Programme Title

Culinary Arts 400

(HETAC Level 8)

Module Title

CULINARY SKILLS 3

CRN 45608

Assessment Type

Case Study

Contemporary Culinary Trends

Chef Magnus Nilsson

Lecturer

DAN BROWNE

Student

CAROLINE DANAHER

T00140373

Table of Contents Page No’s

1.0 Introducing Chef Magnus Nilsson 3

2.0 Contribution To Contemporary Gastronomy 5

3.0 Culinary Significance 6

4.0 Culinary Influence 7

5.0 Culinary Trends 7

6.0 Conclusion 8

7.0 List of Appendices

1 Magnus Nilsson photo 11

2 Photo of inside restaurant 11

3 Scallop recipe 12

4 You tube video 12

8.0 Reference list 13

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1.0 Introducing Magnus Nilsson

Magnus Nilsson is a well-renowned chef who

was born in Sweden in 1983.

His first culinary memory is being at his

grandmother’s 50 acre farm when he was a

child chopping cucumbers, where he would also hunt and forage.

Initially he wanted to be a marine biologist but decide to enrol in culinary college

instead.

His career path has been impressive as outlined below:

Worked in Michelin starred restaurant L'Arpège in Paris under the guidance of

Chef Alain Passard

Worked in Pascal Barbot’s L'Astrance Restaurant in France

Returned to Sweden and became a wine writer

Attended Oenology school to study wine making

Became a sommelier for the Fäviken estate near Stockholm which is located in

the wilderness just below the Artic Circle

Became Head Chef at the restaurant Fäviken Magasinet on the Fäviken estate

which is currently ranked 19th in the World’s Best 50 list.

Currently presents on PBS's Emmy Award-winning docu-series The Mind of

a Chef

Nilsson has a theory that chefs may only have one great restaurant in them where they

invest a whole lot of themselves as fine dining is hard work.

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At the present moment, he is very happy with running his own small restaurant,

raising sheep, and spending time with his wife and two young children. (Jenkins,

2012)

Magnus Nilsson is considered at the forefront of modernist cuisine through the

methods and systems implemented to source fresh produce that only grows in a small

time frame.

His restaurant’s staff spend an incredible 50% of their time sourcing fresh produce

and prepping it so that it can be stored for future use.

Chef Nilsson has developed techniques for storage, pasteurized canning, and

dehydration of fresh produce to ensure his restaurant has a constant supply all year

round.

Nilsson is renowned for sourcing his ingredients within a limited radius around his

home and encourages others to do the same. Making vinegar from the burnt out trunk

of a spruce tree is not beyond the realms of possibility according to Nilsson.

The aforementioned unorthodox method

of making vinegar, along with

butchering and storing whole animals is

covered in Nilsson’s cookbook called Fäviken.

In Nilsson’s cookbook, cooking times and temperatures are rarely specified, and

quantities referenced are simply there to act as guidelines. Nilsson’s approach is that it

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doesn’t matter is a specific quantity is mentioned, just go with your gut feeling and

make the dish your own. (Anon., 2014)

We respect our raw ingredients for what they are, what they look like and where they come

from. We strive to monitor the production of each ingredient from seed to plate. We accept

nature’s own choices as the primary factor, and apply our own knowledge in order to

maximise every product’s potential before we select the ones that we are going to use. We

concentrate on harvesting, preparing, cooking and then serving it in the most thought

through and exact way possible... We present every single ingredient in a manner that

conveys the feelings that arise in the process to create rektún food.

Our ingredients are primarily from the Fäviken Estate, grown and raised in conditions that

we control. After this, they come from people we know in the local area, Jämtland, and,

lastly, they come from our Norwegian neighbours in Tröndelag.

We do not follow trends. We serve what we want, when we want.

Respect, control, selection, concentration, presentation.

Magnus Nisson

Interview with Best Emerging Chefs(Scoffier, 2010)

2.0 Contribution to Contemporary Gastronomy

Magnus Nilsson has just been awarded the White Guide Global Gastronomy Award

for 2015 for his international prominence as a creative chef who has become an

example and inspiration within and for contemporary gastronomy.

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Nilsson is on good company as previous winners of The White Guide Global

Gastronomy Award were:

2007: Ferran Adrià, El Bulli, Roses, Spain

2008: Charlie Trotter, Charlie Trotter’s, Chicago, USA

2009: Fergus Henderson, St. John, London, UK

2010: René Redzepi, Noma, Copenhagen, Denmark

2011: Alain Passard, l’Arpège, Paris, France

2012: David Chang, Momofuku, New York, USA

2013. Gastón Acurio, Astrid y Gastón, Lima, Peru

2014: Massimo Bottura, Osteria Francescana, Modena, Italy

Chef Magnus Nilsson will receive his award on 9 March 2015 at the White Guide

Gala in the Grand Hotel in Stockholm. (Nyheter, 2015)

3.0 Culinary Significance (Anon., 2015)

Magnus Nilsson has had a major

contribution on modernist cuisine and the

current contemporary culinary landscape.

His significance can be attributed to the

following:

Apart from seaweed, which he

sources from Norway, all other

ingredients used in his restaurant

are sourced through foraging, hunting and fishing in the area surrounding the

restaurant.

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The method of preparation used to ensure that ingredients retain their natural

flavour and remain robust are strictly adhered to, from drying to salting,

jellying, and pickling and bottling. (Anon., 2015)

Nilsson has become renowned worldwide for creating and serving dishes that are

impossible to find anywhere else.(see appendix 2 for sample dish)

4.0 Culinary Influence

In a 2014 interview with the

infamous blog Food Republic,

Nilsson confirm that more than 100

cooks from around the world, even as

far reaching as Japan, travel to

Scandinavia to learn from chefs like him.

Authentic Nordic food culture is very inaccessible to those cooks, according to

Nilsson and the cultural exchange is welcomed.

His foraging and sourcing of ingredients located within a radius of the restaurant,

combined with the preparation, preservation, pickling and canning of those

ingredients to a very strict regime, has influenced modern chefs to take a fresh look at

how they are sourcing and preparing ingredients.

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5.0 Culinary Trends

While Magnus Nilsson has readily admitted in several

interviews that he does not follow culinary trends, but

the method of how he and his Faviken staff use social

media to conduct creative research is fast becoming a trend.

“The restaurant closed a few days ago and will reopen on 1 July 2015. However,

Magnus told its followers earlier today, “during our time of closure, the permanent

staff will engage in several projects with the purpose of bringing new qualities to the

experience we offer at Fäviken. We will keep you all up to date on what we work on

via our Twitter account, @faviken, and our Instagram feed,

instagram.com/faviken.”  (Phaidon, 2015)

Nilsson is very engaged with his followers from all over the world on Twitter and

uses the social media tool to great effect to drive followers to his Instagram account

where his followers get to connect and engage with him and his staff and get a behind

the scenes look at his restaurant.

A number of his followers are world-renowned chefs, food critics, food blogs and

magazines to name a few, and he cleverly uses his social media interaction with them

to showcase his culinary methods, his creativity and end products with great effect.

6.0 Conclusion

While Magnus Nilsson may at times look like a wilderness hippie, there is no doubt

that he has an incredible way of communicating with his dishes. A plate really comes

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alive when he creates it. His favourite time of day is when he is standing among the

herbs and plants on the side of a mountain at dawn.

He has brought Nordic cuisine to the fore to such great effect that cooks from all over

the world are willing to travel to Scandinavia eager to learn from him.

What sets Nilsson apart is that he cooks real food, sourced locally, prepared and

stored in a way that maintains its natural flavours.

“The cooking at Fäviken is simple but not simplistic; great care, a lot of work

and attention to detail go into creating food with very few ingredients. We

only ever substitute new dishes for old ones if it makes the menu better or if

we run out of produce. Rather than changing a dish because we or our

customers grow tired of it, we let it live its own life, evolving and changing

with the flow of products passing through the restaurant and the ideas they

give us.

Respect, control, selection, concentration and presentation.”

Magns Nilsson. Fäviken

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List of Appendices

Appendix 1

Above Magnus Nilsson, with gun and female black grouse, with his restaurant Faviken in the background, on 22

December 2011. Photograph: Per-Anders Jörgensen

Appendix 2 Restaurant

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Above Dining Room

Appendix 3 Recipe

Recipe Scallop Juniper/©Fäviken Magasinet

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This is a very simple dish which is extremely demanding to produce. The scallop needs to be

nothing else than perfect and the timing of the cooking has to be very precise. To be able to

do this recipe with a good result you need to be at least two people otherwise the critical

moments will take too long and the precision in the cooking will be lost.

INGREDIENTS & PROGRESSION RECIPE

 The iodine saltiness of the almost raw broth together with the perfect scallop eaten and

drunk directly from the half shell covered in fresh Smokey sooth is excellent with some good

bread and mature butter.

 The perfect quality of the scallop and the cooking technique eliminates all need of salt or

other seasoning.

(Serving 4 people):

-4 perfectly fresh, very large and absolutely sand free live scallops in their shells.

-Birch tree coal

-Fresh juniper branches

-Some dry hay with a high herb content

1. Light your coal with a hot air blower or an electric coil, never lamp oil or any other

chemical

2. Spray the hay lightly with water

3. Put the juniper branches on top of the coal and when they start burning cook the scallops

directly over the fire. They are finished when you hear them making a crackling noise along

the edges.

4. Open the scallop up and pour all that’s in them in a preheated ceramic bowl. Separate the

actual scallop and put it back in the shell. Strain the beards and intestines quickly and divide

the cloudy broth in the shells together with the scallop. Put the top half back on the shelf,

place them on the hay with some fresh juniper and coal and serve them right away.

5. From when you take the scallop of the fire until it is served no more than 90 seconds can

pass.

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References

Anon., 2010. http://bestemergingchefs.com/2010/11/09/29-magnus-nilsson-faviken-

magasinet-faviken-sweden/. [Online] Available at: http://bestemergingchefs.com[Accessed 1

March 2015].

Anon., 2014. http://www.eater.com/2014/11/5/7164465/watch-the-entire-first-magnus-

nilsson-episode-of-the-mind-of-a-chef. [Online] Available at:

http://www.eater.com[Accessed 2 March 2015].

Anon., 2014. http://www.foodrepublic.com/2014/11/13/magnus-nilsson-will-now-tell-you-

everything. [Online] Available at: http://www.foodrepublic.com[Accessed 1 march 2015].

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Anon., 2015. http://de.phaidon.com/agenda/food/articles/2015/february/27/want-to-know-

whats-inspiring-magnus-nilsson. [Online] Available at: http://de.phaidon.com[Accessed 2

March 2015].

Anon., 2015. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/travel/. [Online] Available at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/travel/54268/faviken-magasinet-swedens-one-of-a-kind-

fine-dining-restaurant.html[Accessed 1 March 2015].

Anon., 2015. instagram.com/faviken. s.l.:Instagram.

Anon., 2015. whiteguide-nordic.com. [Online] Available at:

http://whiteguide-nordic.com/nyheter/white-guide-global-gastronomy-award-2015-to-

magnus-nilsson-of-sweden[Accessed 1 March 2015].

Jenkins, A., 2012. Magnus Nilsson: the rising star of Nordic cooking | Life and style | The

Observer. [Online]

Availableat:http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jan/22/magnus-nilsson-faviken-

sweden-chef[Accessed 12 january 2015].

John Cousins, K. O. M. S., 2015. Molecular gastronomy: cuisine innovation or modern day

alchemy?: International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management: Vol 22, No 3.

[Online] Available at: http://www.emeraldinsight.com[Accessed 12 january 2015].

McGee, H., 2015. Improvement of a culinary recipe by applying sensory analysis: Design of

the New Tarte Tatin. [Online] Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com[Accessed 12

january 2015].

Scoffier, 2010. http://bestemergingchefs.com. [Online] Available at:

http://www.bestemergingchefs.com[Accessed 12 january 2015].

wsj.com, 2015. www.wsj.com/articles. [Online] Available at: http://www.wsj.co[Accessed 1

march 2015].

www.wsj.com, 2015. www.wsj.com. [Online] Available at: http://www.wsj.com[Accessed 7

th March 2015].

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