In the Kitchen with Mathias Dahlgren

Summary

In a casual culinary chat with Vogue Scandinavia, celebrated chef Mathias Dahlgren reveals his penchant for simple, comforting dishes cooked at home, despite the intricate processes he executes at work. Sharing a personal favorite, Dahlgren demonstrates how to whip up a delightful winter dish featuring Brussels sprouts, bacon, lemon, and Parmesan, a recipe he concocted around eight years ago. He emphasizes the use of regular store-bought ingredients to contrast the specialty items from his restaurant kitchen, bringing us a slice of comfort and passion straight from his home to our tables.

Highlights

• Dahlgren, while an accomplished chef, prefers simplicity at home; his winter favorite is oh-so-easy to make! ✨
• Bringing you a recipe close to his heart: a combo of Brussels sprouts, bacon, and cheese. It's the essence of winter comfort! 🥘
• Regular ingredients, extraordinary flavor! Dahlgren's home cooking philosophy brings culinary joy to everyday kitchens. 🍽️

Key Takeaways

• Mathias Dahlgren loves cooking simple meals at home despite complex cooking at work. 👨‍🍳
• He shares a winter favorite dish: Brussels sprouts, bacon, lemon, and Parmesan. 🍋🧀
• Dahlgren emphasizes the joy of using regular, store-bought ingredients at home for a delicious contrast to his professional recipes. 🛒

Overview

In an engaging and delightful session with Vogue Scandinavia, chef Mathias Dahlgren invites us into his kitchen, offering a glimpse into the simplicity and comfort of his home-cooked meals. Despite his work in a professional kitchen involving complex cooking processes, Dahlgren prefers to unwind at home by preparing simple, satisfying dishes.

For Dahlgren, winter calls for comforting meals, and he shares one of his favorite home recipes featuring Brussels sprouts, bacon, lemon, and Parmesan. This dish, which takes little time to prepare and offers great comfort, is an ode to simplicity with its straightforward preparation and hearty ingredients—all sourced from regular grocery stores.

Dahlgren's approach to home cooking emphasizes the beauty and flavor of using everyday ingredients. This practice not only contrasts with his restaurant work but also reveals his passion for making delicious, approachable meals that resonate with warmth and homey comforts. Through his culinary stories, Dahlgren captures the heart and senses, encouraging home chefs to explore simplicity in their cooking adventures.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction and Cooking Philosophy The chapter opens with a discussion about how chefs, after engaging in complex cooking processes at work, prefer to cook simple dishes at home. The speaker highlights that when they return home, they seek ready and straightforward meals. The chapter outlines the preparation of a simple winter dish: uhi with brussels sprouts, bacon, and additional ingredients.
• 00:30 - 01:30: Cooking Process Begins The chapter discusses the beginning of a cooking process, emphasizing the ease and comfort of making a dish using simple ingredients. It highlights the significance of incorporating lemon skin in Parmesan for a special flavor. The main focus is on creating a quick comfort food meal, which is desirable after a long day at work. The process involves boiling Brussels sprouts for around two minutes, showcasing a step-by-step approach to preparing a comforting dish.
• 01:30 - 02:30: Grocery Shopping Habits The chapter 'Grocery Shopping Habits' delves into the personal anecdotes of the speaker regarding brussels sprouts. The speaker has developed a personal method for preparing brussels sprouts, which they have been perfecting for 7 to 8 years. They share a tip on cutting brussels sprouts depending on their size and express how this dish has become a winter favorite since the vegetables are more readily available then. The transcript hints at a cooking process but does not provide complete details.
• 02:30 - 03:30: Childhood Inspiration and Passion The chapter titled 'Childhood Inspiration and Passion' seems to recount a casual conversation or process involving cooking, specifically the preparation of bacon by cutting it into small pieces. The narrative also touches upon grocery shopping, possibly highlighting local practices or personal preferences related to buying groceries in Stockholm. The chapter may explore themes of everyday life and culinary interests, reflecting a personal or cultural connection to food and cooking from an early age.
• 03:30 - 04:30: Final Steps in Cooking The chapter delves into the contrast between professional cooking and home cooking. The speaker explains their preference for buying ingredients from regular stores and enjoying the challenge of using everyday items to create meals, as opposed to sourcing specialty items. This preference offers a contrast to their professional work environment. The chapter hints at the speaker's journey in realizing their culinary skills surpass those of the average person.
• 04:30 - 05:30: Thoughts on Modification Requests The chapter titled 'Thoughts on Modification Requests' begins with a reflection on childhood memories related to food. The narrator recalls a deep-rooted passion for food that started at the age of four. They reminisce about visiting a community baking house with their mother and grandmother in their small village, where they participated in the traditional process of baking bread in an open wood fire oven. The experience of creating something tangible and delicious, coupled with the communal activity, ignited their interest in food.
• 05:30 - 06:30: Finishing Touches and Serving The chapter highlights the sensory delight and satisfaction derived from warm bread with melting butter, a favorite enjoyed by the narrator. It briefly touches upon the cooking process of bacon and Brussels sprouts: the bacon is fried, while the Brussels sprouts are boiled for two minutes before draining the water, allowing the remaining moisture to evaporate. The focus is on the finishing touches and serving the meal.

In the Kitchen with Mathias Dahlgren Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 [Music] I don't speak for myself but I think that at least many people that I work with and I know many chefs cook very simple at home because you you you work with like comp complicated processes a long processes things at work and then when you come home you just want to eat ready yes okay what are we making today uh very simple dish I often do at home in the winter it's uhi with brussels sprouts bacon and uh a little
• 00:30 - 01:00 bit of lemon skin in Parmesan I would say it's special because it's very easy to make and it out of very little time you get um yeah you got a plate of comfort food and that is often what I long for when I come home from work pan of uh boiling water we add the Brussels sprouts into the water they should U boil for around 2 minutes and then we add the ADD thei and the g is the one that I Buy
• 01:00 - 01:30 in the regular store I haven't made them myself one thing who can be important with the Brussels sprouts is that um if they're big you cut them in quarters if they are small you cut them in halfs how did you did you make this dish up or did someone teach it to you no I haven't been teached this this is something I come up I I I started doing at home maybe 78 years ago and it become one of my favorites that do at home especially in the winter time when you can get good brussels sprouts now it's maybe 1 minute more for the before we put in the gy then we put on a a pan with a a frying
• 01:30 - 02:00 pan we add the pieces of bacon into frying pan is there anything special about the bacon no it's just normal bacon normal bacon cut into small pieces this one is both cut in small pieces because it's the easiest way to to cut them I add the g into the salted water it should boil for another 2 minutes where in Stockholm do you shop for your groceries many people think that I bring a lot of stuff from my
• 02:00 - 02:30 restaurant at home I never do that I go and buy of course I have some shops I like to if I buy some I special stuff I go uh but I go to a regular store uh I I find that interesting also to work with I mean like regular ingredients when I'm cooking at home because then that becomes a contrast to what I do at work when did you realize that you were better at cooking than other people
• 02:30 - 03:00 I don't know if I've ever never thought that way but I I have I realized that I were very passionate about food when I was around four years old uh when I went with my uh mother and grandmother to this like Community baking house and made this traditional bread from the small village that I come from and being part of that process of I me doing a baking a bread in a open wood fire Owen and also then have the result with the
• 03:00 - 03:30 warm bread and butter that melts between your fingers was like something that I fell in love with and I'm still Lov it okay so now the the bacon has become fried the gcki and the brussel sprouts I cooked for 2 minutes then I pour off the water and I let the water most of the water can stand for
• 03:30 - 04:00 like 20 seconds so the water comes off then this is the only fat I'm using it's from the bacon then I add the P to the pan and brussel sprouts and I fry this around the salt from the water and the salt from the bacon is the only salt I will use uhhuh and then I add quite a rich amount of black pepper
• 04:00 - 04:30 how do you feel in your restaurant about modification requests it depends uh sometimes it can be annoying because it the result we know that the result will not be as good as it could be but also you have to I think it's important also to
• 04:30 - 05:00 to understand that some people I have special requests because out of religious purposes or uh you or allergies or something and of course we have to fix that it's like if you buy a I mean a fantastic piece of fish or meat and you say I want it well done it's like you should have choosen something else you can have that feeling but of course we do it okay then we add this to the add thei to the pl
• 05:00 - 05:30 it that's it that looks wonder and then we finish with u little bit of U cleaned organic lemon yeah tell me what is it what's a good lemon depend what you should use it for the only way to know if a lemon is good is to smell it squeeze it or and taste it you have to like try it because it's a individual there is this is the only lemon that is exactly like this is but in this case when I'm just using the skin for me it's
• 05:30 - 06:00 important to use the organic lemon uh and then I put a little bit of lemon on top like that and then I would serve a little bit of Parmesan with it and then you can add as much as you want I can put a little bit just to start and then you if you want more you just have have a little bit more that's it perfect
• 06:00 - 06:30 wonderful thank you so much you want to smell it yeah I do