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No one champions Spanish gastronomy outside our borders like José Andrés. The media chef makes everything he touches go viral, as he has just done with the xuixo -also called xuxo or suso- ice cream, the original summer version of the Catalan sweet that can be found in the Mercado Little Spain in New York (it has been so successful among New Yorkers that The New York Times itself has echoed it).
A few months ago, the Asturian chef already conquered the actress Drew Barrymore with his favorite bun, made with a spongy cylindrical dough reminiscent of the churro -fried and wrapped in sugar on the outside and filled with cream-, and that could even bear some resemblance to the croissant. Although in this video (which also went viral), he disproves the resemblance to the famous French bakery item. “This is going to change your life forever,” he would tell Barrymore before testing the ‘submersibility’ of the delicious invention.
“It’s better than a croissant, and you know why? Because croissants are complicated to dip in coffee, you have to pick them up in a strange way,” he explained amused as he described the addictive little xuixo. Now he has given a twist to this sweet born in Gerona, turning it into an improvised cone and filling it with strawberry, mango or ColaCao ice cream.
A corner of Spain in New York
“Our official heat index indicates that there is a 100% chance of an ice cream xuxo in your future. Try one in our ice cream kiosk!”, announced last month on the Little Spain Market networks. Then it already aroused a lot of expectation, but the reactions after the publication of The New York Times -where they define it as a mix between the churro and the croissant- have skyrocketed. “I’m going to get 150 of those!” wrote one follower; while others asked him to please take them to Australia or Washington DC.
While waiting for the ice cream xuixos around the world, we can take a tour of this lively corner of Spain in New York (“a true love letter to Spain from chef José Andrés and his team”)… or give this revolutionary frozen croissant a try.
