Chronicle Books, 2007
This book is a labor of love that took a long time to make. (And, may I add, how much enjoyment I got out of it, too.) For three years I traveled around the Indian Ocean, following the old spice route – looking for where flavor was born.
I had the feeling that I would find many interesting things – that’s why I set off after all. I knew much of the history, spiced were the reason Columbus went west, why Vasco da Gama dared sail off the map, around Africa. Spices have created enormous riches, caused wars, formed bonds between people. All in all spices have been instrumental making the world what it is today. And to improve the food we eat.
Still I was constantly surprised how different things were, how often my preconceptions were shattered and the world I knew expanded. On Reunion Island I had the best vanilla I have ever tasted, and I learned that it could be used in much more than just desserts. In India I got to see where pepper and cardamom grows, and I got to taste Indian food that was spicy in a way I have never experienced in an Indian restaurant in America or Europe. I learned how a slow baked leg of lamb can never be slow enough - In Oman it takes 48 hours – and how to transform the world’s most boring salad into something exciting and exotic in just ten seconds.
The book has had an overwhelmingly warm reception both in the US and internationally. In April 2008 it was named Best Foreign Cookbook at Gourmand World Cookbook Award.
The New Scandinavian Cooking
Artisan Books 2003
A journey through contemporary Scandinavian – mostly Norwegian – cooking with an awareness of history and nature. My American debut, part travelogue, part cookbook from my native Scandinavia – and companion book to my public televison series New Scandinavian Cooking. When I first got the book in my hands I was stunned. Is this possible? A beautiful (no thanks to me) book with lovely photos by Mette Randem and stunning design by the designers at Artisan. And the interesting thing is that people seem to like my storytelling as well, plus the more than hundred recipes of everything from rustic classics like Lamb and Cabbage, to Aquavit Sorbet. Duck Soup with Madeira ought to wake up the sleepiest palate. In centuries past, Maderia was bartered in Norway for dried salt cod – used to make Bacalao in Spain, Portugal and Latin America. Porcini Consommé gives honor to the brief but glorious wild mushroom season. An entire chapter is given over to gravlaks, cured salmon you can do at home with spice and Aquavit. In a land where cod and potatoes are no joke, I try to show that a contemporary touch can be both relevant and exciting. Yellow and Red Cod with Pomegranate-Mango Salad, anyone? Feasting is well-represented, and seafood lies at its heart--salmon, halibut, mackerel, pollock, shellfish.
Writing Kitchen of Light brought my own cultural and culinary heritage closer, it laid the foundation for my work on the television series New Scandinavian Cooking, and it seem to have brought joy and inspiration to many people. Now out in paperback.
You can buy it in your local bookshop, or at Amazon:
www.amazon.com/
“The food world has a wonderful new voice”
The Times, London
PBS
The last six years I have had a peculiar hobby: I have been the host of the public television series New Scandinavian Cooking, produced by TellusWorks. The show had been a runaway success. It was originally scheduled to air on public television (distributed by American Public Television), and I am not sure we really knew what we started. APT wanted new seasons, the series was also aired by BBCFood, RTL in Germany, RAISat in Italy, Cuisine TV in France, and many more – a total of more than 60 countries.
I have been the host of three seasons of New Scandinavian Cooking, and in addition to that we have made seasons from Sweden with Tina Nordström and Denmark with Claus Meyer.
The show is all about embracing the ingredients of Scandinavia and it is all shot on location. The aim is to get as close to nature and the ingredients as possible, by fishing the fish we are going to cook with, foraging for mushrooms and wild herbs, and what sets it apart from many other cooking shows is that we also do the cooking outdoors on a portable kitchen.
You can read more here:
www.scandcook.com
or buy a DVD here:
www.amazon.com
Coming up: New Scandinavian Cooking had a baby, and the baby is Perfect Day. Scheduled to start airing on public television fall 2008, perfect day builds on the success of ScandCook, with shows hosted by Tina, Claus, Sara and me. We are still going to be cooking outdoors, getting you close to nature and the food we are cooking. (On one episode I traveled with an old schooner in the wake of the Linie Aquavit, in another I went to the south-western Norwegian city Stavanger to investigate the living food traditions of one of my favorite towns. The show will most probably remind you a lot of New Scandinavian Cooking but with a little more travel, and still the kind of exciting cooking you would want to make at home.