- 9 hours ago
Anthony travels to Denmark's economic and cultural capital, where he talks to famed chef Rene Redzepi and visits his restaurant, Noma, which critics have hailed as being among the best in the world.
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00:06It's your first time to Dymland?
00:08I got to be honest, I usually try to avoid clean, orderly countries
00:11without massive social problems.
00:14I'm here for you, man.
00:15If you're not the poster boy for the entire country, you should be.
00:19We go, no?
00:20Yes, let's go.
00:20Yeah.
00:21We were saddled with the weight of best restaurant in the world.
00:25Uh-huh.
00:26I know, this looks totally bogus. It's fantastic.
00:29You need to work 20 hours a day in order to achieve this.
00:32Come on, guys. They're waiting now.
00:33Let's go.
00:34It's so much less about, ooh, you know?
00:37It's about bang.
00:40And it's done, done, done, done.
00:42Elements, elements, thoughts, elements.
00:45What places have you been that you can compare to Norman?
00:49No place.
00:50It's a whole different world.
00:53Beautiful!
00:53Beautiful!
00:55I took a walk through this beautiful world
01:01Felt the cool rain on my shoulder
01:06Felt something weird in this beautiful world
01:13I felt the rain getting colder
01:19Sha-la-la-la-la-la
01:22Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la
01:25Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la
01:28Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la
01:44Once upon a time in a land far, far away
01:47there was a place.
01:49A very special place.
01:52A clean, orderly and nice place.
01:55Usually I hate clean, orderly and nice.
01:57The air smells fresh and physically fit
02:01Statuesque blondes pedal through streets
02:03Lined by old buildings and canals.
02:06I read something very disturbing on my way here.
02:09Apparently Denmark is like the happiest place on earth.
02:14They actually keep stats on this.
02:16Apparently Denmark is far and away number one.
02:18Yeah.
02:19The happiest, most content place on earth.
02:22Well, the colleges are the same for everybody.
02:25Free?
02:25Free.
02:26That's not American, man.
02:27That's socialism, isn't it?
02:30Yes.
02:31I mean, here, that's not a bad word.
02:34Okay, they pay like 60% of their earnings in taxes.
02:37But then they do get things like free healthcare,
02:4052 weeks maternity leave on full pay.
02:43When I had my kids, two rooms down,
02:45that's where the future king had his kids.
02:48There's no, like, Beyonce suite?
02:50No.
02:50We're all there.
02:51We're all the same.
02:52And that makes people more happy.
02:54That looks like a nightmare to me.
03:02By the way, it would be helpful to point out,
03:04this show is not about Denmark.
03:06It's not about Copenhagen.
03:08I'm here for one man.
03:10Food this way.
03:11All right.
03:11And one restaurant.
03:12And then we can start.
03:13Yes, chef.
03:14Food scalper going up?
03:15Yes, chef.
03:16Three food scalper going up?
03:17Yes, chef.
03:18Go, go, go, go, go.
03:19Noma is the place where Rene Redzepi pretty much changed the whole world of gastronomy.
03:24Let's go.
03:25Two baskets, please.
03:26For three years in a row, it was named the world's best restaurant by a jury of chefs and food
03:31writers who presumably know such things.
03:33Come on with those two.
03:34They're sitting waiting.
03:35Come on.
03:35Coming through.
03:37Wow.
03:41Nordic coconuts.
03:42Also at the same time, this little bouquet of flowers.
03:44Danish coconut.
03:45Cheers to that.
03:46Cheers.
03:47And so the question, how does this nice down-to-earth guy rise to the top of the food world,
03:53all while presenting things that no one could possibly think would taste that good?
03:58Let's have a bouquet of flowers.
03:59Oh, man.
04:00Oh, they're delicious.
04:01I'm not sure, but that's what I'm here to find out.
04:05Have they had the moss?
04:06Let's give them the moss.
04:07Yes, chef.
04:08We know that Noma has been said to be the world's best.
04:12This is a dish that is 20 man-hours.
04:15And what we've heard outside of Denmark is that Rene sources his ingredients exclusively from the Nordic region, mostly from
04:22within 60 miles of the restaurant.
04:24Get a better one than this.
04:25Get a better vessel.
04:26Better vessel quickly.
04:27Come on.
04:27Yes, chef.
04:28Think about that.
04:29Denmark is not exactly the Mediterranean.
04:32Summers are short.
04:33Service.
04:34Yeah.
04:35What Rene and crew started, what they're famous for, is foraging for ingredients.
04:39Reindeer moss with last year's harvest of sep mushrooms.
04:43And color me, dubious.
04:45Did you ever eat moss before?
04:47No.
04:47Mmm.
04:52That is incredible.
04:53Wow.
04:54There's no way that this is going to look convincingly delicious on TV, but it is really delicious.
05:00Oh.
05:01Alessandro Porcelli is Italian, living in Denmark.
05:04Mmm.
05:04He worked at Noma before starting Cook It Raw, the roaming Boy Scout camp for the world's best chefs.
05:10I met Rene in 2004.
05:13Basically, the restaurant was just open.
05:15Four and six.
05:16Yes.
05:16Ten years after Noma's inception, Rene is arguably the most famous Dane since Hamlet.
05:23And so, it's happily ever after, right?
05:26Not quite.
05:27It's funny that all this happened actually in Copenhagen, huh?
05:31You have all these rules about the Jante law, you know?
05:34Where you have these guidelines where you never brag about yourselves.
05:38You don't want to stand out.
05:38It's all understated.
05:39The law of Jante, which discourages attention-seeking, is part and parcel of living in Denmark.
05:46Danes who think too big are often cut down by their peers.
05:50It's hard to really make an effort.
05:53And if you stand out too much, you know, get off your horse.
05:57Okay.
05:57So, let's say you start a restaurant.
05:59Mm-hmm.
06:00And you announce right away,
06:01well, this restaurant's gonna be different than anybody else's restaurant.
06:03You see where I'm going here.
06:05Are people mean originally?
06:07Or they talk about you?
06:09Do they...
06:10I mean, how much foul language can I use on this show?
06:13We very quickly became the big band of the seal.
06:17Seal.
06:18Seal.
06:18People can be so cruel.
06:20Do Danes like this place?
06:22No?
06:23I mean, they're proud of it.
06:24They accept that.
06:25It's turned the attention of the whole world.
06:26Yeah, exactly.
06:27All right, three sorrel, please?
06:28Yes, chef.
06:32To tell the truth, food nerds, captains of industry, celebrities, you name it, have been
06:37flocking here for years.
06:39Deaf boss sorrel coming up now?
06:41Some waiting months for a reservation in a 45-seat restaurant.
06:45So, we have a sorrel leaf.
06:46It's marinated in a grasshopper garam.
06:49What I do is you want to use it like a spoon and sort of scoop all of this green
06:52snow,
06:52which is made from nasturtium leaves.
06:58Damn, that's good.
06:59The technique, you don't notice it.
07:01You notice the flavor.
07:02It's holy.
07:03That's delicious.
07:04That's really intensely.
07:06It's like I've never tasted a green vegetable that good.
07:14We're in Tivoli.
07:15You see there's like lawns, people sit down, the sun is out, the birds are singing.
07:21This is where happiness was invented.
07:25Tivoli Gardens, it is said, is the second oldest amusement park in the world.
07:29Stroll in here, watch the pantomime that's hundreds of years old.
07:34I've only been here once with my kids, actually.
07:36I work all the time, unfortunately.
07:40This is usually the place where a young kid takes their first date.
07:44How old is this thing?
07:46I don't know, man.
07:47This is made for kids.
07:48Does it feel a bit wobbly?
07:50Totally and ancient.
07:51I'm a little uncomfortable.
07:53You see, Copenhagen is dangerous too.
07:54Yeah, right?
07:56Whoa.
07:57There you go.
07:58Oh, damn.
07:58You know, this is not bad.
08:00So there you see, just this little tiny park in the smack center of the city.
08:04It's not huge, is it?
08:04No.
08:04It's all just squished right in the middle.
08:06It's like Singapore, you know, all dents together.
08:09You have no death penalty.
08:11No, only the sort of the public humiliation.
08:13If you up with something.
08:19Oh, here we go.
08:21Firearms, apparently.
08:22It's okay here.
08:24You know, I've actually never fired a firearm in my life.
08:27Really?
08:27And I've never driven a car.
08:29You've never driven a car?
08:31Never driven a car.
08:32Okay, this is good.
08:33This will be empowering.
08:34This could change your whole life.
08:35Yes.
08:36Every time you fire that, you get three of those.
08:39You don't need to tell him he's American.
08:43All right.
08:44So is this a competition?
08:45Call it what you like.
08:46All right.
08:48Blow it up.
09:02Oh, this is exciting.
09:04I think we definitely have a winner here.
09:07Oh, my God.
09:09Not a single one?
09:11I have to go.
09:12That's what we call a nice grouping.
09:14This is like a public school, you know, shooting range.
09:20After this, we're going to steal a car.
09:21I'll teach you to drive.
09:23Yeah.
09:24Come on, guys.
09:25They're waiting now.
09:26Let's go.
09:26Familiar with this one at all?
09:27No.
09:28So traditionally, it's served around Christmas time.
09:31We call them able skewers.
09:32You got a little fish rammed right through.
09:34I love it.
09:35Isn't it sweet?
09:36And there's a pickled cucumber in the middle.
09:39Mmm.
09:41That's great.
09:41Is it just awesome?
09:43Very traditional flavors.
09:44There's all these old school restaurants that have been here for hundreds of years.
09:47The herring, the rye bread, the smoked fish, the traditional stuff, you know?
09:55There we go.
09:56Thank you, my good man.
09:58Welcome to the happiest place on earth.
10:01On earth.
10:03Oh, there we go.
10:05All right.
10:05Smoked eel.
10:07Smoked eel.
10:08Pure shrimps.
10:09Pickled herring.
10:10Pickled herring.
10:11These tiny little shrimps, it's one of the few seasonal offerings that Danes look forward
10:16to.
10:16Our eating traditions are not that big here.
10:19Historically, we've eaten for survival.
10:20It was fuel to us.
10:22Lutherans were not exactly the most fun bunch.
10:25It was sinful to take too much pleasure in food.
10:29You know?
10:29You're sitting at the table going, oh, my God, that's so good.
10:32Ooh, that's delicious.
10:33You're already going down the slippery slope of who knows what other kinds of behaviors.
10:39You know, my father's an immigrant here.
10:40I'm not even full Dane.
10:42Your father was Macedonian?
10:43Yeah.
10:44Found the former Yugoslavia.
10:46And then you left Yugoslavia at what age?
10:4914.
10:50People make fun of me when I say I've never driven a car.
10:53But I never had a Coca-Cola until I was like 17.
10:58It just wasn't in a small little village where there's two cars.
11:01You know?
11:01The first food memory I have is also from there, and it was my father.
11:06And the day before, we'd been to the mountain picking chestnuts.
11:09And I remember so vividly as a little child, I woke up and I saw my father's roasting chestnuts.
11:16And then I started hearing all these things popping.
11:2220 minutes later, they were in a bowl, and my aunt, she poured milk that she'd just taken from the
11:26cow, and we had that for breakfast.
11:29It was so natural that we went to the mountains for chestnuts, you grew your food yourself.
11:35These sort of experiences growing up, they really shaped the type of cook I am today.
11:52So now you have a generation of young cooks like myself, and they are all over town, looking for the
11:57flavor of a region.
11:58What is the flavor?
11:59What are the ingredients that we have?
12:00And how do we combine them in a way that tells something of where you are in the world?
12:09Between me and nature, there's not so much love.
12:12Nature is where bugs live.
12:16But I'm learning, reluctantly, over time, how much I've been missing.
12:20Rene is proclivity to scrounge around for flavorful stuff that grows wild.
12:24Welcome to the beach.
12:26What do you think of a good old Danish beach?
12:27Pretty much kick-started the restaurant world's now widely emulated practice of foraging.
12:33You see all this?
12:34Grass.
12:35But actually, these are succulents.
12:37We're doing beach cabbage for them, no?
12:38Yeah.
12:39Rene, since the beginning, is thinking about how to put it into a plate what's around you, basically.
12:44Well, you need to be like a 19th century naturalist.
12:47If you're going to do this, you're going to play this.
12:49Yeah, you need to be a botanist, a naturalist.
12:54Chew on this.
12:57You taste cilantro?
12:59Yes.
13:00It's cilantro.
13:01The sky says grass.
13:03Here, here, here.
13:04It's everywhere.
13:05Good to go.
13:06Service.
13:07Service.
13:09So we have some roasted turbot.
13:11I think the row is on the top there.
13:12Beach plants, beach cabbages around the outside.
13:15What?
13:15So I know these ingredients.
13:16We were plucking them yesterday.
13:18Yes.
13:20Wow.
13:22This should be the future, no?
13:23Your mama cooked these dishes.
13:25Let's go and porridge, guys.
13:27Come on, kids.
13:28Oh, there you go.
13:29Look.
13:30Sea beans.
13:31Salty, juicy, crunchy.
13:33I mean, I'd look.
13:33If I were looking at this at home, I would very much be thinking, come on, man.
13:37It's grass.
13:37It's grass.
13:38Yeah.
13:38It's green stuff.
13:40It all tastes the same.
13:41Yeah.
13:41It totally doesn't.
13:42It totally doesn't.
13:43Now, is some of this stuff poison?
13:45Yeah.
13:46Have you ever eaten something that...
13:48Oh, yeah.
13:49Yeah.
13:49On-the-spot diarrhea.
13:50Really?
13:51Oh.
13:51The dark side of foraging.
13:53Two fish heads.
13:54Yes, sir.
13:56Growing your own food, finding your own food.
13:59Yeah.
13:59That was life in Macedonia.
14:01Yeah.
14:02But for a lot of people right now, it is an affectation.
14:05The worst moments, the worst meals are when people are just following a sort of a
14:08culinary trend.
14:10And they will see, oh, there's an edible.
14:11But it tastes like .
14:12But it's edible and it's forage, therefore I put it on the menu.
14:15You know, it's gonna go on the fish no matter what.
14:18Two pike head walking.
14:19Beautiful.
14:20Oh.
14:21Now.
14:21The pike heads with the beet ribs that you guys foraged from yesterday.
14:24Oh.
14:25Okay.
14:29Mmm.
14:30Oh.
14:31You just pick off every little bit.
14:33Mmm.
14:34But I think even at its most ludicrous manifestation,
14:38surely it is a positive thing that people are actually starting to look around and see where
14:43shit grows.
14:44It still is good because people are being connected to the place they're in.
14:48What's edible?
14:48What's not?
14:49What is there to eat?
14:50Oh, here we go.
14:52Jackpot.
14:52This is a mustard.
14:54Peach mustard.
14:55In three weeks, this is gone.
14:57New things come out.
14:59This is our bread serving.
15:00It's a sourdough bread that's made with a Swedish grain called Ulan.
15:04And this is a cow's milk butter that has not been churned all the way.
15:07It's called virgin butter.
15:07Mmm.
15:09Oh, God.
15:10This is amazing, huh?
15:11Butter like this, where you can pretty much taste what the cow ate.
15:14You know, anybody who's milked a cow, this is a flavor of childhood.
15:17Fact is, there aren't a lot of people left who, where I come from, who've milked a cow.
15:21And that's why it's becoming more important to what these guys are doing.
15:25It's the relationship also that they have with the farmers.
15:28The relationship we have with the soil.
15:33So this is Soren's farm, but we always say our farm.
15:36We feel like it's, it's our place.
15:38Soren is Rene's primary supplier of farmed meat and vegetables.
15:43Look at the soil here.
15:44You see all the mussel shells?
15:46Yeah.
15:47These are shellfish because this used to be marshland.
15:49Like Rene, he's not your ordinary Dane.
15:52And his farm is unlike the others around here.
15:55This used to be monoculture.
15:57Yeah, 15 hectares with carrots.
15:59Just carrots.
16:00And now how many, what are you growing?
16:02Between 120 and 170 different things.
16:07True, there are tractors and rows where potatoes and carrots grow.
16:11But much of what's happening here is a mix of wild and cultivated.
16:16This is wild angelica.
16:18Mmm.
16:19That's chives.
16:20The purple flowers here.
16:21Oh yeah.
16:21Yeah.
16:22Wild onions.
16:23And you could grow them.
16:24Here, let's grow some for next year.
16:26There you go.
16:27The first time you come up here, you go into this and it's like, ah, a flower garden.
16:30And he will say, no, no, no, this is the leek feel.
16:33They're so nice.
16:34You're touching them like they're jewels.
16:36They're art jewels.
16:39Let's grab a bunch of these for lunch, no?
16:42Is leeks going?
16:44Yeah.
16:45The pressure in farming is to have a monoculture and to provide year in year out what you know
16:50is going to sell and what the market demands.
16:52Do you mind grabbing a few of these plants?
16:54They're going to grow up, so don't take the root.
16:57It's very, very hard for a small guy to say, you know what?
17:00I'm not going to grow carrots anymore.
17:01I'm going to grow a whole bunch of different interesting things and I'm going to grow them
17:04as well as I possibly can.
17:05Yeah, this is pretty much a first for me.
17:07This is the first time you fall to your knees for a green plant?
17:11Yeah.
17:11How long for leeks?
17:12Two leek up, two leek up.
17:14Do you think we'll ever reach the point where guys like Sorum will be in a very good place?
17:19I think that if we cut the middle man, get the producers, the farmer, to talk directly
17:24with a guy like Cornet.
17:25Nobody ever teaches you that the symbiosis you need to have intact is with these people that
17:30grow the food.
17:31You're never taught that as a cook, which is strange.
17:33No, get a better one.
17:34Can we have another leek that looks more similar in size to this one, please?
17:37Okay, let's go.
17:38And I think also, respect to your chefs, how should you know anything about this landscape?
17:46I've been here for 30 years and I just know a small, tiny part.
17:50Grilled leeks.
17:52So we just scoop it up.
17:53I think we picked these yesterday.
17:55Oh, yeah?
17:57Oh, man.
17:58Mmm.
17:59That is the meatiest, most umami-filled vegetable I've ever had.
18:03Yeah, yeah, yeah.
18:09Maybe we'll cook this for lunch spice with the Tatar.
18:11Chop that up in the freshly slaughtered meat from one of Saren's cows.
18:15Hi.
18:16Hi.
18:16Hi.
18:17What else?
18:18The asparagus.
18:19Yes, let's do that.
18:20I'm hungry, man.
18:21Could the asparagus come out?
18:22Yeah.
18:24Asparagus.
18:25Beautiful.
18:27Let's go.
18:29Can we have sauce up, please?
18:30Yes.
18:31Yes.
18:31And then just one dollop in there in the middle, okay?
18:33Yes.
18:35We roast the asparagus with this pint.
18:37That's why we have the branch.
18:39Do not eat that branch, however.
18:41Okay.
18:42Underneath is a small pile of tender spruce shoots, grilled green asparagus sauce, and a
18:46little bit of fresh cream.
18:50That is incredible.
18:51Wow.
18:52The flavor of this, huh?
18:57So this is actually beer made from asparagus.
19:00It's tasty.
19:01Yeah.
19:01What's the meat?
19:02Weel.
19:03Weel?
19:03What was the name of the cow?
19:05Uh, 76300330.
19:11Chef, do you want to do the Tatar?
19:13What are you thinking?
19:14Just hack up the meat?
19:15Hack up the meat.
19:17Ooh, it already looks good.
19:19I'm going to go on the asparagus and on the leeks.
19:21Clean them up, grill them.
19:23A little sun lotion on these guys.
19:26Hey, son, do you want to do a potato salad?
19:28Yeah.
19:28What should we put on the Tatar?
19:30Wild onions.
19:32Bit of this horseradish.
19:36That's the chives.
19:38Chive flours.
19:40Okay, a little salt on the leek and a little cheese.
19:42Yes.
19:45That's the angelica.
19:47Take all these flours and we mix that in.
19:51Some vinegar.
19:52Elderfly vinaigrette for the grilled asparagus.
19:55A few eggs from my mother's, three birds.
19:59Done.
19:59Didn't take us ten minutes, but we have four courses.
20:02This is like three Michelin stars, Chef.
20:05Oh, yeah.
20:06Ooh.
20:07Oh, man.
20:08Perfect.
20:09Look at that.
20:12Wow.
20:13Wow, wow, wow.
20:15That egg.
20:16What an egg.
20:17Yeah.
20:18Do you eat like this all the time?
20:19I bring my kids up here.
20:21All the staff comes here often.
20:22This becomes your reference frame for how fresh an asparagus should be.
20:26Just harvest, just cooked, just eaten.
20:30I mean, I think a place like this, in addition to being the best restaurant in the world and
20:34whatever else, it offers a real possibility.
20:37There is food around that, with a little effort or a lot of effort, you can make it into something
20:42really delicious.
20:44That is the hard thing, yeah?
20:46Right.
20:46Just the way that people think about food.
20:48Not just that there are 35 people that can afford to come and eat here at Nomell.
20:52Thank you for joining.
20:54Thank you, Chef.
20:54It's magnificent, yeah.
20:55Magnificent.
21:07Look, there are always going to be some people out there who hate the very idea of your existence.
21:11Yeah.
21:11From the very minute they even think about you.
21:21Yes.
21:23There's a Danish expression for not wanting to stand out.
21:26Yeah.
21:26Not wanting to talk about yourself to your mind.
21:28Yeah, that's called jentelon, the law of jenten.
21:30Wow.
21:31So it's yeast?
21:32It's probably.
21:33It's beautiful.
21:35Mmm.
21:36Here we are, 10 years ago, we're opening, we're saying, we're going to try something else.
21:40Two lobsters on hold?
21:41Two lobsters all cut out?
21:42Yeah.
21:43Stuff like that, in that time, was just unheard of.
21:45It was beyond stupid.
21:47And why do you even try?
21:48Why are you fiddling with stupid concepts?
21:54Wow.
21:54Look at this.
21:56This is very complex.
21:57Mmm.
21:58I know in the beginning, a lot of Danes were calling them the seal.
22:02Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
22:03And they were laughing.
22:03It's a very new thing, you know?
22:05Food here in the...
22:06It's not something that they had like we have in Italy or they have in France.
22:09No, here, it's a different story.
22:11You have a huge crowd of people that are still so much in love in the old world.
22:15For lobster for lobster?
22:16Yeah.
22:17Yes.
22:17I mean, I've even been told that I have fascist tendencies and there's been op-eds written
22:22in Danish papers.
22:23Vinegar, please.
22:24Linking what we do at the restaurant to some of the most horrible moments in recent history.
22:30So this is the tail of the lobster with a little bit of the head juices underneath these nasturtium
22:35leaves.
22:36Use your hands.
22:37I will.
22:38Mmm.
22:40It's luxurious.
22:42So how's it changing?
22:43That's what's interesting.
22:45In 10 years, it's really gone from, you know, the seal to igniting a new confidence in this
22:53city, in this part of the world that I never grew up with.
22:58A possible forbearer to this new challenging of the status quo can be found right in the
23:03heart of the straight-laced Danish capital.
23:06I think Christiania is one of the most awesome places in the world, which is not very Yantelorish
23:11to say.
23:11A well-established enclave of hippie anarchist squatters sounds about as attractive as being
23:17sentenced to life at a fish concert.
23:19But there are some interesting features of Christiania.
23:22There's no government to intrude on your personal freedom.
23:25You're free to behave in as eccentric or normal a fashion as you wish.
23:29Here, I mean, you can be the freak that you are, and if you want to spend your day talking
23:32to a tree, you can do that without being frowned upon.
23:36Rasinga and his friend Joker are in local government, such as it is.
23:40Christiania has been here for some 40 years.
23:42It was a military area that was abandoned, and it was then occupied by squatters and hippies.
23:48Despite the fact that the different governments didn't really appreciate what was going on here,
23:52nobody actually had the will or the strength to put people out.
23:54Who picks up the trash?
23:56We do.
23:57What about the essentials?
23:58You know, electric, water.
23:59We buy it from providers, but we do it as a commune, as a collective.
24:04We pay only one bill.
24:05But what I like about living here is the fact that my kids get to walk around the streets
24:09without worrying about being run over by a car.
24:11There's no hot drugs and no cars running in the streets.
24:15Yeah, definitely.
24:15I mean, it's like a little village.
24:16It's very secure.
24:18Are you a hippie?
24:20He is.
24:22You have two eggs smoking now?
24:24Yeah, chef.
24:25So right down there we have Pusha Street, which is probably the most famous part of Christiania.
24:29The green section, right?
24:31Yeah.
24:31Yeah.
24:31By weed and hash oil, hashish.
24:33Yeah.
24:33I would never do that as a responsible journalist, but I'm interested in investigating.
24:39Pusha Street, it's a beloved institution here.
24:42You are free to see an array of cannabis products.
24:48Theoretically, by the way, marijuana is, like, not legal in Denmark.
24:52But there's a great tolerance for marijuana here, and I think that's because it isn't really harmful.
24:58People who smoke too much, maybe they pass out.
25:01Right.
25:03Whoa.
25:04Quail egg cooked in hay.
25:06Huh?
25:07Wow.
25:08That's, like, the greatest thing ever.
25:09Perfect.
25:09That's a perfect dish.
25:10Perfect dish.
25:11I want more of those.
25:12Yeah, yeah.
25:19So here you go.
25:21So there's nobody in charge?
25:23I am.
25:24I'm in charge.
25:25Yeah.
25:26The only problem is everybody else is too.
25:28Yeah.
25:28It seems utopian.
25:30We have the same problems as anybody, but we try to solve them in a different way.
25:34And one of the ways we try to solve this sort of challenge is by embracing people as much as
25:39we can,
25:40and trying to make space as much as we can.
25:45Do we have two peas ready for table four?
25:47Can I go with that now?
25:48Yes.
25:51Yeah.
25:53Mm.
25:54Extraordinary.
25:55I was reading something you wrote that's very un-American in its concept, which is, don't be afraid to fail.
26:01Yeah.
26:02When we did this dish to us, it was a very big moment, because we burnt it by mistake.
26:07And then we thought, okay, it's a mistake, let's see what happens.
26:10And we cooked it, and then we had a new paste, a new sort of spice for us.
26:13Mm.
26:14That's indescribably delicious.
26:16All cookbooks, particularly American cookbooks, are written from the point of view that if you only follow this recipe, it
26:22will turn out great.
26:24You're safe.
26:24This is what we try to talk about every day in the kitchen with the cooks on Saturday Night Project.
26:34Apparently this is when you invite members of your crew to put up a new dish.
26:39Yeah.
26:40For comment.
26:40After each grueling work week concludes, cooks from every level of the brigade stay late to submit their newest culinary
26:47ideas.
26:48Everybody's in on this?
26:49Everybody's in on it.
26:50This could be a very uncomfortable, you're hanging it out.
26:54This forum is about failure.
26:55So, yes.
26:57All right, let's see what you got.
26:58Luke, go for it.
27:01At no point in my career would I have wanted to subject myself to this kind of mass scrutiny.
27:07No, but watch.
27:07It's not bad, huh?
27:08It's not bad.
27:09It can be bad.
27:10I mean...
27:14What do you have for us, chef?
27:15A fermented apple tea.
27:16Mm-hmm.
27:17This one I did with razor clam and some chamomile as well.
27:22This is lamb's tongue cooked to 10 hours at 70 degrees.
27:26Kohlrabi, just fermented with water and 2% salt.
27:29And this is sea buckthorn juice with brown butter.
27:32So, what we have here, a SEP ice cream with some barley.
27:36Mushroom ice cream and fermented barley sauce.
27:40Yes.
27:41I think the lamb's tongue is a great ingredient.
27:44Personally, I'm not getting what the kohlrabi brought to the party.
27:46The razor clams are a bit sweet.
27:48And with this broth, it's quite sweet.
27:50So, it becomes very one-dimensional.
27:52Why can't you do that for your next project?
27:54Dry salt versus brine salt.
27:57She uses elements that I would never use in a dessert.
28:01And it tastes good.
28:01I like it.
28:02Given a choice of being a traditional dessert in this,
28:05I would be very, very, very, very happy with this.
28:07It was delicious.
28:07Really delicious.
28:13Who's next?
28:17Oh.
28:20So, here I have a dish of strawberries and cream.
28:23I decided to go out on my bike and see what I could get.
28:26So, all the flowers that are here, the lady let me pick them in her garden.
28:29So, I have strawberries that are pickled in rose vinegar.
28:33And a creme fraiche at the base.
28:34That's been infused with burnt roses and rose pollen.
28:42Can we just clap, or...?
28:46That's hot.
28:53And then, that might well end up on the menu?
28:55No.
28:57This is not about putting things on the menu.
28:59No.
29:00I mean, if somebody makes a masterpiece, it's their masterpiece.
29:03Really?
29:03Yeah, yeah.
29:04Of course.
29:04Isn't it your historical imperative, as the chef, to take his good work and innovation
29:10and put it on the menu and take credit for it as your own?
29:14I mean, that's the way it's been done for centuries.
29:16This is not the point here.
29:18The pursuit of enlightenment and knowledge is its own reward?
29:21To me, yes.
29:24Is that it?
29:25Yes, Chef.
29:26Cheers, everybody.
29:27Yes, Chef.
29:38Table four.
29:39It's being cleared.
29:40Let's start dressing.
29:41Yes, Chef.
29:42They're waiting.
29:43Yes, Chef.
29:44Come on, come on.
29:44Yes.
29:44I mean, now I travel a lot, and I meet chefs and say, you know, I want to be number
29:48one in
29:49the world.
29:49And I was in Mexico, in Yucatan.
29:51They don't even know how to make a tortilla.
29:53They don't even know what a tortilla is made of.
29:55They kind of lose touch with what tradition is.
29:59That looks good, man.
30:00Merci, Chef.
30:01It's good for you to try this, the herring, the rye bread, the smoked fish, the traditional
30:06stuff, you know?
30:07Because when you grow up as a cook here, you think of this as old-fashioned.
30:11You don't see it as an inspiration for your future endeavors as a cook.
30:14All right, fellas.
30:15The next thing we serve you is flatbread.
30:18Very traditional here.
30:20And we spice ours with shoots of spruce and oak tree.
30:25Mmm.
30:26This is amazing.
30:27Amazing.
30:28Damn, that's good.
30:29Sophistication, but it's something that is so down-to-earth flavor-wise.
30:34No doubt about it.
30:35That's like both really classic and totally new.
30:44How you doing?
30:45Hello.
30:46It's Niels.
30:47Cheers.
30:47Cheers.
30:48I'm learning.
30:49Danes may be stiff, but they sure as hell know how to drink.
30:54Niels is a Danish Renaissance man.
30:56Drinker.
30:57Sailor.
30:58Charter tour boat operator.
31:01Musician.
31:02So you're a neighbor of Rene and Noma.
31:04Of Noma.
31:05I have known him from the absolute beginning.
31:08And when Noma, can we start now?
31:10Yeah, we're going.
31:11We're going.
31:11Well, what did you think of him when you first met him?
31:13I saw an ordinary man.
31:15He, he fight for what he think about.
31:18I mean, he had a vision.
31:19Yeah, a vision.
31:21He have a vision and fight for this.
31:23All right.
31:23It's very close for two, uh, bitters.
31:26Yes.
31:28Nice done, chef.
31:30Oh, there we go.
31:33Look at the beautiful girl there.
31:35Cheers.
31:36Here we go.
31:39What was that?
31:40Camel dance.
31:42What's in it?
31:43It's Camel dance.
31:44I know, but what is that?
31:46I don't know exactly how you make that.
31:49But it has been drinking in Denmark for many years.
31:52So we have Camel dance.
31:54It's a liquor.
31:55So it's a Danish bitter that has about 30 different herbs or so.
31:58So we made an ice cream.
32:00With dehydrated milk and sorrel.
32:03It looks delicious.
32:04Oh.
32:05Oh, here we go. Camel dance.
32:08It is good.
32:10It works.
32:10It is good.
32:11It works.
32:13It works.
32:13Look at this.
32:14Where you come from?
32:15New York?
32:15Yeah.
32:16Yeah, yeah, yeah.
32:17How did you know?
32:17What?
32:18It works.
32:19He said.
32:21Thomas, can you come help me dress here?
32:24Yeah.
32:24Don't let them touch each other, okay?
32:26Yeah.
32:27Just there.
32:28Perfect.
32:28What would traditional Danish food be for you?
32:32Potatoes.
32:33Two potatoes.
32:34Yes, sir.
32:34And some kind of meat and sauce.
32:37Do you taste the sauce?
32:39I did taste the sauce, sir.
32:40Yeah?
32:41Hello, fellas.
32:42We fermented barley.
32:44And we cooked the potatoes in that.
32:46And served with sturgeon roll from the lakes of Finland.
32:50Wow, man.
32:51Mmm.
32:52Oh.
32:53It has a grappa homemade whiskey.
32:56After it, yes.
32:58I know this flavor well.
32:59One more time.
33:03Here we go.
33:05What are we doing?
33:07What are we doing?
33:08I'm a little bit hungry.
33:09The famous, the Danish national late night dish.
33:20John's hot dog?
33:21Yes.
33:21I'll have the deluxe.
33:23Yeah.
33:23Here's one to take.
33:24Organic sausage.
33:25Organic sausage.
33:28So it's good to me.
33:29He made his own mustard.
33:31Wow.
33:32Onion, sir.
33:33Here we go.
33:36That's a classic one.
33:39All my happiest moments seem to revolve around the tube form.
33:45Mmm.
33:46That's superb.
33:47That's really good.
33:48Don't do, don't film me when I eat that.
33:50Yeah.
33:51Only the moments when we look good.
33:53Yeah.
33:55These onions are awesome.
33:57I think that's the way.
33:59You have to make something new.
34:01Mm-hmm.
34:01But respect the classics.
34:02This is what we should transmit to the young guys, you know.
34:06The passion to present something on a plate that is delicious.
34:09It also makes sense of your own environment.
34:11But it's authentic.
34:12It's yours.
34:13If you don't have a clear understanding about what tradition is,
34:16how can you innovate?
34:17Come to Copenhagen.
34:18Noma for lunch.
34:20John's for dinner.
34:21And double dance.
34:22Somewhere in the middle, yeah.
34:22Double dance and beer.
34:23Yeah, right.
34:36Welcome to the Naughty Food Lab.
34:38Just across from Noma, located in a converted houseboat,
34:41an entity separate from the restaurant.
34:44A place Rene set up to further ideas and experimentation.
34:49Ben is one of the guys in charge here.
34:51Nutmeg's a bit hallucinogenic.
34:53So I decided to make something ammonia-rich with lots of nutmeg,
34:56leave it for a while, and then we'll see what happens.
34:58So it's hallucinogenic fish sauce, potentially?
35:00In theory.
35:01Some of the things that we're doing, really, I mean,
35:03they are just pure experimentation for experimentation's sake.
35:07And it's pretty damn delicious.
35:08I like that.
35:09It's another food item on your shelf.
35:11And me, as a cook, that's what I want.
35:13These are two-years-old cherries with the cherry pits,
35:16and wild roses.
35:17Five-years-old wild roses now.
35:19Very deep, intense.
35:20This is amazing.
35:22Amazing.
35:23They're not just thinking about what tastes good now.
35:24They're talking about, will this taste good in two years
35:26if we ferment it or age it or dry it?
35:28We like to ferment it.
35:30We add bacteria to it so that it needs three years of time,
35:33and then it becomes utter delicious.
35:36The diversity available to us,
35:38through looking at fermentations and looking at different bacteria,
35:41looking at different molds, yeasts, all sorts,
35:43is absolutely enormous.
35:45There is stuff rotting in jars and vats,
35:48these experiments in fermentation and flavor.
35:51You're all doing some sinister down there right now.
35:54So this is a ferment of canapodium,
35:56a wild type of spinach which grows around here,
35:58and no one uses them.
36:00Maybe even reminiscent of foie gras.
36:02Serious foie.
36:03Serious foie.
36:04And this is from a weed that grows everywhere.
36:06If you do it with gooseberries, like to ferment gooseberries,
36:09you get golden drops of perfection.
36:12Can we have two berries on for?
36:13Yeah.
36:15All right, fellas.
36:16The next thing we serve you is the dried-in juices
36:18from last year's harvest of blackcurrant,
36:20and then we wrap it in wild roses
36:23that we've had in vinegar for two years now.
36:25Oh, lovely.
36:26Mmm.
36:28Acidity, creamy.
36:29It's like super-powered.
36:30What?
36:38I need to ask about this.
36:39You need to ask about this.
36:40Well, this is pretty interesting.
36:42This is born out of a desire to study mummification.
36:45Everyone used to eat mummies, apparently.
36:47They were considered a panacea.
36:48So this has been cured with resins, alcohol, spices,
36:52with honey, with propolis,
36:54all kinds of things that would have been used
36:56in a mummification embalming process.
36:58Let's taste it.
36:59Let's taste it.
37:00There you go.
37:01So it's quite moldy.
37:02You mean that in a positive way?
37:04I don't know.
37:05I mean, it's an experiment, you know?
37:06Like, uh...
37:07I mean, it's a six-month-old piece of roe deer,
37:10so I suppose it's somewhat inevitable.
37:13Mmm.
37:14That's not unpleasant.
37:15That's interesting.
37:16Tastes like...
37:17Egyptian.
37:19Point in, Paula, please.
37:21Yeah!
37:22We just had one project funded.
37:24Deliciousness as an argument for entomophagy.
37:27So deliciousness as an argument for eating insects.
37:30Wow.
37:30Here we have wood onions,
37:32fermented pears,
37:33and salt hit out of wood ants.
37:35Wood ants.
37:36Wood ants, yeah.
37:37Cool.
37:39And that's delicious.
37:41It's amazing.
37:42You know, some of the ants we've been experimenting with,
37:44that's like you eat it, it's like zing,
37:45it's like excitement in your mouth.
37:47Party, everyone's invited.
37:50A lot of the other ones, they need a lot of work.
37:52Here we've got wax moth larvae mousseline,
37:55which is with hazelnuts,
37:56and then you've got a morel sauce.
37:58This is bee larvae,
38:00they're like little lumps of fat.
38:03It tastes like insects.
38:04Yeah.
38:05Next taste,
38:06fermented fish, herrings.
38:08We stuff them with molded grains,
38:10and these have been here since January.
38:20Mm-hmm.
38:21It's delicious.
38:22That's good, man.
38:23Yeah.
38:24That's lethally good.
38:24Yes.
38:25I can think of 10 different ways
38:27I'd like to eat that.
38:28Definitely.
38:28Standing up,
38:29sitting down,
38:31on bread,
38:32with beer.
38:32Being fed.
38:34So it sometimes takes a while
38:35to stumble across these things,
38:37but slowly but surely they come out of the woodwork.
38:52Let's have some crayfish.
38:56Delicious.
39:04Cheers, guys.
39:05Cheers, guys.
39:06Cheers.
39:07Skål.
39:08Skål.
39:08Midsummer.
39:09Midsummer's day.
39:10Longest day of the year.
39:13The Danes, to mark the Midsummer's Eve,
39:15gather and partake in traditions.
39:18And the sun comes out,
39:19we salute you.
39:20Like enjoying picnics,
39:22building bonfires.
39:23Mm, there's a fire.
39:24Oh, yeah.
39:25There's gonna be a fire.
39:26And burning witches.
39:27We made those fires,
39:29back in the days,
39:30to keep the witches away.
39:31Ah.
39:31Because they thought all the witches
39:33was meeting on these solstices,
39:35and blah, blah, blah.
39:35Okay, where's the pork?
39:38Is it roast pork?
39:39Very, very traditional.
39:42Without this,
39:43Danes could not live.
39:44So we have pork skin and chocolate,
39:47with three straight blackberries.
39:48Cool.
39:49I guess you share.
39:54Wow, that's wild.
39:55That's wild.
39:56It's the flavor of Denmark, right?
39:58Roast pork with crackling,
40:00red cabbage, pickles.
40:01Man, that is a serious sandwich.
40:03Yes.
40:05Oh, that's just amazing.
40:09Oh, a rainbow.
40:11This is almost too pretty.
40:21And there you go.
40:22Whoa.
40:26Super cool, eh?
40:31Why don't we have the strawberries?
40:35The triple cream, huh?
40:37It's delicious, man.
40:38Yeah.
40:39So we have a wild blueberry dessert.
40:41So there's a sandwich,
40:43one for each of you,
40:44and the first of the wild strawberries.
40:46Oh, beautiful.
40:47Look at this.
40:48Like a picnic in the park, eh?
40:52Mmm.
40:53Mmm.
40:54Wow.
40:55So the midsummer day in Denmark.
41:01Wow.
41:03Look at the witch.
41:05The burn witch bird.
41:07We love our country.
41:10We love our country.
41:11We love our Christmas.
41:13We love our stars.
41:13We love our stars.
41:14We love our stars.
41:16How's it going?
41:20Mmm.
41:21You done?
41:22Terrific.
41:23Unbelievable.
41:25Look, I've eaten a lot of great restaurants
41:26around the world,
41:27and it was still a little part of me
41:29that was saying, you know,
41:30this is going to be bull .
41:33The guy is out in the field,
41:36yanking weeds out of the ground.
41:38I really didn't expect it to be as good as it was.
41:40It was delicious.
41:41It was amazingly delicious for me.
41:43Amazing.
41:44Yes, I thought it was amazing.
41:48It's not just about coming up
41:50with the greatest concept.
41:51It's just assembling what is out there
41:54in a new and beautiful,
41:56authentic and delicious way.
41:58He has single-handedly transformed
42:00everybody's understanding of Nordic cuisines.
42:03where all the dishes,
42:04they tell a little bit of a story,
42:06you know, of the land, the tradition.
42:09But always delicious.
42:10Always, always, always, always,
42:12always delicious first.
42:13He may be an ordinary guy grounded,
42:15comes from a poor family,
42:17but he has big dreams.
42:18He wants to change the world.
42:20Yeah.
42:20And we can change it.
42:22Never forget that.
42:23We can do that.
42:24How is it?
42:32And how is there?
42:34I think it's being a world.
42:35After death and challenge matters
42:40we have to relax before it brought time.
42:40Let me stay back,
42:41let me see you,Let
42:41me. My
42:46faith, my faith, let
42:52me see you. I
42:54was right,
42:54You
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