cover image The Nordic Kitchen: One Year of Family Cooking

The Nordic Kitchen: One Year of Family Cooking

Claus Meyer, photos by Anders Schonnemann. Mitchell Beazley, $29.99 (256p) ISBN 978-1-78472-162-6<

Meyer, a Danish restaurateur (Noma) and part of the new Nordic cuisine movement, presents a recipe collection for home cooks that reflects his pure and fresh "culinary manifesto." To "restore the link between cooking and nature," recipes feature traditional dishes combined with the organic, nutritional, and sustainable principles characteristic of the new Scandinavian cuisine. There are four seasonal takes on soups and appetizers, meats, fish, light dishes, vegetables, and baked goods. Lists of seasonal produce, both wild and cultivated, inspire new culinary twists such as autumnal pan-roasted herrings with beets and cider vinaigrette, a winter dish of roasted duck stuffed with prunes and apples, and a spicy fishcake accented with lime and ginger. Seasonal salads and plentiful salmon dishes are featured along with essays on foraging for regional berries, mushrooms, and greens. Photos pluck bright, colorful images right from the cold and crisp landscape. With family in mind and a mission to "change the food culture of [his] country," Meyer updates his Danish culinary heritage as a gift to the next generation. (May)