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- Don Julio South Africa recently celebrated Cinco de Mayo at Konka Day Club with a tequila and food pairing event.
- The event highlighted the natural flavours of Don Julio Blanco and Reposado through carefully selected dishes.
- Selected dishes featured a prawn on a corn frittata paired with Don Julio Blanco and a panko-crusted plum with mascarpone and chocolate for the Reposado.
- For more lifestyle news, go to the News24 Life front page.
When it comes to celebrating Mexican holidays such as Cinco de Mayo, tequila is obviously the drink of choice, and what better way to enjoy those than with foods that bring out their true, natural flavours?
Cinco de Mayo, which translates into "the 5th of May," is a Mexican holiday celebrating Mexico's victory against France in at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.
To celebrate this day, Don Julio, the Mexican tequila brand in South Africa, hosted a tequila and food pairing at Konka Day Club on Saturday.
The team carefully selected dishes that complement the flavours of the Don Julio Blanco and the Don Julio Reposado.
Culinary excellence
The event not only aimed to educate the South African market about Mexican tradition but did so in style. As the sun began to set, a dining table suspended into the air was slowly lowered, allowing guests to gather around their spots to experience culinary excellence.
"Tonight is the first of its kind. We've never done anything like this in terms of pairing with something very simple, elegant, and light. It really brought out the flavours of the tequila, and we're showcasing this tonight as we celebrate Cinco De Mayo, which is a huge celebration in Mexico," said Nicci Denman from Diageo.
The main characters of the day were Don Julio Blanco and Don Julio Reposado.
"Blanco means purest form, white, in Spanish," Denman told News24. "Reposado means rested. The Reposado is rested in a bourbon cast, giving its beautiful golden colour."
According to Denman, the Blanko's flavours feature fresh oven-roasted agave citrus, and to complement its flavours, the tequila pairing called for a prawn on top of a corn frittata.
She said this combination is meant to "bring the creaminess out of the freshness from the citrus and the agave flavours."
This was followed by a pallet cleanser featuring a lemon zest sorbet.
"The reason for the pallet cleansing is to break down the flavours and clear the tongue and pallet so that when we do taste the flavours of the richer Reposado, they aren't affected by the previous pairing and contribute to the flavour we want the customer to taste. The sorbet allows the pallet to be fresh for the next set of pairings," she said.
The Reposado was paired with a panko-crusted plum topped with mascarpone and a drizzle of chocolate. According to Denman, this helps bring out the textures of the cinnamon and chocolate flavours present in the Reposado.
"The plum brought out the sweetness of the tequila because it is rested bourbon cast, and because of that, we wanted to bring out flavours like apple, pear and banana, and it ends off with a beautiful, strong dark chocolate finish," she said.
