Swedish chef leads exit from 'culinary stone age'
Published: 8 Feb 13 17:13 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/46086/20130208/
Swedish chef Daniel Räms took home gold in the nation's Chef of the Year competition on Friday, with organizers thrilled that the event strengthens Sweden's charge onto the worldwide culinary stage.
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"He was so happy, he almost started crying," Hanna Halpern, head of the competition, told The Local.
Räms was handed his prize by Prince Carl Philip.
The chef's winning dish was Arctic char grilled over birch wood chips and garnished with almonds and trout caviar. Sides focused on winter vegetables such as Brussel sprouts and yellow beets, alongside a cauliflower mousse accented with garlic and thyme.
IN PICTURES: See Daniel Räms preparing the winning dishes
But it wasn't just the winning dish that got organizers salivating.
"The whole competition went superbly, people were inspired," Halpern said.
"When we started this thing 30 years ago, Sweden was in the stone age in gastronomy. The only thing people knew about Sweden and cooking was The Swedish Chef from The Muppets."
She argued that not only has the quality of Sweden's top dining improved drastically, but the consumers are hungrier than ever for it.
"People are talking about the great chefs in Sweden, and consumers both here and abroad are interested," she told The Local.
"This growth on both sides means that the quality of cooking in Sweden is continuing to develop and that's very exciting."
Second place in the competition went to Stockholm-based chef Johan Backeus, with third place going to Gothenburg native Jesper Bogren.
Oliver Gee
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Now it is in the bronze age.
This is progress, I guess....
Found that out of all the Swedish chefs entering, it was a Swedish chef who won.
"organisers thrilled that the event strengthens Sweden's charge onto the worldwide culinary stage"
#Facepalm-Sweden
Now it is in the bronze age.
This is progress, I guess....
Yeah, right! As if anybody outside the borders of this navel-staring, smug and self-righteous country would ever take note, let alone care.
So, when it comes to culinary prizes given to Swedes, as judged by Swedes, let us smile. They mean nothing at all. Who, outside Sweden, cares about them? In all honesty, Sweden has probably the worst, and simultaneously most expensive cuisine, in Europe.
I do like traditional Swedish food mind you even, as theobserver comments, if it does seem to consist of using up leftovers quite often.
Nothing wrong with that though but this fanciful claim the organizers made ?? Oh dear.. Wrong..
Plus, for his recipe, I doubt he was using jet washed off the bone meat to boost the protein content of his meal.
Good for you !! You must know something that no-one else does.
Care to elucidate or are you just trying to provoke or troll yourself ??
Anyways, you are entitled to your own comments, as worthless as they are, the same as anyone else.
I just came on here to say that the horsemeat / Findus article has for some reason stopped taking or showing comments so this is actually directed to TL management. Sorry Migga but you just aren't important.
What the heck has happened TL ??? Why have you done this ??
As someone who has spent considerable amount of time in many European countries, I consider what I wrote a fact, based on evidence. It is not, as you perhaps believe, trolling.
The truth of the matter is that Sweden is ages behind in cuisine. There are, indeed, some good restaurants, but they are not for someone with an ordinary job because they are outrageously expensive. Good, inexpensive, food does not exist. This is because most Swedes I know are happy to eat anything. Especially if it is free. I used to be a cook, but gave it up in Sweden precisely because I don't believe that one should have to pay 1000 kronor to eat something decent.
This is why I said that Sweden is still in the bronze age of gastronomy. Surprising indeed, given the fact that many Swedes have traveled abroad and seen what good, and not so expensive, food can be like. At home, many are happy with skinka-ost tubes, frozen meatballs, and cans of sill. (Nothing wrong with sill, I eat it too, but I don't want to go to a restaurant and served food from cans or frozen food.)
Well even if you have several years of experience it still isn`t fact and all Swedes hardly feel or think like the ones you know. But sure the cost of food is high in Sweden but that`s because of long transports and taxes, but the price has nothing to do with the food itself. Judge it by taste, not cost.