Work = Play

Snap Shots

Here is a quick look into life in and around the Lab. 

Bikes on the train.

Fresh Veggies!

So many fresh VEGGIES! Thank you Søren Wiuff.

Nice day for a dip in the 12°C water.

Fall is upon us.

Copenhagen by night.

Culture night.

Roasting bread over an open fire.

Baking bread with friends.

My friend the Danish Iron Man has a midnight snack while we we baking bread- he ate that entire loaf!

Chocolate Cardamom Rye Bread.

My very first batch of Danish rye bread made without assistance. Perfection.

Hops, hops, and more hops.

Beer tasting.

80+ kilos of quince waiting to be juiced

and then turned into wine and vinegar.

Beeswax plums- an experiment in preservation and fermentation.

Tasting our beautiful creations.

Casu Marzu.

aka- maggot cheese.

Insect dish.

And another insect dish.

Walk-in Camera

I have an amazing view of Copenhagen out my window and although it might be hard to tell from this photo, on a super sunny day I can crack my window open just a bit, roll down my blind almost all the way,  turn off all the lights and then voilà- I have Copenhagen projected on my wall!

Brød

A little side project I have been working on here at the lab is mastering the art of bread baking. 

While I had been baking bread occasionally for staff meal, it was always a crap-shoot; I never knew how the loafs would turn out. About 1 out of every 5 loafs was delicous, most were just mediocre, and there were a few that turned out horrible- dense and as heavy as a pile of bricks.

 A couple of weeks ago I decided that if I really wanted to master bread baking I would need to bake a loaf everyday, so that is what I have done and I must say my breads have improved drastically. 

Here are some photos of my progression:

The dense loaf that did not rise.

eh- these were just okay, they could have been lighter and fluffier.

Great flavor but could have been cooked just a bit longer.

A successful Yeasted Apple Loaf!

Getting there- good flavor but a bit dry.

Much better- great flavor and much better crumb.

After creating many successful loaves using commercial yeast, I decided it was time to move on to mastering sourdough. I cultivated my own starter and began experimenting with different proportions of flour, water, starter and, salt  until I (with a few tips) got it right.

Every so slightly under cooked but still delicious.

After a few attempts, I got the proportions right the timing down, and boom- I started cranking out sourdough rolls daily.

One of the interns who just started at the lab is truly a master bread baker! I mean, he even gives bread classes at Meyers Madhus (Claus Meyers cooking school). Yesterday I got a little bread lesson from him. We mixed together about a 65% hydrated sourdough, allowed it to rest and rise overnight, and then baked it this morning. He gave me some great pointers and now I feel pretty confident in my bread baking!

He also shared his secret Danish rye bread recipe with me. We have 3 loafs resting in the fridge right now, which will be baked tomorrow morning.

Look at the beautiful crumb.

 Mom, Dad, Sam, and friends in Ithaca- get excited from some delicious bread this winter holiday!

Restaurant Opening

 Having friends in high places sometimes pays off. A good friend of the lab invited us to the opening of The Standard, Claus Meyers new restaurants and Jazz Club. The Standard is located just across the harbor from the Nordic Food Lab and consists of 3 restaurants and a Jazz Club. 

The ground floor:
Almanak – modern Danish restaurant offering breakfast, lunch and dinner and full bar service. (Saturdays and Sundays only lunch and dinner)
Verandah – contemporary gastronomic Indian restaurant offering dinner and full bar service including light snacks in the lounge area and brunch and dinner on Sundays.

The upper floor:
Studio – ex-noma chef Torsten Vildgaard’s gastronomic New Nordic restaurant offering dinners Tuesday through Saturday
The Standard – a dynamic and vibrant jazz club with full bar service (no food) and 2 shows nightly – with earlier show times on Sundays.

Almanak.

Studio.

Oysters and Champagne. Don't mind if I do.

 We had a lovely time sipping champagne, sampling some of the menu items, and exploring the space.

The following night we attended the family and friends soft opening. We had the option of 5 or 7 courses for half off! How could we resist and offer like that. Six of us from the lab had a lovely evening sitting at the bar, dining of delicious Nordic ingredients with a slightly french gastronomic twist. It was quite fun sitting at the bar, interacting with the chefs and watching them in action. It really enhanced the dining experience. (Honestly I cannot recall all of the ingredients in these dishes but I will do my best to describe them)

 Snacks:

 

Jerueseleum Artichoke "bark" with a smoked cheese and yarrow dip. 

 Leeks with thyme oil and wild herbs.

The third snack (which accidentally went un-photographed) was a savory choux with a thick creme fraiche and fish roe.

A barely cooked scalop with thyme oil, juniper berries, thyme dust, and a crackling pine branch.

The server lit the branch on fire and told us to smell the forest. 

 

Next we were each handed an envelope and inside we found this- a thin crisp flat bread, which was served along side regular bread and sour butter.

 A scallop hidden under wild herbs, with potato puree, søl foam, and something else I cannot remember.

Next came the fois gras for the meat eater and a delicious beet dish for me. But before the dish was served, Torsten, the head chef asked which of us was getting the beets and I said it was me. He then picked out a truffle for a large bowl, passed it to me to smell and then shaved off a huge slice for me to enjoy. mmm. 

The beet plate consisted of 5 small beet medallions topped with a black berry, more shaved truffle, beet reduction and more wild herbs. (Unfortunately this went un-photographed as well)

 Next for me was Turbot in a mushroom forest. The plate was set in from of me and then Torsten handed a small pot of broth to my dining companion Jonas and instructed him to pour it over my dish. There were probably 10 different kind of mushroom on this plate, and one of them was the most delicious mushroom I have ever eaten, and possibly one of the most delicious things of the evening. 

I am sad to say but both of the desserts and the coffee escaped the camera as well. Our first dessert was a dollop of chocolate and truffle mouse topped with blueberry sorbet, fresh blueberries, thyme oil, salt, and "soil." The second dessert, a plate of petit fours arrived with the coffee. On the plate was a pistachio, cranberry, almond nougat, fried chicken skin dipped in chocolate, a caramel, and a blueberry liquorice truffle. 

What a meal! 

On a side note- something interesting I observed while eating was that as soon as our plate were put in front us, everyone from the food lab immediately lowered our head to the plate and took a good whiff. I looked around to see if others were doing the same and sure enough they were not. I think after working so intimately with food, we have come to understand it in a different way and therefore interact with it differently too.