“These are frozen elder flowers,”
he said, reaching into the canister with a small
scoop and sprinkling tiny white nuggets into my dessert
bowl. “They have been chilled in liquid nitrogen.”
(From an article in New York Times
about Danish Gastronomy)
The frozen petals fell like hail onto the small mound
of red elderberry jelly, vanilla ice cream and chocolate
foam. Everyone in the restaurant, a fast-rising newcomer
called Geranium turned to look at this impressively
futuristic concoction.
Was this really Denmark?
Because my father and Danish stepmother live in Denmark,
I’ve been visiting the small seafaring nation
of Carlsberg beer and Lego for almost two decades.
With very few exceptions, dining out has mostly been
a banal, underwhelming experience. For years, the
country’s staples — pork, potatoes, herring
— were predictably reshuffled from restaurant
to restaurant in a culinary three-card monte. In a
country famous for avant-garde furnishings and sci-fi
housewares, there was no food halfway worthy of gracing
them.
But the last five years have seen a sea change in
Copenhagen kitchens. Young Danish chefs, many of whom
have apprenticed in celebrated kitchens abroad, have
returned to Denmark with fancy ideas and hopes of
elevating their country’s cuisine.
Read
the whole article (NYT) »
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