They do not taste like anything, but their texture is valued so much that eastern countries pay an exorbitant amount to taste them. We talk about the strangers edible sea cucumbers, which can already be eaten in a specific place Spain. Luke jang is the first cook to offer them totally legal in his restaurant located in Madrid and that bears his same name. A luxurious marine delicacy that the Spanish gastronomic culture does not contemplate but that in several Asian regions is a product good gourmet food. Find out here much more about this holothuria served by the Korean chef stuffed with prawns and with a scrumptious seafood sauce.
What are these marine animals like?
Also know as cucumber, sea milestone or fucks sea (in Galician), these cucumbers They are invertebrate marine animals within the group of echinoderms. They are also called holothurians and they have an elongated black soft body, vermiform and even with the presence of bumps. This roughness marked in the form of 'spikes' but round, starts a common texture that becomes gelatinous along the entire trunk. Although there are also those with a smooth external surface, in any case they are marketed both Fresh as dry.
Inside the edible sea cucumbers There are the so-called espardeñas, some products that are valued in our country, curiously, but not among oriental diners. As explained by the own Luke jang in an interview with newspaper El País, that's just a question of different variety. “There are more than 1400 varieties in the world and those from the Spanish coasts have abundant internal muscle. On the other hand, the oriental ones are not, in addition to the fact that their skin is very thin and more gelatinous in the outer layers ”.
Status of edible sea cucumbers
Really, in Spain that edible sea cucumbers are prohibited or, better written, have not yet been authorized by the Spanish Agency for Food Safety (TO THAT). For unknown public health reasons in this food, his situation is like this. Therefore, its status of illegality makes the national market for marine products non-existent. “Nobody wants to import them here, it is more profitable to sell them by the ton to China«Assures Jang. And it is that the Asians of that country come to pay between € 500 and € 1000 for each kilo of this holothuria.
Even for this surprising economic reason as it is a marine product, on several peninsular coasts such as that of Cadiz and Malaga, there are traffickers of these cucumbers. As if of bales of hashish it was, since its great price was discovered in China, they are captured in several popular Cadiz beaches. Something that puts in danger the presence of the species in the area and that has already had the police authorities and the SEPRONA.
The "invigorating" cucumber that Jang serves
Also from the province of Cadiz but not directly from its coasts, the Korean chef receives the edible sea cucumbers that he prepares in his Luke restaurant. According to qualify, the company Gutierrez Aleu MT located in the small town of ubrique provides you with these products, from Finland. Even the chef has the advantage of getting them cheaper: «I buy them at 200 euros per kilo, despite the fact that they are paid 5 times more in Korea, China, Japan, Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore«.
Its price is very high because in Asia This cucumber is not only considered a delight for the palate, but an "invigorating" food, with properties aphrodisiac and therapeutic. However, even our tables have not arrived, since the cooking of this delicacy is almost non-existent. Not even Chinese restaurants think about adding them to their menus, according to a Luke jang that he does want to be the pioneer now.
Preparation and recipe
Therefore, prepare the edible sea cucumbers you have dried through a measured process. Because they need to remain soaked or hydrated "for 10 days." Then "they are ready when their skin becomes soft and elastic, at which point we open them, remove their guts and let them simmer over a low heat." Thus, for a duration of an hour and a half, they are finally perfect to be served. The chef sprinkles them with a salsa intense typical Korean, made with various crustaceans like blue crabs, after gutting and stuffing them with prawns.
"I like them fried, in tempura, crunchy on the outside and gelatinous on the inside," he acknowledges. That, despite the fact that flavor sea imperceptible. Because that's how edible sea cucumbers: illegal in Spain, but with a very different route in countries of gastronomic rarities.
