Exploring Scandinavia

In 2004, six of Scandinavia’s finest chefs came together to devise the New Nordic Kitchen manifesto, emphasizing slow food, local organic produce and foraged ingredients such as birch juice and Arctic bramble.

The manifesto consisted of 9 paragraphs:

1) To express the purity, freshness, simplicity and ethics to be associated with the Nordic region.

2) To reflect the changes of the seasons in the meals.

3) To base the cooking on ingredients and produce whose characteristics are particularly in the region’s climates, landscapes and waters.

4) To combine the demand for good taste with modern knowledge of health and well-being.

5) To promote Nordic products and the variety of Nordic producers – and to spread the word about their underlying cultures.

6) To promote animal welfare and a sound production process in the region’s seas, farmland and in the wild.

7) To develop potentially new applications of traditional Nordic food products.

8) To combine the best in Nordic cookery and culinary traditions with impulses from abroad.

9) To combine local self-sufficiency with regional sharing of high-quality products.

Behind the manifesto were six chefs, Claus Meyer, Marhias Dahlgren, Leuf Sørensen, Roger Malmin, Muchael Björklund and Håkon Mår Orvarsson.

The Manifesto emphasized in a healthy appreciation of the Arctic region’s long, cool growing season, its abundance of fish and game, and forests and mountainsides full of fungi, wild plants and berries.

The manifesto was the start of a staggering regional-cuisine resurgence. Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki and Copenhagen are the focus of exciting new culinary scenes, exemplified by Denmark’s Michelin-starred Noma, which was named the world’s best restaurant in 2010.

New Nordic Kitchen , written by Tor Kjolberg

Scomber scombrus: Mackerel live in the deep seas in winter, but come to the shores in great numbers in May, and again in August. The first season coincides with the wealth of herbs, which all go so well with the fish’s fine, tasty flesh.

Mackerel are not as popular as fresh fish as they deserve to be, but the craving for true Scandinavian food is putting them back on the menu once again.

Appearance and taste
Mackerel is a small tuna fish, with very dark, fatty meat. It’s a beauty when alive, clad in an haute couture dress of graphic black pattern on a silvery blue background. It is not severely threatened at the time of writing, even if it is a very popular fish. The flesh is loose when cooked or smoked.

Buying and storing
Like most oily fish, mackerel will develop very high levels of histamine if not kept properly cool, or if too old. Make sure your mackerel is very fresh and is stored at a low temperature, and eat it straight away. If you need to keep the fish overnight, pre-salt it rather heavily and keep it in the fridge.

Health benefits
Mackerel is always a wild fish, containing large amounts of omega 3 fatty acids, and vitamin B.

Culinary uses
Mackerel takes wonderfully to spices, curing and smoking as the meaty taste can work through anything. Fresh mackerel is perfect for grilling as some of the excess fat drains away. The combination of mackerel and gooseberry sauce, which takes the edge off the fish’s fattiness, is legendary. But rhubarb compote or horseradish cream work well too.

In the north, mackerel is mostly hot smoked, and tastes delicious eaten on rye bread with raw egg yolks, radishes, chives, raw onion and scrambled eggs. But it is also a perfect and very cheap alternative to gravid lax, or indeed can be soused like herring.

Most of the mackerel eaten in Scandinavia is actually canned, in tomato sauce, which makes an extremely popular sandwich filling with mayonnaise, on rye bread.

Grilled mackerel with gooseberries and elderflowers

(Serves 4)

4 whole mackerel
4 tablespoons coarse sea salt
10 large elderflower heads
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 red chili, seeds removed, chopped
2 fresh garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Butter, for frying
Serve with gooseberry compote with elderflowers

The combination of gooseberries and elderflowers is, of course, a classic. So too is the pairing of mackerel and gooseberries, and not only in Scandinavia. Here we have gone to extremes by combining all three, but the result is pure Scandinavian midsummer bliss. Serve with lemon and new potatoes. Pre-salting (see below) the mackerel makes it firmer and tastier.

Hut the fish, but leave the heads on. Slash each fish three times om both sides with a very sharp knife. Using 3 tablespoons of the coarse sea salt, rub the fish inside and out, then leave to rest for a couple of hours in a cool place. After that time clean off the salt under a cold tap, then dry the fish completely with kitchen paper.

Cut the white flowers from the green stems of the elderflower heads and mix with the remaining salt, plus the lemon, zest, chili, garlic and black pepper. Fill the fish with this heady mixture. Either fry the fish in hot butter until nicely browned – 4 minutes on each side is fine for a small mackerel – or grill them on a barbecue. Turn the fish only once, as they are tender-fleshed. Serve with the compote.

Scandinavian Mackerel, Written by Tor Kjolberg

30 restaurants in several gastronomical price categories was announced during a gala held in Gothenburg on Sweden’s west coast last month, arranged by White Guide.

The Nordic version of White Guide has been published yearly since 2005. Every year around 800 restaurants in the Nordic countries are tested.

At the gala last month, the top 30 Scandinavian restaurants in the uppermost two gastronomic categories were presented, and prizes were awarded in categories such as Merroir, Terroir, Best Restaurant, Worth a Journey, Best Sustainable Gastronomy, Best Wine Experience and many others.

Here are the Scandinavian winners.

1. Esperanto, Stockholm, Sweden

   

2. Fäviken, Magasinet Järpen, Sweden
3. Maaemo, Oslo, Norway
4. Geranium, Copenhagen, Denmark
5. Kadeau Copenhagen, Denmark
6. Gastrologik, Stockholm, Sweden
7. Oaxen Krog, Stockholm, Sweden
8. Restaurant AOC, Copenhagen, Denmark
9. Daniel Berlin Krog, Skåne Tranås, Sweden

   

10. Kong Hans Kælder, Copenhagen, Denmark
11. Mielcke & Hurtigkarl, Copenhagen, Denmark
12. Søllerød Kro, Holte, Denmark
13. Alchemist, Copenhagen, Denmark
14. PM & Vänner, Växjö, Sweden
15. Slotskøkkenet / Dragsholm Slot, Hørve, Denmark
16. Restaurant Koch, Aarhus, Denmark
17. Faroe Islands
18. Restaurang Vollmers, Malmö, Sweden

    

19. Operakällaren, Stockholm, Sweden
20. Koka, Gothenburg, Sweden
21. Frederikshøj, Aarhus, Denmark
22. Studio, Copenhagen, Denmark
23. Adam/Albin, Stockholm, Sweden
24. Kadeau Bornholm, Aakirkeby, Denmark
25. Re-Naa, Stavanger, Norway

    

26. Falsled Kro, Millinge, Denmark
27. Omakase Köttslöjd, Stockholm, Sweden
28. Sabi Omakase, Stavanger, Norway
29. Finland
30. Ti Trin Ned, Fredericia, DenmarkBest Scandinavian Gourmet Restaurants 2017 is based on a press release from White Guide.

    Feature image (on top) Restaurant Mielcke Hurtigkarl, Copenhagen