We are very excited preparing our trip to Copenhagen. Fortunately for us we did not have to wait until January to taste the great things happening in that country, because of Saturday October 22nd, some of the most relevant chefs from Copenhagen came to the Union Square Market in New York.
The event was called Nordic Cookout: A Taste of Denmark Union Square Pavilion. Rene Redzepi, the owner of the now number one restaurant in the World, Noma restaurant in Copenhagen, was in front this cookout experience. He did not cook, but he did an interesting speech about using cheap ingredients or ingredients that you will normally throw out, in the modern cuisine.
Even Rene was not cooking itself, NOMA was represented with a delicious Sea Salt Bone Marrow AEbleskriver. AEbleskriver are the Danish version of the traditional American Pancakes. I do not think we have anything similar in Spain. This version is definitely more light and fluffy than the American one, their texture I would say is even closer to a doughnut. Anyway it was one of the most impressed and simple bites of the day, salty and reach bone marrow, combined with the sweet pancake – doughnut. Perfect combination, those Danish little balls will make the famous foie doughnuts from Do and Dine and the bacon ones from Traif, cry! And those are one of my favorites in NY!
The Bone Marrow AEbleskriver was garnish with marinated rose petals and some type of capers.
Puffy!
The next chef was the famous Adams Aamanns, the owner of one of the most famous Smørrebrød restaurants in Copenhagen. This is the equivalent of the San Sebastian Tapas or Italian Crostini’s, but with a rye bread. Very interesting! And if you can not wait for a visit of their establishment in Copenhagen, Aammans will open soon in New York., in Tribeca district – can not wait!
Here you can see handsome Adam explaining in English what the hell is a Smorrebread! This particular one was a pork terrine with hazelnuts, aquavite, green kale and apples.
Plate with a selection of the Danish tapas: Sendives with juniper cured salmon, purée of cauliflower and browned butter and marzipan cake (mazarinkage) with raspberries and vanilla yoghurt on top.
Last but not least Claus Henriksen from Dragsholm Slot was also there. He created a very different crunchy carrot and jerusalem artichoke cruditées with smooth oyster cream. Also stuffed new potatoes.
Overall a very fun event in Union Square with a lot of excited Danish about their food and culture. I totally relate to that exciting feeling, since I feel the same way when I talk about Spanish cuisine, and celebrated chefs like Adria, Arzak and so on…
And if anybody cares regarding the preparation for the weekend in Copenhagen, this is so far the plan for the “restaurant weekend”:
- Friday:
- Lunch: Herman restaurant. http://herman.book.dinnerbooking.com/
- Dinner: Geranium.
- Saturday:
- Lunch: Etabilssementet, Øster Farimagsgade 10, aamanns.dk. or Snack at Dop Organic Hot Dog
- Dinner: Noma.
- Sunday:
- Snack to check: Bo Bench Bakery / Store Kongensgade 46, bageri.bobech.net or Meyers Deli Gammel Kongevej 107, meyersdeli.dk
- Lunch: Manfred’s on jægersborggade
- Dinner: TBD
Great pictures! I love how calling a chef “relevant” kind of sounds like a backhanded compliment to me.
Great photos and blog!
PS the dude in the red is Chef Daniel Burns, he’s recently relocated to NYC and is one to watch!
Cool thanks! Yeah he appear to be part of the Momofuku family, do you know where he will be working? His salted bone marrow pancake was a real treat!
He also worked at Noma before coming to Momofuku
Btw Bo Bech’s bakery has been taken over by Claus Meyer (Meyers Deli) so the concept is different now. Instead you could consider visiting Bo Bechs own restaurant Geist (www.restaurantgeist.dk) or one of the excellent coffee houses (danish baristas are among the best). Try Estate Coffe or Risteriet.
Just some tips.
Thanks Peter, we are going to Geist for dinner Sunday, it seems the only restaurant opened in Sunday! Thanks for all the info it has been invaluable!
Thought i would share in reference to Chef Daniel Burns!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/trends/trends-features/the-best-canadian-chef-youve-never-heard-of/article2338321/page2/
I still can not forget the Bone Marrow AEbleskrive! Wish he opens a restaurant in NY
We talked about this with some of the chefs when we visited NOMA and the even at USQ definitely exceeded their expectations.
Follow him on twitter! https://twitter.com/#!/chefdburns
he’s a little slow to go on there, but i would imagine he will update what he’s up to!