What is the point of cookery books? Today, the essential ingredient appears to be a seductive female on the cover or equally beautiful illustrations of dishes low in calories or high in wonderful health giving properties – preferably flesh, fish and fowl free. One recent cook book’s cover breaks these rules by having a bleak landscape framed by snow bound mountains – The Nordic Cookbook.
Inside, there are double spread scenes of frozen land and seascapes plus real food that looks as if it is meant to be consumed in a cold climate. And most of the females are grandmothers hard at work in their kitchens rather than smirking at the camera while sucking their fingers.
This is the first ever history of the cuisine of the Nordic region, which embraces not just Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway and Denmark) but Finland, Iceland and the Danish islands such as the Faroes and Greenland. Magnus Nilsson, the author, is the chef of Faviken, Sweden’s most acclaimed restaurant, located within a 22,000 acre estate several hundred miles north of Stockholm. Whereas Nilsson is renowned for his dishes of legs of bone marrow or trout roe served in a shell of pigs blood, the recipes here are entirely of the classic dishes of the Nordic region.
Not that some aren’t exotic – unless, you are accustomed to consuming puffin stuffed with cake, boiled seal intestines with blubber and crowberries or Sami reindeer heart stew.
Where the book makes addictive reading is dealing with the familiar, such as different breads, herring dishes, eggs and lamb.
There are also informative essays on Faroese whale hunts, the variety of ways of cooking stocks and even pizza in the Nordic Region (apparently they are almost always served with a plate of cabbage salad).
“New Nordic” Cuisine, as practiced by Nilsson, Rene Redzepi at Noma and Magnus Ek at Oaxen Krog, has become a defining style for international haute cuisine. Essentially it is food that is seasonal, foraged locally and presented in an unvarnished way. It is applicable whether the location is in Denmark, New Zealand or even France, although initially it was a backlash at over-elaborate classic French cuisine.
This volume is the ultimate reference and source book for this phenomena as well as providing endless culinary diversions such as advice on making open-faced Danish sandwiches, glazing raw vegetables or how to enjoy sour herring. The perfect stocking filler.
The Nordic Cook Book by Magnus Nilsson
Phaidon pp768
£29.95
My earlier profile on Magnus
www.gastroenophile.com/2012/01/whats-happening-in-northern-sweden-by.html