At first sight puri (also known as Pura chilensis) Not the most delicious seafood. Although it is served all over the Chilean coast, its strong iodine flavor as well as its “ugly” appearance may not be appealing to consumers, who prefer the milder flavors of mussels, clams, matcha, and loco, a Chilean snail. It is usually taken with it. mayonnaise.
but, And now that chefs are starting to creatively incorporate it into their dishes, Puri could be the next hero From the Chilean cuisine.
Originally from the Peruvian and Chilean coasts, Buri It’s a jacket (also known as sea squirt), marine animal An invertebrate that feeds by sucking water through one siphon and expelling it through another, which sounds like something from another world.
Each piece is rock-solid in appearance, and is made up of dozens of clustered peure, adorned with what appear to be warts and tufts of hair (moss). In the bustling port of Valparaiso, on Chile’s central coast, puree is sold in its natural rock form, or cleaned and ready-to-eat.
The customer requests pure without removing it from the rock. When the seller lifts it up to put it on the scale, the animal squirts sea water from small holes in its surface. Although there are different types of puri in the world, only puri chilensis are edibleexplains Pilar Hay, deputy director of the Millennium Institute for Coastal Ecological and Social Sciences (SECOS).
Hay explains that the seductive form of the rock outfit is a base class that can be made up of thousands of individuals living in a matrix society. “The soft red body is the part you can eat, and it’s surrounded by something like a rock,” he says. “It’s an exoskeleton that a Bior produces to live in.”.
Chef Rodrigo Sepulveda Vargas goes to the port of Valparaiso to buy purees for his Quintaycocina restaurant.
He remembers eating it when he was very young and it fascinated him. “It’s like diving into the sea with your mouth wide open, because it tastes like the ocean.”she says as she puts on her apron in the kitchen of her restaurant. “The puri is not part of the traditional Chilean cuisine, it is mostly eaten by hunters,” says Sepúlveda Vargas, who appreciates its nutritional properties. “Pure contains iron and iodine and is rich in vitamins. My job is to get people used to taking it.”
At his restaurant, Sepulveda Vargas washes the smelly rocks before slashing their smooth, porous surface with a knife. Then begins the fleshy and bright red purée. Drag about ten little creatures from one rock.
The preparation of puri in Chile, a country with 6,435 kilometers of coastline, varies from gulf to gulf: in the cooler regions of the south, puri is hung up and allowed to dry, then added to soups and stews. in the arid north, Peor is eaten fresh, raw, and seasoned with lemon juice sauce.
For those trying a puree for the first time, Sepúlveda Vargas recommends eating it in an empanada. In Quintaycocina, combine small amounts of chopped puri with onions, cilantro, and cheese. He puts the filling inside the empanada dough, which is then fried.
While coastal communities have long enjoyed the taste of puri, many chefs in Santiago (96 km from the coast) are trying to persuade people to eat it now in the capital.. Thanks to a global gastronomy initiative to source local ingredients, pure has become a star ingredient in some of the best restaurants One of the luxurious upper-class neighborhoods in the capital.
At Burago, the country’s most exclusive restaurant, Chef Rodolfo Guzman transforms the signature flavor of puri into ceviche with oysters. To better understand the flavor and texture of purees, Guzmán experimented with different cooking techniques. Thus he verified that the skin of the biur had a “very acidic … and very acidic flavour”, while the interior was “intense and full of iodine”.
Guzmán discovered that separating the sea spray and using the rind and the interior in different recipes was key to showcasing its unique and varied essence and flavour. For example, the skin is perfect in light, floral spring ceviche, while the inside is best with heavier garro (fish sauce). “Burajo has something to do with the momentum on the Chilean soil”Guzman says, and explains that his foundation was born with a mission to use ingredients endemic to Chile in unprecedented ways.
Piure is one of Guzmán’s favorite ingredients. “It opens up a whole new range of cooking possibilities.” On the restaurant’s winter menu, Guzmán serves seafood pesto that blends the potent interior ingredients of purée with seaweed extracts atop marscal, a hot seafood stew.
“It’s very soft. It doesn’t bite a whole fish, we incorporate the flowers and beauty of the sea,” he says. “The peuri has it all.” Although it may sound annoying, Guzmán explains that when it comes to the peuri, the key is It’s the amount used.You want to add an accent, but not overwhelm the palette. “Proportion in the kitchen is as important as the quality of the ingredients”comment.
Rivero Pérez “loves” Guzmán’s experiments with puri, but he also appreciates Santiago’s seafood restaurants like La Calma, Squella, and El Ancla for serving puri in a more simple and traditional way, as in soups or chopped raw in salads. “They bring people closer to pure, it is in its natural state, straight from the sea.”.
Rivero Pérez considers the albiuri a “beautiful” shellfish and hopes that more Chileans will dare to discover its flavour. Back in Quintaycocina, Sepúlveda Vargas whips up a puri salad mixed with onions, cilantro, lettuce, and copious amounts of lime juice to balance out the puri’s intense, mineral flavour.
He also puts the pisco in a blender with the remaining purees, then strains this mixture into a small cup so that people can extract the taste from it. Sepúlveda Vargas places the puri salad on a piece of toast and takes a first bite. “I love him”.
* Written by Charisse McGowan
