if you asked
most people what they’d least like to eat in a restaurant,
it’s likely rotten food would be right up there. But try telling that to
Magnus Nilsson. At his restaurant, Fäviken (
faviken.com
),
in northern
Sweden, the chef is famed for aging all his meat for six months and
some for nine. He’ll then serve the decomposing flesh in tiny cubes,
on account of its incredibly strong, cheesy flavour.
Nilsson is not a culinary kook. Indeed, he’s considered one of the
most exciting food minds around, at the forefront of a movement
that’s seeing some of the world’s top kitchens experiment with
bacteria and ageing. For Nilsson, it’s all about creating brand-new
flavours. “I wanted to see what happened when you kept meat for a
long time,” he says. “When you age the meat, it decomposes, but by
controlling certain parameters, you can control the decomposition.
What I want is a large degree of enzymatic breakdown – that’s
proteins turning into amino acids and fats turning into fatty acids
–
that will heighten the meat flavour, and make it more
savoury and delicious.
“
Microbiology is present in so much,” he
says. “Without lactobacillus [bacteria that eats
carbohydrate to produce lactic acid, lowering
the pH level and preserving the product], a
lot of the food we eat wouldn’t exist. I mean,
have you ever eaten an olive fresh from the tree? It’s disgusting and
bitter, but if you add salt and make sure that you have lactobacillus
growing, it turns into something delicious.”
Bacterial processes are nothing new. Fermentation – the
process by which carbohydrate is converted into alcohol using
yeasts and bacteria – has been a mainstay of Asian cooking for
centuries (anyone for kimchi?). It’s only now that Western chefs are
opening their eyes. At Mugaritz (
mugaritz.com
),
the two-Michelin
starred restaurant in San Sebastian, they make a dessert with
fermented, oxidised fern stalks; at The John Salt (
john-salt.com
)
in
London, chef Ben Spalding has devised a pasta dish with fermented
apples that gives it a deep flavour. He also makes ground-chestnut
flatbread using a starter leaven that he’s been ‘feeding’ with rotten
fruit and ginger beer for three years. It sounds like it should come
with a health warning, but Spalding insists it’s all about delighting
the palate. The big question, of course, is how does it
taste? Beneath the sweetness of the nuts, I can
confirm there’s a deep, sour, but surprisingly
subtle and delicious flavour. But does it tempt
me to take a bite next time I find a piece of
mouldy food in the fridge? No fear. This is
definitely one food trend not to try at home.
Mould, glorious mould
A L O T O N H E R
P L A T E
Today’s most exciting chefs have hit upon a somewhat novel way to
create new flavours – and it’s not as crazy as it sounds, says
Rosie Birkett
He makes his own
flatbread using a starter
leaven that he’s been ‘feeding’
with rotten fruit and ginger
beer for three years
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V I E W P O I N T S
