Denmarks Noma wins Worlds Best Restaurant third time

Rene Redzepi, head chef at Noma restaurant in Copenhagen in Denmark, attends The World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards at the Guildhall in London April 30, 2012. Reuters pic

LONDON, May 1 Danish restaurant Noma was crowned the world's best restaurant for the third year in a row in an annual list, beating out top eateries in Spain, Brazil, Italy, the United States and elsewhere.

The S. Pellegrino and Acqua Panna World's 50 Best Restaurants, produced by Britain's Restaurant Magazine, were unveiled in the medieval splendour of London's medieval after voting by a panel of more than 800 chefs, restaurateurs, journalists and food experts who rated chef Rene Redzepi's Noma as the "standard-bearer for the new Nordic movement."

Redzepi said he was delighted to win the award for the third time and added that his main philosophy was to create delicious food using locally sourced produce.

"It's something about the zeitgeist. It's about nature, people growing food, being close to food. Connecting with organic farmers, working hard to maintain a healthy ecology, the utmost deliciousness ties in with this," he said.

But he added that despite Noma's green credentials it still managed to cast off the northern European philosophy that fine food was a bit of a sinful self indulgence.

"Sustainability is not a clear goal, we are a temple of deliciousness and we celebrate it, there's nothing wrong with it. But in our part of the world, if you say you are in love with delicious food and what it does to you, you're supposed to feel remorse. It's a Protestant thing, the Catholics don't have that."

Nationally, Spain and the United States tied with three restaurants each in the top 10, though Spain's El Celler de Can Roca in Girona came second and Mugaritz in San Sebastian placed third. In all! , the Un ited States had eight eateries in the top 50 and Spain had five.

The Chefs' Choice award, voted for by the World's 50 Best chefs, was presented to Andoni Luis Aduriz of Mugaritz, which was devastated by a fire two years ago. Spanish winners also included Arzak at no. 8, whose joint Head Chef Elena Arzak was awarded the Veuve Clicquot World's Best Female Chef award.

Eight US restaurants made the top 50 list this year, the highest of which was New York based Per Se, owned by chef Thomas Keller, who was rewarded the Best Restaurant in North America and the S.Pellegrino Lifetime Achievement accolade after spending each of the past 10 years of the awards on the list under one guise or another.

Redzepi serves a new kind of Nordic cuisine such as musk ox and smoked marrow, sea urchin and dill or beef cheek and pear.

The 34-year-old chef is an ambassador for the New Nordic Food program set up by the Nordic Council of Ministers and has headed the restaurant since its 2003 opening.

The Noma approach to cooking is concentrated on obtaining the best raw materials from the Nordic region such as Icelandic skyr curd, halibut, Greenland musk ox and berries.

The two Michelin star restaurant does its own smoking, salting, pickling, drying, grilling and baking, prepares its own vinegars and concocts its own distilled spirits such as its own eaux de vies.

Noma makes systematic use of beers and ales, fruit juices and fruit-based vinegars for its sauces and soups rather than wine, and allows vegetables, herbs, spices and wild plants in season to play a prominent role in its cooking.

Located on the ground floor of a renovated listed 18th Century warehouse in the old Christianshavn district of Copenhagen, the restaurant's fittings and furnishings also embrace the Nordic spirit and atmosphere with smoked oak, stone, leather, water, glass and light.

With six restaurants on the list, Asia has secured its position on the gastronomic map. The event organizer annou! nced the launch of the new Asia's 50 Best Restaurants awards at the ceremony, which will be held in Singapore in February 2013.

The awards, which are also sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna, are welcomed by top chefs from the continent including Ignatius Chan from Iggy's in Singapore, who took the Best Restaurant in Asia title at no. 26.

"Asia has a long culinary history and we offer a deep, diverse and rich gastronomic landscape," he said. "Asia's 50 Best Restaurants is a fantastic platform to educate and showcase some of the greatest Asian restaurants to the world."

South America confirmed its standing on the list with four restaurants spanning Mexico, Peru and Brazil, whose So Paulo eatery D.O.M, run by ex-DJ Alex Atala, rose three places to number four and claimed the Best Restaurant in South America title. Reuters

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Photos: Kinfolk Brunch / San Francisco

I couldn't resist doing a quick post of photos I shot at the Kinfolk brunch this weekend. It was a family-style gathering at Heirloom Cafe in San Francisco, and it was just right. The sun was out, the food beautifully prepared, the company and conversation top-notch. The front door of the cafe was flung wide open and a fascinating mix of people walked through to sit down to a meal together. I left with a sense that I'd finally met a whole host of people I probably should have met years ago - people doing all sorts of interesting things, many/most of whom live walking distance from me. It was a good feeling.

I believe San Francisco was the third gathering in a twelve month series - Portland and Brooklyn were prior. Philadelphia and Toronto up next. Here's the page where you can watch for upcoming cities. You can also get information about the local people and businesses who came together to pull this off. I was thinking I would link to some of them here, but it might just be easier for you to click through the list on the Kinfolk site. For example, if you're interested in who did the lovely flowers, or the the letterpress menus, or, or, or...The little details were part of what made it so special. A big thank you to the Nathan and Julie for pulling together a wonderful room full of people. Also, I can't wait to see this photos this lovely lady was shooting. I'll link to them here when I see them.

I'm in the process of writing up one of my favorite spring rhubarb recipes for you. It's pretty in the way so many rhubarb creations are, and the flavor profile is just off-beat enough that people light up when they have a taste. I'll try to get that up in the next couple of days. xo -h

Continue reading Photos: Kinfolk Brunch / San Francisco...

cinnamon toast french toast + cookbook preview

Guys, I wrote a cookbook.

When I was 32 weeks pregnant in the summer of 2009 (in fact, this was overflowing on my kitchen counter during my first meeting across town) and should have been doing normal third trimester things like eating jars of Nutella by the spoonful and repainting the baseboard trim (which still looks awful, not that this will surprise you), I instead decided that I really wanted to write a cookbook. Because new mothers are swimming in free time (new babies sleep are always sleeping!), I thought I would finish the book in six months; nine, tops. Stop laughing. Quit it.

Two and three-quarter years later, the baby is 2 1/2, I am the proud owner of 2 1/2 gray hairs and, oh, right: The book is done. Even though these have been the busiest and more nerve-wracking years of my entire life, theyve also been the most exciting and inspiring. I am so proud of this book. I cant wait to show it to you. I wish it were out tomorrow. But today, I have a few things to hold us over.

First, this above? Thats the cover. Whats that, you ask? It for a tiny recipe called tomato shortcakes. Theyre savory. Those are biscuits with green onions. Its a salad. Theres whipped goat cheese. My editor was vi! siting t hat day, and I was just fiddling around, trying to make us a little lunch. My favorite dishes happen this way.

... Read the rest of cinnamon toast french toast + cookbook preview on smittenkitchen.com

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Recipe: Chocolate Chiffon Cake (three attempts)

First Attempt:

I am following hslingkitchens recipe for chocolate chiffon.

Above is egg white+caster sugar on the left

3 egg white beaten till stiff peak; chocolate + flour etc mixture on the right. Having 2 Ikea mixing bowls come in handy for such recipe

looks fluffy

inverted on a white vinegar bottle after finished baking

urgh, turns out dense, rough and not nice.

Second Attempt:

After the unsuccessful first attempt, time to follow the recipe exactly and make this a success. This time recipe taken from dailydelicious! , The ph oto in the blogsure show a moist chiffon.This time i have more time at hand baking on a Saturday morning instead of weekday night. Remember mum said chiffon recipe with comparatively more egg white than egg yolk will yields better and softer chiffon, so i think i will stick to this recipe from daily delicious instead of the previous one.

I reduced the sugar to 145g instead of 170g specified in the recipe

6 small egg white instead of 5 large egg white

4 small egg yolk instead of 3 large egg yolk

same method as previous: one bowl for egg white, the other for chocolate + flour etc mixture

mix in one third of the egg white into chocolate mixture to lighten the batter before folding in rest of egg white.

folding in gently, but ensuring all egg white are mixed in, else the finished products will have unsightly small pockets of egg white.

all mixed

this time baking in a springform pan as mentioned in this recipe

finished product, looks nice

mistakes start here, i unmold the cake straight away after taking out from oven. Chiffon should always left to cool inverted before removing it from mold, else it will collapse and becomes dense cake instead of light chiffon

continued to remove the bottom lined baking paper

looks nice at the point, the cake is still very warm at this point

Alas the second attempt is a failure as well, this is what happens when the weight of the cake especially middle part collapse and becomes very dense, and no longer light, the side of the cake is slightly better.

Third Attempt:

The third attempt should be my last try, using same recipe as in the second attempt(from dailydelicious). This time i bought large eggs, and followed exactly the recipes(3 egg yolk and 5 egg white). I baked it at 175 for 35 minutes(with the later baking stage lowered to around 160C), all the time keeping an eye on the cake as i am not following the temperature/timing in the recipe, but my mums(170-175C for 35 minutes). After the first 2 tries, pretty convince the extra 10g of oil on first try is not the reason it turned out to be a dense cake. Success!

Below are my two must notes for a successful chiffon making.

1) (most important) Chiffon cake must be inverted immediately after taking it out from oven and must be cooled inverted(2 hours to be safe) before removing it from themold. This is to ensure it will not collapse and become a dense cake, case in point happened on 1st and 2nd attempt.

2) Also very important, do not open the oven too long that the cake collapse even when still being baked in the oven, case in point my first and second try, both cake shrunk/collapsed even in the oven after i! did the toothpick test. For the 3rd attempt, i didnt do the toothpick test at all.

I find the temperature is pretty forgiving, it can range from 150 Celcius to 175 celcius. I find maintaining 175 Celcius for 35 minutes baking can burn the top of chiffon, so 175 Celcius for initial 15mins perhaps and 160 Celcius for the remaining 20 minutes could bedoable, will put it to test. While some recipe specifies 150 Celcius, i couldnt be bothered for now to have this low temperature and having to wait for it to finished baking for a longer time

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