Is there anyone who doesn’t know, or hasn’t heard about, clay, also known as kaolin or kaolinite, a very pure white clay, which is used to make porcelain and primers for starching. It is also used in some medications and for producing cosmetics, and when the quality isn’t very pure, it’s used to manufacture paper.
The word kaolin comes from the Chinese kao = high and ling = hill, indicating the place in Jiangxi Province, near Jauchu Fa, where the Chinese first encountered this type of natural clay. Since ancient times it has also been used as a healing agent in many cultures. Like other clays, such as green clay, it is rich in hydrated aluminium silicates but poor in trace elements. It also contains significant amounts of other minerals, such as magnesium, calcium, copper, zinc, cobalt, iron and selenium.
It has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and healing qualities. And for internal use, it protects the gastric and intestinal mucus as it speeds up healing. It helps capture harmful substances, adheres to them and then drags them to the outside. For external use, it can be applied as a plaster or mask; it is also interesting as a mouthwash and a powder similar to talcum powder for babies.
What is new is the sudden use of this natural product in cookery, as introduced by the most creative and cutting-edge chefs: among others, Andoni Luis Adúriz, chef at Mugaritz of Errenteria, with his great ‘devilry’ of ‘Potatoes Cooked in Clay’ (in this case grey clay) served with a light garlic mayonnaise.
In our case, we use white clay in a creation that has had a great impact, not only visual and for its gustatory delicacy but also because of the uniqueness of the product itself. A dish in which one of the emblematic fish of Basque cuisine, the hake, is combined with the novel clay, which makes a double appearance, both in the sauce under the hake and the curd that escorts it, as well as in the sauce that is initially spread over the fish.