO MILES TRAVELLED : 6,373 (HONG KONG – TOLOSA) IN BASQUE, TXULETA

(pronounced ‘chuleta’) means ‘meat chop’. It is a speciality of the region – although traditionally the cattle is actually reared elsewhere, in Galicia, further along the northern Spanish coast. These cattle, which have lovely blond coats, are reared on a strict diet of high- quality grass for around 15 years, which increases the flavour of the meat and causes the beautiful marbling effect.

In summer 2015, I travelled to the Basque region (where my mum is from) to rediscover the roots of what some claim to be the best cooking in Spain. I was looking for the freshest txuleta steak.

I was able to try some great pieces of meat. But let me direct you to a little restaurant called Casa Julian in a tiny village called Tolosa. The city of San Sebastián, just north of the village, is well-known for its high concentration of Michelinstarred restaurants: but with Casa Julian, you wouldn’t even notice it unless you knew it was there.

There, Chef Mathias cooks his ox txuleta – always the same cut from the same breed of cattle – to order in front of every diner. The hefty steaks are topped with a healthy layer of coarse salt that is scraped off before serving. The salt is essential in the preparation of the steaks, giving the meat a charred exterior when grilled and leaving the centre just above rare. It’s cooked for much longer than usual and over a lower heat, so it takes about 15 minutes for the eight to 10 centimetre-thick slab of beef to be cooked properly. It’s the best steak ever.

At The Optimist, we serve txuleta in the same traditional way. We cover the steak in salt before grilling, which draws the blood and moisture to the surface and heightens the flavour. Then it’s sliced and served on top of a hot stone.

Manuel Palacio is the co- owner of The Optimist in Hong Kong, theoptimist.hk; Casa Julian, casajuliandetolosa.com

尋味者： MANUEL PALACIO旅程哩數： 6,373（香港– TOLOSA）

在巴斯克語中， txuleta（讀音為「chulet a」）一字的意思是「肉扒」，一般選用來自西班牙北部沿岸加里西亞區的牛肉來烹調，卻是巴斯克區的特色美食。加里西亞區的牛有漂亮的金黃色毛皮，只以高級優質的青草餵飼，經過15年左右才可供食用。由於飼養時間長，因此肉味更加濃郁，而且脂肪會形成美麗的雲石紋。

我於2015年夏季前往西班牙的巴斯克區（那是我母親的家鄉），想重新發現西班牙一流烹飪的根源，同時尋找最新鮮的txuleta牛扒。

我在當地嚐到不少質優美味的肉類，不過讓我帶你到San Sebas t ián市北部一條小村落Tolosa去，前往一家叫做Casa Julian的小餐廳裡一嚐t xu leta牛扒滋味吧。San Sebastián市以擁有多家米芝蓮星級食府而聞名，不過Casa Julian卻是家並不起眼的餐廳，只有識途老馬才會找得到。

客人點了txuleta牛扒後，餐廳的大廚Mathias就在客人面前即席烹調；他總是選用同一品種的牛相同部位的肉，烹調時在大塊的牛扒上灑上薄薄的一層粗鹽，上桌前就將鹽刮掉。 這層鹽非常重要，在烤牛扒時產生一層焦香的表面，而中心部分則保持微熟鮮嫩。Txuleta牛扒以較低溫度來烹調，所需時間因此亦較一般牛扒長；一塊八至十公分厚的牛扒大約需要15分鐘才會烹調得宜。總之，這是空前美味的牛扒。

我們在The Optimist餐廳奉客的txuleta牛扒，也是以同樣的傳統方式烹調。在燒烤前我們先在牛扒上面灑滿鹽，這樣做可以將血和肉汁吸到表面上，令味道更加濃郁。牛扒烤好後會切片，再放在加熱的石板上上桌。

Manuel Palacio是香港The Optimist餐廳的其中一位東主， theoptimist.hk；CasaJulian餐廳， casajuliandetolosa.com