Shaya with Snow Crab Salad
Shaya
Bodega Shaya
www.shaya.es
D.O.C: Rueda
Grapes: 100% Verdejo
Ageing: 30% of the wine fermented in oak barrels
RRP:8,50 €
Excerpt from the book “Pairings of spanish wines with exotic cuisines”.
Click to see the preparation of these dishes, in Asian recipes.
Pueden ver la versión española pinchando en Shaya
This winery belongs to the group Juan Gil Bodegas Familiares, an enterprise that brings together about ten small wineries throughout the country and focuses on global promotion of the best wines made with local varieties.
Imagine then the quality of this wine, from thirty hectares of old vineyards in sandy soil with pebbles, vines planted in traditional goblet style and winemaking cared to the last detail.
Clean flowery and fruity aromas, and mainly those herbaceous, spicy tones characteristic of the variety, in which even mineral notes can be found; an example of what can be made with this grape in this region.
Snow crab salad
Saying that the USA is one of the countries where crab is most consumed per person may sound like a joke to those who only know this country through movies, but this is a tradition that dates back to the first settlers, who used to make stews with them. Nowadays it is an industry that moves billions of dollars every year, not only in fishing but also in industrial production.
Snow crab is wild, the most exquisite and highly priced one, and is fished in the icy waters of the Bering Sea. Only its legs are commercialized, clean and frozen, so it is advisable to dress it a bit.
My mother used to cook a similar salad in her restaurant in Madrid using king crab (Chatka), and it was a success for more than thirty years.
Pairing.jpg "snow crab salad")
I admit that I have not chosen the wine for the dish but the dish for the wine, because this verdejo is something serious that deserves maximum respect.
If you order this salad in the USA, require oil or mayonnaise as a dressing, not cocktail sauce. Although this wine can withstand that horror perfectly, it is much better to taste the meat from those savoury legs just mixed with lettuce and a bit of mayonnaise. That way we will appreciate all those flavours in full, with the wine playing an important role and upgrading the gastronomic level of the dish.
If you happen to find some bottles from former vintages, do not miss the opportunity to get your hands on them, as the wine must have gained depth.