The secrets from the Chef & Sommelier

This weekend me and my fellow chefs from the Swedish chefs association in Skåne are doing a food fair in Malmö Sweden to raise money for the children’s hospital for cancer, this is much needed and we all love kids. I would like to thank all the participating chefs during this weekend and I wish that I could support you more guys.   Thank you all sponsors for your support we could not make it without you Dragan Unic President of the Swedish chefs association Skåne

Som ni alla redan vet så importerar min kära hustru teer från huset THEODOR i Paris som har den absolut högsta möjliga kvalitet i sina förpackningar (alla världens te proffs tycker detta) Det som ofta däremot är problem vis te tillagning är den eviga frågan om vatten och temperaturer på alla möjliga och omöjliga sorter som finns, för mig är mycket av allt detta en djungel trotts att jag själv tycker att jag kan mer om te än dom flesta andra. Vi har givetvis provat en massa olika vatten kokare på marknaden utan att finna en som verkligen funkar till olika teer och som man kan ställa in en perfekt brygg temperatur fram till nu !! J CUISINART från USA är den ultimata vattenkokaren för olika sorters te med sina för inställda temperatur knappar vilket gör att vattnet alltid är rätt, super enkelt i superbra rostfritt material. Finns att köpa genom Christina på UNICTASTE för 1400 kr hör av er om intresse finns. THEODOR te finns att köpa på på utvalda kafeer och restauranger När man ...

You have to check out my wife Christinas excelent blog on http://tasteland.unictaste.se/#post57

The 4th edition of the Copa Jerez food and wine competition, held this week in the Jerez Hospitality School, ended in victory for the Spanish team made up of chef Cayetano Gómez and sommelier Juan Luis García, representatives from the Murcia restaurant Casablanca El Taller. This is the first time Spain has won the competition, which is organised by the Regulating Council for DOs Jerez-Xerès-Sherry and Manzanilla Sanlúcar de Barrameda, and Fedejerez, and which aims to give more international scope to the region’s wines by exploiting their food pairing possibilities. The team from Casablanca El Taller won three of the six awards given by the jury, which was made up of representatives from the world of food and wine, including Juli Soler, owner and manager of the legendary restaurant, El Bulli, as well as sommelier at the Noma restaurant, Pontus Elofsson, award-winning Spanish chef, Julián Serrano, manager of the Picasso restaurant at the Velaggio Hotel in Las Vegas, and UK Master of W...

Naturliga viner, vad är det? Jag tycker att det börjar bli lite väl hysteriskt med alla vin människor som serverar vad dom kallar naturliga viner. Jag tycker inte heller om manipulerade, till fixade och översvavlade viner som filtreras för mycket, jag gillar också iden om att man ska göra vin på ett naturligt sätt som är skonsamt mot miljö och människor, jag har inget alls emot detta men när man börjar servera rent ut sagt skit viner för dyra pengar bara för att någon skriver naturligt på det så blir jag ilsk. Är Latour, Margaux och Gajas viner naturliga? Självklart är dom det men inte fan håller dom på med att marknadsföra detta fenomen, dom är precis som alla seriösa vinmakare stolta över sina produkter och gör det bästa man kan. Smaken på det vi dricker måste väl i första hand handla om att det är gott och välgjort eller har jag helt fel? Jag tar gärna emot synpunkter på dragan@unictaste.se Rock on babe

Hans Välimäki with his Chez Dominique is the only 2 Michelin star restaurant in Helsinki Finland , we where fortunate to share a great experience when he last night did a magnificent dinner at the Grand Hotel in Lund Sweden . I meet this creative chef many years ago when we both was attending a jury for a fish competition and the most memorable moment that day was that Hans received   his first star that day. How exiting was that! The pressure on him and his staff is tremendously and he is working with full steam to be the first in Scandinavia who will receive the third star ‘’’   So how was the food? Great with a nice twist of Japanese flavours and a lot of personality and I will show you some pictures of the dishes and here are the menu.

What to say about the champagnes of Moet & Chandon? First of all, I really don’t like them at all, actually non of the wines that they produce ( very old vintages is different) I have tried so many times to understand what the winemakers are doing when they do the assemblage for the different cuvees and I simply dong get it and always try to skip using Moet’s wines on my tastings or I use them to show some bad examples of how champagne are supposed not to be, but at the same time I know that many people especially in the US love the Moet and symbolise champagne with that brand, everything is effective marketing like the latest small film with Scarlett Johansen as a Moet muse. Nice production by the way. On my latest visit to Epernay I forced my self to enter the Moet HQ for a private tasting of the wines, the old tasting room from the Napoleon days is magnificent and amazing, the quiet and efficient private sommelier was very nice. Reflection: I still do not like the wines produc...

Chef-patron Hans Välimäki has been flying the flag for Finland's cuisine since 1998 at Chez Dominique, regularly voted the country's best restaurant for its innovative cooking based around Nordic and French flavours. The idea behind Välimäki's cooking is to surprise by providing an experience unlike any other restaurant – an act he achieves through offering mystery menus where the diner places their trust at his mercy. It's a gamble well worth taking, we will meet up with him tonight and try his surprise at least 9 course meny. I will post coments and pictures tomorrow. regards from the eaven fatter pig.

There are not many cookbooks on the theme of food from the Balkans, the famous TV profile Jovan Radomir have put a lot of effort and energy to produce a cookbook that shows that the food from the Balkans is good without having to use a lot of fuzz, good ingredients will go a long way . The book showcases the Serbian cuisine , and the Serbian people's casual way of relating to food , parties and friends in general. The recipes in the book is a classic simple to do with beautiful photos of food, people and environments , making it more interesting , I'm incredibly pleased and proud that someone has taken it upon themselves to make a book like this ,so far   in Swedish for Swedes . Now we just wait for someone to do a book that shows the potential of Balkan wines. I encourage everyone to buy a copy and give away as this year's Christmas present to yourself and everyone else.

Det finns inte många kokböcker med temat mat från Balkan och det som finns är gammalt skräp som inte duger till något därför är det extra trevligt och fantastsikt att den kända TV profilen Jovan Radomir har lagt ner mycket möda och energi på att få fram en kokbok som visar att maten från Balkan är god utan att man behöver använda en massa fuzz utan att bra råvaror räcker en lång väg. Boken visar upp den Serbiska matkulturen och det Serbiska folkets otvungna sätt att förhålla sig till mat, fest och vänner i allmänhet samt att traditioner i vår monekulära värd består och kan utvecklas för att måltiden alltid är fokus i alla familjer. Recepten i boken är klassiska enkla att göra med vackra fotografier på mat, människor och miljöer vilket gör den extra intressant, jag är otroligt glad och stolt att någon har tagit på sig att göra en bok som denna, dessutom på Svenska för Svenskar. Nu väntar vi bara att någon ska göra en bok som visar potentialen på Balkans viner. Tack Jovan för att du ...

You all know that I have been struggling to find some Portuguese wines that I like, It is a task let me tell you, to help me out on this my friend the wine producer Mario Negreiros send me some bottles of his stunning and delicious wines. The wines are all foot pressed (is that the expression? ) with great colour, nice mature fruit, well integrated tannins with a twist of very nice oak, a lovely wine that I can strongly recommend, and of course the reserva stand out a little bit more. Nearly 10 hectares of the vineyard produce around 50 tons of grapes per year in the Douro from which only 10 to 15 tons are used for the Negreiros wine. The large majority is still traded for Port wine production; only the very best grapes make it in to this IWSC Silver Medal winning wine, making it very special indeed! Nice job Mario

  Detta vin på druvan Garnacha (Grenache) är från området Carinena som ligger strax utanför Zaragoza i provinsen Aragonien i norra Spanien. Skörden på över 40 år gamla stockar har skett för hand i slutet på oktober med ett uttag på 25 hl/hektar, vinmakaren till detta vin är den unge Dansken David Tofterup som började på vineriet under 2002 och är idag ansvarig för Montgo collection med fokus på viner från Yecla. Jag ser fram mot fler viner från denna producent. Doften är ungdomligt mycket fruktig och full av härliga röda bär med viss kryddighet Smaken är medelfyllig med väldigt mjuka tanniner och massor av härlig bärig smak, lätt kryddad av fat och örter, kort med god eftersmak. Hur kan man göra ett så här bra vin för 69 kr? “There is an explosion of creativity and energy; I predict that Spanish wines will become the darling of wine consumers throughout the civilized world”. Robert Parker Jr. The Wine Advocate issue 152

South Africa ’s most uniquely situated wine farm falls within the pristine environs of the Cederberg Wilderness Area, which lies in the Cape Floral Kingdom . Here, among spectacular rock formations you will find the highest altitude vineyards in the Cape . The cold climate and remote location, with its pure mountain air and water, ensures that the vines are virus free. This results in award-winning wines which show an exceptional purity of fruit. The farm has been in the Nieuwoudt family for five generations and David Nieuwoudt currently makes the wines. Five Generation Cabernet Sauvignon Is a Cape classic and leads the pack in the Cederberg range. The production is Limited to 3400 bottles, handcrafted, classically styled 2008, made to mature (peak around 2014 – 2016 though already delicious.   18 months of maturation in new French oak has intensified the rich aromas of blackcurrant and cassis, layered with decadent dark chocolate, minerality, herbs and cherry tobacco velvet...

Singer-songwriter Chet Lam is an advocate of green living and marine conservation. Here, he challenges young people to reject the tradition of shark's fin soup at Chinese banquets Oh, the ultimate hypocritical luxury, the famous-turned infamous dish found at all Chinese wedding banquets. The fin itself is indeed tasteless; it is the chicken soup that gives the dish its flavor. I know you know that. It's one of the most prestigious offerings for guests at a Chinese banquet. I know you know that too. What you might not have noticed, or wanted to confront yet, is that people will still choose to eat it or offer it at a ridiculously high market price just to have 'face', the most mysterious attribute in Chinese culture. In other words, eating it is like blindfolding our minds, demonstrating our ignorance - how much 'face' could we have by doing that? We, the younger generation, can be liberal, forward thinking, making our own decisions...

Today for the first time I hade more readers from the USA then from Sweden, It gives me so much plesure when I see where all my reades comes from, really different countrys like Peru, Azerbadjan, Nepal, Japan, Fidji and so on. Thank you guys for supporting my blog and Im happy that you are following me and please do contact me if you have any suggestions of subjects for me to think of. Much plesure....

I met up with my friend Gilles at champagne DUMANGIN a wile ago at his winey to taste his wines and to see what hi is up to, Gilles produce great champagne that even Sir McCartney used to his wedding last week, how cool is that for Gilles! DUMANGIN also makes some special delicatessen products that all contains his champagne, I love his duck liver with some champagne jelly on top.yummy I like the inventions that he is making regarding bottles layout,( he do a special series of bottles for the famous Christian Audigier) ice buckets and other promotional things, the new wooden bucket that holds tree special bottles is just great and looks fantastic and I’m looking forward to what this marketing wizard will do in the future. Go Gilles

English: Merrlust is for me more of the other wines like the Rubicon and merlot, not the pinot until now J . This wine is massive on the nose and expresses layers of fresh red fruit with a deep oaky character; I can just sit and smell this wine forever. The taste is pure red berries and well structured tannins with minerality, muscular body and very nice acidity, great long aftertaste. To all of you who can find this wine please do and enjoy or keep in the cellar for another 5-7 years, it will improve beautifully. Thank you Miguel Chan for introducing this wine to me. Svenska: Meerlust historia började 1693 då huset uppfördes på egendomen. Den svala brisen från kalla False Bay som dagligen svalkar, har gett den dess namn. Meerlust betyder ”pleasure of the sea”.1756 kom det i familjen Myburghs ägor och är det än idag. Få vingårdar kombinerar så storstilat fantastiska viner med ett tjusigt och gästfritt hem och naturligt sköna omgivningar. Atmosfären är avslappnad och nästan ...

On 30th September and 1st October, the Danish capital was the backdrop to the 3rd edition of ‘Spansk Vinfestival – Vinos auténticos’, an initiative organised by the daily newspaper, Ekstra Bladet, and sponsored by Wines from Spain and the Spanish Foreign Trade Agency Office at the Spanish Embassy in Copenhagen The event was targeted at Danish wine professionals, but also had a special interest in targeting consumers. Those present —more than 1200 people along the two days— enjoyed a friendly atmosphere in which major Danish Spanish wine importers offered tastings featuring 200 wines from first-class Spanish bodegas from almost every Spanish appellation and protected geographical indication In addition, the event also boasted a Cava Bar and a Sherry Lounge, two specific areas where the characteristics and diversity of both types of wine were showcased. The programme was rounded off with five masterclasses: two of which were devoted to Cava and were graced with the presenc...