Noma - Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine By Rene Redzepi
This is the long-awaited book by Rene Redzepi, chef of the highly acclaimed Noma in Denmark, which this year toppled El Bulli from its No 1 spot on Restaurant Magazine's list of 50 best restaurants in the world. Redzepi's first book, Noma, fetches very high prices on the rare occasions it comes up for auction on eBay, so food lovers have been quick to snatch up this volume.
Many of the recipes are uncookable. It's not that the techniques are too difficult - there's not much in the book that could be considered 'molecular'. Rather, it's that the chef uses Nordic ingredients - and musk ox, cloudberries, rowan, bulrushes and wild spring violets are hard to find in this part of the world.
But like the best of the El Bulli books, Redzepi's recipes - and the incredibly beautiful photography - are inspiring. They sound simple - potato chips with anise and chocolate; chestnuts with walnuts, rye and cress; wild blueberry and sweet corn ice cream; beetroot and rhubarb - and many of the cooking techniques are within the range of any skilled cook, but the flavour combinations are inventive.
To highlight the importance of the ingredients, Redzepi devotes one chapter to biographies of some of his main suppliers.
The book also has a helpful glossary describing the more exotic Nordic ingredients.