We Traveled to the Swedish Hinterland With Chef Daniel Berlin at the BA Night Kitchen
New York City’s not exactly rural Sweden. But you’d never know that after last night, when chef Daniel Berlin flooded the BA Test Kitchen with flavors from the Swedish hinterlands. Whether he was charring celeriac over an open-flame with sago (“Nordic tapioca”) or dishing out pickled duck eggs and sugar-fried rosemary, we could’ve been convinced that he foraged those ingredients locally, just a few hours before—if not for the view of the Empire State Building from the kitchen. The no-big-meat-course menu and funky wines kept us guessing (and licking our lips), transporting BA Night Kitchen to the family-run, intimate dining room at Daniel Berlin Krog i Skåne Tranås. Click through or check out this video to see how it all went down.
Tara Sgroi1/15Finger Foods
Chef Berlin doesn't exactly do average, when it comes to finger foods or the ingredients he uses to make them. Here, razor-thin and crispy dried onion sheets bookended lovage, rye, and leek, transporting us to the Scandinavian countryside.
Tara Sgroi2/15In Good Company
Tyler Haney, CEO and co-founder of the seriously chic activewear company Outdoor Voices, and her beau, chef and restaurateur Larry McGuire of Austin's beloved Josephine House and Jeffrey's, were all smiles at cocktail hour. And how could they not be? They still had six courses and three wines—white, red, and dessert—to go.
Tara Sgroi3/15There's No Place Like Home
There's no place like home, but a new locale can come close if you bring souvenirs with you. Chef Berlin carried Swedish mulch overseas to plate—and camouflage—his chicken-liver, anise, cinnamon, and chestnut course, which was shaped like the mulch he served it on.
Tara Sgroi4/15Yes Way, Rosé!
At BA we firmly believe that all great days—and dinners—begin with a generous pour of rosé. For the special occasion, we geared up for dinner with some Laherte Frères' Champagne Rosé Ultradition.
Tara Sgroi5/15It's Hot Then It's Cold
Or at least that's what happened when we ate this hot yeast pancake with smoked pork and vinegar, then finished with a freezing meringue-y top for contrast. Our mouths were confused but our taste buds were not. Though this bite had pork in it, most of the meal's dishes didn't. Because, because back in Sweden, chef Berlin only makes use of meat during hunting season in October and November. Otherwise, it's all things vegetable and fish till meat season rolls around again.
Tara Sgroi6/15Lending a Hand
BA's own assistant editor Amiel Stanek got his hands dirty helping the chef prep. With three days of work under their belts, and workflow down to a T, things were moving like clockwork when it came time for the big dinner, and dishes were assembled lightning-fast.
Tara Sgroi7/15Workarounds
Can't set up an open fire pit in New York the way you would in Sweden's great outdoors? No problem if you're Daniel Berlin, who nailed charring celeriac anyway, given four hours with binchotan charcoal on a grill he borrowed from Korin down the block.
Tara Sgroi8/15The Devil's in the Details
Here, Lauren Schaefer, who cooks at El Rey Coffee Bar and Luncheonette in New York, lends a hand plating the first dish, quail eggs with spring herbs and roasted seeds. Guests arrive to these and their place cards-combo-menu envelopes. Ellinor Lindblom, who's worked at Daniel Berlin for the last three years, says guests in Sweden receive the same treatment. Except at the restaurant, the staff delivers a thicker package envelope at the beginning of the meal and, with every course, diners open envelopes inside of envelopes, like nesting dolls, until they reach the last one. Why? "Because this is how a dinner unfolds," Lindblom said.
Tara Sgroi9/15And All the World's Chicken Skins
Test Kitchen manager Brad Leone searched far and wide for the many pounds of rooster skins requested, but those are harder to find in the New York area than you'd expect. But, you know what we always say! When life gives you chicken skins instead of rooster skins, you cook cauliflower with poultry fat and lemon-verbena and top it all off with those roasted bird skins.
Tara Sgroi10/15This is No Yolk
Eggs are soul-food here at BA and the cured egg yolks chef Berlin served with fermented grains and wild onions were no exception. But when we asked about his favorite food from childhood, he said, "A lot of chefs have memories of things they ate with their mothers growing up, but I don't have that." He does remember klimp , a Swedish kind-of gnocchi he would eat at his grandma's house on Sundays, and that he didn't even get into food and cooking until he was 17 years old.
Tara Sgroi11/15The Codfather
Holy, how can we get a cup of this crab, mushroom, and brown butter broth on our nightstands before bed each night? The velvety, super-rich broth surrounded a dish featuring cod, pig fat, and green leaves. The shells are cooked down in an overnight stock, and relies on very little salt. According to chef Berlin, at the restaurant they serve it with wild beet greens that grow on the grounds. As for the cod, Berlin says, "The cod isn't very good here in New York." Welp.
Tara Sgroi12/15Holy Smoke
Chefs Daniel Berlin and Erik Andersson (who has been working with Berlin for 11 years) brought the smokeshow with a celery root they charred over an open flame. As the tangy-sweet scent of the celeriac filled the room, artist Tom Sachs, photographer Adam Goldberg, BA's own restaurant and drinks editor Andrew Knowlton, executive editor Christine Muhlke, and editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport snuck a peek and 'grammed some shots of what it's like to scorch your veggies to perfection.
Tara Sgroi13/15The Places We'll Go
Yeast pancakes earn their crispy golden brown in the pan and transport us straight to the Daniel Berlin kitchen. As for travel that will require airplane-time this summer? Chefs Jeremiah Stone and Fabian von Hauske of Contra in New York are off to Rimini, Italy in a couple of weeks. Maybe they'll run into Estela chef Ignacio Mattos, who is also planning a trip to Emilia-Romagna and Sicily for the summer. But not till he's back from a separate trip to Brazil with his son. The globetrotting chef is open to any and all recommendations for places to chow down along the way.
Tara Sgroi14/15Life's Too Short for Savory Desserts
We wouldn't say that chef Berlin has a sweet tooth exactly, but "I do want sweet desserts," he said. While other big-name restaurants in Sweden go for parsley-centric savory desserts, he's going to stick with a balanced-but-sweet frozen buttermilk number with sugar-fried rosemary and dried, salty eggwhite.
Tara Sgroi15/15A Village of 300
Chef Berlin plates cauliflower cooked in poultry fat and served with crunchy bird skins. By the end of the meal, Jeff Gordinier, staff writer at the New York Times, Christene Barberich, editor-in-chief of Refinery29, Sierra Tishgart, senior editor at New York Magazine's Grub Street, and others listened intently to Berlin answer questions about what it's like to work with his parents at a restaurant in a town of 300 people. Said Berlin, "My parents were boring," when he was growing up. Now that they ditched their company jobs? "They're cooler than me," Berlin said of his father, a sommelier at the restaurant, and his mother, who makes sure those garden greens are growing in happy.
