TBF blog

Noma, a dinner to remember

Sun, 20 May 2012 18:13:00 GMT

I had a great time in Sweden, it was great to work with Patrik you can Follow him on twitter.

The Dinner at Noma was exceptional and the staff consummate professionals. Even with our jet lag. We had just flown in from Australia the day before, had been to Paris and then to Gothemburg, slept the night and drove to Copenhagen the next day to deliver butter. Got to our hotel, had a pre Noma snack of Vegemite, Myrtleford butter and a few different Australian salts I had brought with me.

The menu

Ok, so it was epic.

The first dish (1) - Moss flat bread and Juniper was actually the center piece of the table. Juniper grows wild in the northern countries.

(2) The next dish was a fried rain deer moss (3) Crispy Pork skin and black currant fruit leather

(4) Blue mussels in a seaweed shell with celery

(5) Live shrimp with a browned butter mayonnaise.

(6) Potato and Chicken liver (7) Dried Carrot and Sorrel Sauce for dipping

(8)Caramelised Milk with cod liver (9)Cheese cookies with Rocket puree and stems

(10)Rye, Chicken skin and lumpfish roe (11)Pickled and smoked Quail egg

(12)Carrot, soil and grass (13)Herb toast and smoked cod roe

(14)Fried bread stuffed with Herring (15) Veal neck fibers on hay with creme fraiche

(16) Pork lard with scratchings, Virgin butter & Bread

(17)Green peas and fermented peas (18)Dried Scallops & grains (19)Langoustine & Oysters

(20)Onion, Thyme & Gooseberry Juice (21)Asparagus & Pine

(22)Pike perch in cabbage with verbena & dill (23)Duck egg cooked at the table

(24)Roasted turbot and bitter greens (25)Yoghurt whey ice with liquor (26)Pear Parfait with pear Celeriac and mushroom

(27)Walnut and dried berries Petit Fours - Bone marrow caramel, marshmallow, Potato chips & choc

After a six hour dinner and some fabulous company with Patrik and Zandra, some of the most amazing flavours I have ever tasted. Noma lived up to the hype, the kindness shown to us, the generosity of the staff and the ambiance of the restaurant was everything I expected and more.

Sweden-Virgin Butter

Mon, 07 May 2012 07:37:00 GMT

Well here I am, in sunny Sweden.

I am staying in Floda about 45 minutes drive from Gothemburg on a lake in a 1800's little red house. The dairy is in one of the out buildings from the Castle Naas Slot. It is a stunning property surrounded by forrest. We have a lot of majestic Elk and little red deer outside our door, its a cosy house, no running water and a wood burning oven. It's spring here and the flowers are popping out of the ground, an amazing abundance of young herbs for making salads.

On our second night here we were treated to an amazing dinner at the worlds number 1 restaurant according to the San Pallegrino world top 50 chart. It is there 3rd year in a row. Patrik who I am working and staying with makes butter for them. A special butter that he has invented himself. Like most other things some have copied but his is the original.
The Dinner consisted of 31 different dishes over 6 hours matched to different wines all white and mostly french natural organic wines. I will have to do a separate post on the dinner alone. In my food and wine haze I forgot to ask for a copy of the menu. I have been in to the Noma kitchen 3 times now. Its just like at home, small producers all over the world visit the best restaurants but usually only through the back door to deliver. The staff at Noma are fantastic, so friendly. I am heading back to Copenhagen for MAD food symposium, if I am lonely I know I can head to Noma and find some friends. I can sweep the floor or pick some herbs to fill in my time. I have brought some butter with me and different Australian salts. It is exciting to watch the chefs from all over the world excited to taste something from Australia that they wouldn't get to try unless they were there. They loved Myrtleford Butter, I had some lemon myrtle butter and the bush tomato you could see their minds ticking over as to what they could do with them.

Ben Read from the Nordic food lab and Patrik have buried butter wrapped in birch wood and peat moss in a peat bog deep in the forest. Myrtleford butter is being buried there to. So in 30 years someone will be digging it up and seeing not only DNA from Scotland, Italy, Sweden and now Australia. Pretty out there, but why not. Ben was not on the boat when we visited but I will catch up with him later in the month.

The dairy Patrik works from is a tiny one room filled up by a 200l churn imported from India. Sweden is much the same as Australia, many of the artisan crafts and food production methods are a lost art, today we are setting cream with cultures in a sour milk and churning some Virgin butter. It is interesting to see the way the cream is soured, a natural ferment taking a few days at room temperature. No fancy equipment, a few buckets and a bottle of sour milk.

The Plan....

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 21:18:00 GMT

The Plan

Time is really geting away from me now, I have booked my flights. The Foundation make it really easy for you by allocating your own travel agent.

So here goes the plan so far...

Fly into Paris on the 1st May then on the 2nd Fly to Sweden to see Patrik and Zandra.

I am staying in Sweden until the 11th, during my time in Sweden I will be making butter in a castle and having a special dinner at Noma in Copenhagen, Patrik supplies Noma with butter, a virgin butter. I am looking forward to spending time with Patrik and Zandra as over the past year I have regulally chatted and emailed them, we exchange our crazy ideas, and seem to have a lot in common. Partik and Zandra also have a Fromagerie in Alingsas, as well as producing butter they also produce Nordic sea salt. Magnus Nilsson uses it in his restaurant Faviken

I will then fly back to Paris and spend the weekend, it just so happens one of our local customers daughter is the English translater for the Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris, she is showing me around the exciting foodie spots. Then heading down to Duex-Sevre to work at Pamplie and Echire factories, I hope my crude French will be acceptable and understood at least. I have booked myself a little Gite in a small town outside of Niort and a hire car. I dont know how I will go driving on the wrong side of the road, but I will give it a go. I have booked my Gite until the 25th, my hosts Josette and Didier are passionate foodies, Didier is a pastry chef, and have assured me if I want to extend my stay it won't be an issue.

After my work experience I plan to make my way by train back up to Paris through Brittany and Normandy stopping at Rennes and St Malo to visit the factory of Jean Yves Bordier and Insigny St Mere. I fly out of Paris on the 2nd of June so I have left this time for the wind to blow me along.

Are you on twitter? follow me @thebutterfactor for updates

Naomi

Jack Green Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 03:31:00 GMT

Wow, what a mouth full!

So honored to be awarded this fellowship, I'll be going to Sweden and France to work with some amazing people.

Heading off in May 2012. Check here for updates and posts on my adventures.

Lots of buttery goodness, Nordic dining and Provincial fare to follow.......

Naomi