Freshness and sweetness in a double taste. A mouthful from chef Kevin Li's recipe and a sip from Do Ville's Malvasia combined for an enduring feeling of pleasure: it's the amazing outcome for our next journey through the 2020 edition of “Zhong Can Yi Jiu”, the culinary guide from the project “Chinese Cuisines meet Italian Wines”.
In this second chapter we'll introduce you to the second dish especially created for one of Do Ville's “Ars Vivendi” wines.

Kevin Li's extraordinary skills for an extraordinary Malvasia
Some very peculiar Chinese ingredients contribute to a seeming simple dish, which hides instead a masterfully skilled training. Kevin Li is known for his commitment to culinary art and to innovating tradition with his creative ideas. His recipe for Do Ville's "Ars Vivendi" Malvasia is wok fried river shrimps and tallow tree seeds (click here for full ingredients and method).

The flavours all rest in two main ingredients, one a very typical addition to Asian dishes, while the other being a quite unusual choice. Maggi sauce is actually a largely, commonly used seasoning in almost any Asian country. It's a liquid, dark-coloured hydrolyzed vegetable protein-based sauce, looking like soy or Worcester sauce, invented in Switzerland as late as the 19th century and it's very popular as an enhancer for broths and soups. It certainly has some herbs in it, though its formula is still a well-kept secret: there are at least nine variations sold around the world, according to different regions' tastes (the Mexican one is more chili-oriented, for example). Let's say it can be easily found in every Chinese kitchen.
But Chinese tallow tree seed oil really is a rare ingredient, instead. Tallow tree is an ornamental tree native to eastern China and Taiwan, more known for its many industrial uses (the wax which coats its seeds is employed for soaps and candles). The seeds contain two different kinds of fats and the oil is seldom used for cooking purposes. There lies Li's touch of genius!

Beauty and plainness: the Huaiyang cuisine
Chef Li is specialized in Cantonese cuisine (the most widely experienced Chinese cuisine in Italy) and in Huaiyang cuisine. The latter has the ingredients' freshness as its flagship, preferring freshwater fisheries as in the Do Ville's recipe.

Being in the quartet of China's most valued cuisines, it originated in the cities of Huai'an, Yangzhou and Zhenjiang, in the Jiangsu Province (along the rivers Huai and Yangtze, and near the Yellow Sea) and it flaunts ancient roots. Huaiyang cuisine has always been a favourite choice for official banquets since the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.) for a few reasons: each dish is based on its main ingredient and on how it is cut, implying that elaborate slicing skills play a key role for its good-looking dishes, that are cooked carefully over a low fire.

Huaiyang style isn't as spicy as other Chinese cuisines, it tends to be sweeter and simpler instead: that's why chef Li's recipe was paired to a Malvasia, a sweet white wine made of a 100% Istrian Malvasia grapes. In Do Ville “Ars Vivendi” the notes of apple, apricot and plum pleasantly blend in with the shrimps’ texture and their sweet sour coating.

Kevin Li (born in Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province) has over 20 years of culinary experience and worked for international top level hotel restaurants: Fairmont Nanjing, Hilton Wanda Nanjing, Shangri-La Suzhou, Wanda Realm Hotel Dandong and many others. He was awarded many prizes throughout his career, including the title of “Master of Chinese Cuisine” at the “National Culinary Skills Competition” (2013).

Photos taken from Zhong Can Yi Jiu website.

Mountains make up to half of Friuli Venezia Giulia's territory. And its Alps and Pre-Alps hide some incredible hamlets which are like humble jewels in a rocky crown.
One of them is Sutrio, a 1.200 inhabitants' town right in the middle of the Carnic Alps, pretty close to the Austrian border. It's located on the left side of the Bût river and is considered one of the most ancient dwelling place in the whole Carnia area.
What's the magic formula behind its charme? Picturesque stone houses, an excellent woodcrafting tradition, a lot of mountain sports and, of course, tasty local food and wine, too.

A town for skilled hands
Sutrio's story dates back to the XIV century and its narrow, cobbled streets are lined with traditional buildings. Among them, the most interesting are the cramars' houses. Here the term cramar (“peddler” in English) defined mainly spices and fabrics' merchants, and above their front doors usually laid a special sign: a Mercury's cross, the symbol of trade.
Also lining up the streets are sculptures, wooden creations and woodcrafting workshops for which Sutrio is known as the Region's furniture centre. Its marangones, the Friulian word for carpenters, are especially skilled in carving and sculpting. Actually one of the main attractions is the renowned “Presepe di Teno”, a wooden Nativity scene that was hand-made by the late Gaudenzio Straulino: a massive piece of art, representing the whole town with mechanically operated features.
It's thus clear why the most popular events in Sutrio are the annual “Magia del Legno” (The magic of wood) and “Borghi e presepi” (Hamlets and Nativity scenes). “Magia del Legno” is a festival in September which celebrates the town's most important art, with marangones opening up their workshops to the public. And during Christmas time, thanks to “Borghi e presepi” almost in every corner one can spot a Nativity scene, both carved in wood or even played live by local people, while enjoying traditional music and food.

To the mountain's top
From the town centre, one can easily reach up to the ski-lifts that lead to Mount Zoncolan's (1.750 m) and Mount Tamai's (1.970 m) tops. So tourists can equally enjoy the 22 kilometres-long ski runs in wintertime, and no-sweat hiking paths in the summertime.
For example, from Sutrio it can take just about one-hour walk to get to Mount Tamai: and the view from there it's really worthwhile, overlooking the entire Bût Valley and the adjacent Degano Valley. Some of the panoramic paths also lead, of course, to lodges where local products are to be found. Like the extremely delicious shepherd's cottages' cheese, fresh butter and ricotta, and some vigorous grappa to cheer up.

Food & festivals
Other main events go along with typical products and dishes. Like the one completely devoted to cjarsons, a Friulian variation of ravioli, in June. In March, Sutrio celebrates pork meat with “Fums, Profums, Salums”, a feast of local salami treats.
The Hay Festival (“Fasìn la Mede”, mede meaning sheaf) on Mount Zoncolan, in July, recalls the ancient harvest time and works, and is sealed with traditional dishes. And in October, the harvest's otucome can finally be enjoyed: flours are the stars of “Farine di Flôr”, where tourists can taste any kind of flour products. And toast with Friulian wines like a Cabernet, or some fresh Ribolla Gialla and Verduzzo Friulano, maybe paired with polenta, local meat and fresh mushrooms. Well, now we're really drooling!

On Sutrio municipality's website you'll find contacts for bars, restaurants and accomodation: www.comune.sutrio.ud.it. If you want a "one of a kind" experience, you can try the "albergo diffuso" formula: sleeping in private houses as if in a hotel, taking advantage of the privileges offered by both. More info at this link.
And to keep updated with all the events, you'd better check the Proloco Sutrio's website and Facebook page.

Wood working photo and salami photo taken from Proloco Sutrio's Facebook page

What happens when a great Italian wine meets a great Chinese dish? An extraordinary explosion of taste in your mouth, that's all we'd expect. And that's what you'll get from the pairing of our partner Do Ville's “Ars Vivendi” Chardonnay, with the recipe especially created for it by chef Will Chan, included in the 2020 edition of “Zhong Can Yi Jiu”, the culinary guide from the project “Chinese Cuisines meet Italian Wines”, which enlists 140 dishes &wine pairings.

It's the first out of eight recipes that high level Chinese chefs dedicated to as much wines from both our partners Do Ville's and Cantina Rauscedo's white and red wines. Starting from now, in the next articles we'll highlight all of them.

Chef Chan's dish winking at Do Ville's Chardonnay
The refined recipe created by Will Chan for Do Ville's Chardonnay is fried mushrooms and razor clams in XO Sauce. A rejoicing of vivid Asian flavours, in which the razor clams are cooked with ingredients such as XO Sauce and high-grade Shaoxing wine.

XO Sauce is a typical seasoning from Hong Kong, made from dried seafood (usually dried shrimps and scallops), salty Jinhua ham, shallots, garlic, chili and oil. In the Hong Kong slang, XO stands for “high quality, prestige”, meaning that it gives the dish a definite twist of taste.
Shaoxing wine also is a common ingredient, and it's a sort of variation of the more used clear rice wine. What's the difference? It has a more complex and deeper taste, giving the recipe a stronger vibe. It's an esssential ingredient in traditional dishes like the Shanghai-style braised pork belly (Hong Shao Rou).
And it all matches perfectly with DoVille’s Chardonnay, which balances the “umami”* character of the mushrooms mixed with the sea flavour of the clams. The Chardonnay's exquisite notes of green apples, bananas and honey give a boost to the mingling of the different essences in the drinker's mouth. Its good acidity enhance the razor clam's taste and its closing vanilla notes leave a pleasant sensation after the mushrooms. It's made from 100% Chardonnay grapes, and its peculiarity is the “sur lie” method (on the yeasts), where the yeasts are not filtered after the fermentation, which gives more roundness to the wine.

Will Chan has more than 15 years of experience in the field, being a graduate of Master Chef Course in Chinese Cuisine at the Chinese Culinary Institute, and the Executive Chef for Greater China Club. He also worked at a Three Michelin-starred restaurant in Macau and has won several awards in international competitions. Chef Chan is renowned for his unique use of top quality ingredients and different cooking techniques.

About the 2020 "Zhong Can Yi Jiu" guide
It's the second edition of the guide, first published last year, which is part of a very interesting, wider project called “Chinese Cuisines meet Italian Wines”. Promoted by the Italian Wine Bank and produced by The I Factor (organizers of the Italian Cuisine and Wines World Summits and of the Italian Wine List Awards), the program involves 24 talented Chinese chefs from Beijing and Shanghai and is implemented thanks to a collaboration with the Italian Sommelier Association's Club China and the Hong Kong Chinese Culinary Institute.


* UMAMI: a Japanese word meaning “savoury”, explicitly referring to the taste of glutamate given by certain foods, which are rich in proteins.

All photos taken from Chinese Cuisines meet Italian Wines's website and Facebook page