How is the give-and-take with customers at your restaurant?
Sometimes it gets a little bit difficult, because there are flavors that they don’t understand. For example, this dish, Lamb Ararat, which uses a mixture of soy sauce and cream with raisins. Some customers don’t want to try something new. However, those who try it like it, and they ask about the dish. But if you don’t try something, you’ll never know whether you were right or not. The other option is to stick to Uruguayo- and Canciller-style (breaded and fried) steaks, pizza and spaghetti. And never know whether or not you made a jump in Cuban cuisine.
Lamb Ararat
Ingredients
thin strips of lamb sirloin / 200g
raisins / 5 g
dark soy sauce / 10 ml
heavy cream / 80 ml
olive oil / 30 ml
salt and pepper
Preparation
Season the meat with salt and pepper. Warm the frying pan with the olive oil. Add the raisins for a few seconds for them to hydrate. Add the lamb and sauté them on both sides. Then add the soy sauce and allow it to reduce a little. Finally, add the cream and let it cook for a minute. Serve with mashed potatoes.
* Chef Yuri Alexander Gell Rodríguez, Havana, May 1976. Graduate of the Sergio Pérez hotel and tourism school, FORMATUR, 1998. Worked as a cook at the La Piazza restaurant, 1999, Hotel Cohíba, and at the La Giraldilla tourist complex from 1999 to 2001. Began working in the private sector at the Hurón Azul restaurant in 2001. Subsequently, moved on to the Calle 10 restaurant and then to the Dr. Café. Currently, he is Chef at the Viejo Amigo restaurant in Havana’s Chinatown.
