Thursday, February 11, 2010

Lunch with René Redzepi

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I was at a fantastic lunch yesterday - hosted by the Danish Landbrug & Fødevarer which is basically the organization for Danish meat. They had invited René Redzepi to Stockholm and I was very excited about going. See, René is the chef at Noma in Copenhagen, which is definitely one of the hottest restaurants at the moment.

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We got four dishes, and René talked a lot about his thoughts on Scandinavian food and cooking - very interesting! I am however not at all good at understanding Danish - I got some of it, but certainly not all. A lot of people think that Scandinavian languages are all the same - that's not true at all. Similar, but certainly not the same. And there are a lot of differences, as well. In either case, René was very nice and friendly, and certainly a charming guy.

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Now- the food! We first got two small dishes - the aebleskiver you see up top, which are essentially round little pancakes. They are filled with a ball of pork rilettes, and dusted with a vinegar powder.

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Also these, crispy pork rinds (or crackling) dusted with lingonberry powder. It was served with a delicious smoked cheese dip.

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The chefs huddle to plate the next dish...

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Which was bone marrow with pickled vegetables - beetroot in rosehip pickling liquid, yellow beets in elderflower pickling liquid, shallots in honey pickling liquid and so on. And a sauce made from roasted ribs. Absolutely delicious. I never tried marrow before, and I'm not dying to have it again, but it was nice with the other elements.

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And then we got those slow-roasted ribs. Oh, oh, oh my god. They have a mustard seed-hazelnut glaze. And came with a redcurrant yogurt for dipping. We were encouraged to eat with our hands. And we did. It was heavenly.

I can only imagine how great a dinner at Noma must be - I hope I can go there some time!

5 comments:

kendall said...

anne, that looks so much better than the ham sandwich i had for lunch yesterday. the ribs look especially good!

mike said...

Great post!
When I saw the photo I thought that the aebleskiver were stuffed with pork rillettes and dusted with powdered sugar, happy to read it was vinegar powder. Sounds like a delicious lunch!

Gabriela said...

I'm swooning over your post and photos. I grew up on bone marrow in my childhood home. Apparently bone marrow is also quite popular in Mexico. These plates look positively divine.

Kinna Jonsson said...

Sounds fantastic, I got to go there too - very soon =)

Pille said...

Sounds delicious! I love the idea of marinating vegetables in flavoured marinades - elderflower etc. Very inventive!!!
I hope to go to Noma as well one day.