A Japanese, an Ecuadorian and a Colombian… No, it doesn’t seem like a joke: It is the World Paella Day podiuman international competition that has been held in the city of Valencia for four editions and where different chefs from around the world are invited to reinterpret Valencian paella.
Only the sky is the limit in this tasty contest that, in 2023, has ended up being crowned as king of rice dishes to chef Kohei Hatashita, Japanese representative, in a tough gastronomic contest with rivals who come from countries almost as far away as Colombia, Ecuador or the United States.
Although in the contest there were also chefs from Romania, Germany, Italy, Poland or France, who attended this contest organized by different Valencian entities such as the City Council, the Provincial Council and the Tourism Department of the Valencian Community.
However, it was Hatashita who ended up leading the way with a recipe that, although it may not sound canonical, the truth is that it has all the necessary elements to be more than Valencian: orange duck rice with leek garlic.
Ingredients that, seeing what other chefs used, can have a lot of Valencian accent compared to the Transylvanian black truffles, pastrami, coconut milk, the black garlic compote or the Andean potatoes that other contestants used.
Duck rice with orange and leek. ©World Paella Day.
Evaluated at all times by an exceptional jury, made up of professional chefs and hoteliers, as well as other winners of the World Paella Day, it seems that Hatashita’s compositions, which to reach the final also He prepared a fairly classic rice, They pleased everyone.
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Before conquering with her orange duck rice, distributing the duck magret on the surface of the rice and small slices of leek, Hatashita made her way to the final with a eel and mushroom ricewhich we already say is quite Valencian and does not make us doubt that the Japanese chef had his homework well done.
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