You
know, at one point the line “If you build it, they will come.” referred to a
baseball field in an Iowa cornfield.
Nowadays the same phrase serves as
a motto for some of the best restaurants on the planet.
Years ago a young, talented chef
brought a restaurant to national acclaim working out of a former laundry house
in Yountville, California. Some years later, a wildly creative chef changed
cooking forever, holding the distinction of best restaurant in the world via an
old bed and breakfast in Roses, Spain. Now a young, wickedly talented chef is
bringing diners from all over the world to the harsh Swedish countryside to
dine on marrow scooped from whole steer femurs and meticulously prepared local
produce. Such is the mysticism of the remote estate called Faviken, whose stove
Chef Magnus Nilsson calls home.
Nilsson
spent years under Pascal Barbot at the 3-Michelin Star L’Astrance in Paris. It
is apparent that the creative genius of the French master has been passed on to
his Scandinavian apprentice. Rather than be content to follow the well-paved
tracks of those who came earlier, Chef Nilsson questions the road that leads
forward and forges a path through the rugged, wild Swedish jamtland. Where the
vast majority of the world treasures the tender, young flesh of veal, Nilsson
acknowledges that older cows have more flavour and logically, the tastiest cows
are the old dairy cows that are no longer capable of producing milk. To
tenderize such old and tough meat, he hangs and dry-ages his beef for up to 9
months in order to produce fantastic flavours with the tenderness of a younger
animal.
Who
DOES that?!
The
chef who makes his life even more hellish than it already is to increase the
quality of product and experience is a rare breed. To constantly risk
reputation in favour of possibly delivering the experience of a lifetime is a
rare feat. Yet here is this young Swedish chef who insists on roasting whole
femurs for marrow and occupies two of his cooks with the task of perfectly
roasting a single sea scallop over juniper embers. He serves 16 lucky diners
per night, many of whom have travelled a long way to eat in his humble hunting
shack in the frigid countryside.
While
you, the reader, are unlikely to prepare any of the recipes included in the
book (unless you happen to raise dairy cows in Northern Swedish pastures, in
which case, why, yes “A Very Fresh Lump of Cheese” is indeed within your
culinary grasp!) the literature and photography are more than enough to foster
future kitchen-facilitated adventures. To read an entire page on the rapture of
Norweigian butter is more than to drool over the blonde-tinted coagulate of
butter fats; it’s an acknowledgement that there is more to even the simplest of
ingredients than one can even begin to fathom. At Faviken’s roots is that
simple idea of appreciating the ingredients for what they are; he churns ice
cream tableside with milk and cream that were still moo-ing when the sun rose
that morning. Simply observing the way
in which Nilsson questions the conventional way of doing things is inspiring.
His inability to accept “well that’s how it has always been done.” as a
legitimate answer evokes equal measures of dash and maniacal genius. Even fellow chefs have realized the potential
and outstanding work of this young chef; Sean Brock of Husk declared him one of
the “chefs to watch” at last year’s Cook It Raw event in Japan (think of Cook
It Raw like FAO Schwartz-meets-League of Extraordinary Gentlemen for chefs).
So in
the end, I’d like to bring you back to the underlying theme of this review;
that nowadays people are more than willing to travel long distances and pay
money for a world-class meal. Can you imagine even 10 years ago trying to open
a restaurant like Faviken in desolate Sweden? Faviken is a sign of the times;
and the times, they are a changin’. Maybe you won’t be aging vinegars in the
trunk of an old tree, but the point is that chefs like Magnus Nilsson are
proving it possible that food can change the way people think. Like a farmer in
Iowa, Chef Nilsson has given up a life of conventionality to do something truly
special. While he isn’t painting baselines and assembling bullpens, Nilsson has
created his own field of dreams in a restaurant that defies logic and brings
forth an experience worthy of “memories so thick, they’ll have to wipe them
from their faces.”
Book Review by Kevin Jeung
MAGNUS NILSSON will be hosted by The Cookbook Store
Thursday October 11th, 2012, 7pm Off Site Event
Please call the store for tickets, 416-920-2665
Book Review by Kevin Jeung
MAGNUS NILSSON will be hosted by The Cookbook Store
Thursday October 11th, 2012, 7pm Off Site Event
Please call the store for tickets, 416-920-2665
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