>> Funding for this series has been provided in part by the following... >> Up Norway, curates Norwegian travel experiences in the footsteps of "New Scandinavian Cooking."

>> ♪ No, take me home ♪ Take me home where I belong >> Vgan, the full taste of chocolate.

>> Grieg Suites.

Chocolate with apples from Norway.

♪♪ Havila Voyages.

Pure Northern.

♪♪ ♪♪ >> Viestad: Hi, and welcome to "New Scandinavian Cooking" from Bergen and to this program that will take us along the coast of western Norway all the way to Aalborg in Denmark.

I'm Andreas Viestad.

Bergen is Norway's second city, often overlooked and overshadowed by the capital.

That's also the case for Stavanger further south and for Aalborg in Denmark.

These cities share strong culinary identities and close relations.

In a time before airplanes and roads, the sea was the highway, and these cities were tied closely together.

In today's program, we'll travel the old trade route in a modern way by Fjord Line all the way to Aalborg in Denmark, but I'll start off here in Bergen making a very traditional dish from the city, salt-and-sugar-cured cod.

During the journey southwards, I'll make a potato soup with halibut, and I'll visit Stavanger, where my friend Sven Erik Renaa has been awarded a Michelin star for his cooking.

He's going to make a dish using a modest but important ingredient, buckling.

That's salted and smoked herring.

I'll also make a generous fish stew and cook mussels from Limfjord in Denmark.

♪♪ Bergen was established as a trading post, and it grew to become the most affluent city in Norway, and during the time of the sail ships, this was a part of the highway system of Europe.

All trade happened along the coast of western Norway down to Denmark and further on to the European continent.

Because of Bergen's central position as a trading post, but also because of its inhabitants' somewhat inflated ego, the city has been able to retain a distinct culinary profile.

It has its own cuisine.

The cuisine is at once outward looking, European oriented but soundly based on Norwegian ingredients, and I'm going to make one of these traditional Bergen dishes.

It's called persetorsk, salt-and-sugar-cured cod.

And cod is a fantastic fish, I think, with its white flaky flesh, but in the warm months, it's not as good as its potential.

It can be a little bit soft in the flesh, but giving it a short salt-and-sugar cure, it firms up very, very nicely.

And here I'm using about 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of salt for two pieces of fillet like this and about the same amount, maybe a little bit more, of sugar, so this is nice, organic sugar, slightly brown.

You can also use normal white sugar.

Place the fillets in a dish and then place a weight on top.

You can just use a stack of normal dinner plates.

Or if you're on a ship, just use a block.

Leave it in the refrigerator for 24 hours, and if you have the opportunity, and if you remember, just flip the fillets around once during that time.

[ Clock ticking ] [ Alarm rings ] And after 24 hours, the fish looks exactly the same, but it feels very different.

It's firmer.

It's sort of springy, bouncy, and it will flake wonderfully as it cooks, so now you can either bake the fish in the oven or fry it in a pan like I'm going to do.

And I'm going to fry it with some bacon to get that extra flavor from the bacon and the bacon fat.

After 8 to 10 minutes in the pan, you can see that it's done, and it looks amazing.

And since this entire dish is a play between sweet and salty flavors, I'm going to serve with a fresh pea puree, simply fresh peas boiled for a couple of minutes and then pureed with a little bit of butter, and I'll continue this play when making a very, very simple cream sauce.

First I'm chopping one fresh onion, and I'm using a little bit of the green part.

You can also use a spring onion or a scallion.

A splash of cream, full-fat cream, and just a little bit of white wine to get a little bit of acidity and freshness into the sauce, so about a tablespoon or so.

And then bringing it to a boil to remove the alcohol, and that's it, really.

Just a little bit of chervil with that sort of sweet spiciness is very nice with fish.

Finally some trout roe, which is an additional source of saltiness, and that's it.

♪♪ You can find all the recipes at our website, newscancook.com.

Aye-aye, Captain.

Here is salt-and-sugar-cured cod, a very typical dish from Bergen.

>> All right.

Thank you.

>> Viestad: Back in the days when trade happened on sail ships much like this, then Bergen was in a way the de facto capital of Norway.

This is where all the trade was based, wasn't it?

>> Fish was what we exported, and the fish was caught here on the west coast and in northern Norway, so this was the trading route.

>> Viestad: Hmm, but this here is a school ship, so you travel the world in much the same way that we, the Norwegians, did 150 years ago.

>> Yes, that's right.

I mean, sailing, the sails are our main propulsion.

We do got an engine as well, but we try to use it as little as possible.

>> Viestad: Who do you bring with you on these journeys out into the ocean?

>> During the summer months, anyone can join.

Then in the spring months, we do take some younger people from schools, and in the fall, we take the Norwegian Navy Officer Candidate School, but it's possible for anyone to join during the summer.

♪♪ >> Viestad: For my onward journey, I decided to board the modern Fjord Line ferry to Denmark.

It's an overnight stay onboard which means that I'll wake up fully rested on the other side of Skagerrak, the sea between Norway and Denmark.

If you go back just a few generations, the people living along the coast of Norway were either fishermen or farmers or most common, a combination of the two.

The farms along the coast of Norway were pretty small, so you couldn't live just off the land, and fishing was often seasonal, so people used to combine the two.

So in a way, you could say we survived on a combination of potatoes and seafood.

And that's what I'm going to use in the next dish.

I'm going to make a potato and seafood soup with mussels, and when you're using mussels, you've got make sure that they all close up.

If they're a little bit open like this, you've got to tease them a little bit.

Just check if they firm up.

This one did, so that's fine.

I'm using that.

And then I'm adding just a splash of white wine, a splash of cream as well and then a sprig either of dill or, in this case, fennel, and after about 5 minutes, the mussels are done.

Now I just pour the stock into a pot like this.

Pressing the potatoes using a ricer.

You can also use a masher, and if you don't have either, you can press the potatoes through a metal sieve.

That yields a fantastic result, but it's just incredibly boring because it takes a lot of time.

Mm.

This is a lovely, simple soup with a clear, fresh taste of the sea.

But I'm also going to add some fish to it.

♪♪ Hi.

>> Hi.

>> Viestad: What a wonderful display of seafood.

>> Yeah, it just got in this morning.

>> Viestad: Yeah.

>> Yeah.

>> Viestad: And you're from Denmark.

I'm from Norway.

>> Yeah.

>> Viestad: But we share the same Atlantic Ocean, an ocean that looks so angry and barren, but it's actually one of the most fertile fishing grounds in the world.

>> Yeah.

>> Viestad: And most of these fishes are common to Norway and Denmark, but I must say that one of them, cod, is best when it comes from Norway or from the far north.

>> Yeah, it is.

I agree.

>> Viestad: You, yeah.

You agree.

>> Yeah.

>> Viestad: I'm glad.

And then there's sea bass, which is not so common in Norway, but it's quite common in Denmark.

>> Yeah, it is.

Yeah.

>> Viestad: And what are your favorites?

>> I love the blue mussels.

It's very typical for the area I come from in Denmark.

>> Viestad: Mm-hmm.

>> And also the halibut.

I think it's a nice piece of fish.

>> Viestad: Yeah, it is, absolutely, and I'm making a potato and mussel soup, so I'm planning on adding a little bit of fish to it as well.

>> Of course.

>> Viestad: So can I ask you to get one small fillet from your halibut?

>> Of course, of course.

I'll fix it for you.

>> Viestad: It's lovely to see you cut through it like it's butter, you know?

>> Yeah, it's a nice piece of fish.

Yeah.

>> Viestad: You've done it before, right?

>> Yeah, I have.

>> Viestad: Can I have this?

>> Of course.

>> Viestad: Thank you.

>> You're welcome.

>> Viestad: I'm going to use the fish to add some more flavor.

I'm going to dredge it in flour with extra curry.

This is a relatively mild curry with lots of turmeric, quite aromatic, not so much chili but still quite spicy.

I'm adding a generous amount of this curry and then a little bit of salt.

Then I add the mussels to the soup as well.

And then I'm adding a little bit of the curry butter, which is really tasty.

I'm adding some fennel flowers.

Fennel is not very common in Norway these days, but it has been grown here for hundreds of years, and the nice yellow flowers on top has this sweet kind of licorice-like flavor, which also reminds you a little bit of curry.

♪♪ You can find all the recipes at our website, newscancook.com.

And here it is.

Hi, Thomas.

Come and taste.

I think it's very nice to add a little bit of curry to seafood, especially shellfish, which has some of those spicy notes already.

>> Yeah, yeah.

I'll try the fish now.

Nice and creamy.

>> Viestad: Mm.

>> Nice piece of fish.

>> Viestad: It is.

>> Very good.

>> Viestad: Those are fennel flowers.

>> Yeah.

>> Viestad: And the fennel pollen is sweet and licorice-like but with some spicy notes as well.

>> Very good.

Yeah, I do.

I do.

♪♪ >> Viestad: The first stop on the route is Stavanger, where I'm meeting up with my friend Sven Erik Renaa.

He's the head chef for several of the city's most exciting restaurants.

Sven Erik has his own interpretation of the modern Norwegian kitchen with a very personal twist.

>> Hi.

>> Viestad: Hi.

>> Hi, Andreas.

>> Viestad: Hi.

>> Welcome to Re-Naa.

>> Viestad: Thank you.

I can't wait to see your place.

>> Let's go in and see it.

>> Viestad: I can't believe I haven't been here before.

These are razor clams still alive, and they are quite local just from... >> Just from the fjord here, it's, I mean, it's 5 minutes with the boats from here.

>> Viestad: Hmm.

>> Basically what we make is razor clam with some fermented pear juice and jalapeño.

>> Viestad: That was delicious.

>> Thank you.

>> Viestad: With the... With that sort of fermented sweetness from the pear and the kick from the chili.

>> Yeah.

>> Viestad: Mm.

♪♪ Now you're going to make a dish with one of my favorite ingredients, namely buckling, which is smoked herring.

>> Smoked herring.

In this region, we smoke it, like, the whole fish, with the intestines inside, so it makes it more juicy and not so dry.

>> Viestad: But it's an interesting thing to see you rinsing it, and you're not using a knife.

You're just using your fingers, and I think that that is a wonderful way to work.

>> So the way we do it, we take off the head.

>> Viestad: Mm.

>> Try to get the intestines with us as much as possible.

>> Viestad: Mm-hmm.

>> Take it off like this.

Use our thumb.

>> Viestad: Mm.

>> The thing is that it's kind of difficult to fillet with a knife.

>> Viestad: Yeah, because if you use a knife, you lose quite a lot, but if you use your fingers, you can just follow through.

>> In the smoker, if it does it perfect, it's quite difficult to open and to take off the skin, but this is... >> Viestad: Yeah.

And you're not afraid of difficulties, are you?

>> No, no, no.

>> Viestad: Mm.

>> That's not a problem.

Then comes the backbone just like that.

>> Viestad: Mm.

>> And today, we're going to make a salad out of this.

>> Viestad: Mm.

>> A small salad served with a potato cream.

So we are in the season of potato.

>> Viestad: And you boil the potatoes together with fennel, I can see, and some dill and onion.

>> Fennel, dill, shallots and some salt in the water also, even though you must be a little bit careful because the buckling can be a little bit salty.

We just crush them.

>> Viestad: Delicious.

>> So they're still hot.

I want them to be not cold.

>> Viestad: Mm.

>> Because they change texture.

>> Viestad: Mm.

>> I need them to, like, kind of be a little bit crumbly and nice.

We'll mix it with buckling.

We're going to add some onions, just a small piece.

We don't need a lot.

I need some herbs inside and some radish.

The radish, I just chop it.

I want the sting that the radish have for the dish.

I think we'll use.

>> Viestad: This is sorrel, but I found sorrel over here as well.

>> Oh.

>> Viestad: Sorrel has this nice sort of sour taste.

>> Wow.

>> Viestad: Again, it doesn't remind me of lemon, but it has some of the same sort of acidity and tartness to it.

>> It does.

It gives freshness to the dish.

>> Viestad: Mm.

>> Because here you have, I mean, you have the herring, which is smoked and fatty and oily and rich.

And then you have the sweetness of the potatoes, so it's always good to put a little bit of oxalic acid in the dish.

We're also going to use some [Speaks Scandinavian language].

>> Viestad: Lovage, yeah.

>> Lovage, so here I have a lemon cream.

>> Viestad: Mm.

>> So not so Nordic.

It's lemons that are boiled several times in fresh water and then just boiled until tender and then just pureed.

>> Viestad: Mm.

>> We'll also add a little bit of homemade mascarpone, which is just cream and a little bit of lemon juice.

Let it sit overnight to drip, and then it thickens, so it's thicken cream.

Then we mix.

It's always good to eat something that pleases the eye as well.

>> Viestad: Mm.

>> You know?

Because even simple dishes like potato and herring can look fantastic, you know?

>> Viestad: Mm.

>> So we serve it with some more... >> Viestad: Sorrel.

>> ...sorrel.

>> Viestad: Mm.

>> I'll just brush them with a little bit of oil.

I'm using here some olive oil, but you can use whatever oil you have.

>> Viestad: Canola or sunflower, yeah.

>> Canola or rapeseed or...

I'll top the leaves with here, a little bit of malt crumble.

It's... >> Viestad: What is it, malt crumble?

>> It's potatoes.

>> Viestad: Mm-hmm.

>> Like, a crispy potato, potato chips... >> Viestad: Mm, mm, mm.

>> ...with liquid malt.

>> Viestad: Mm.

>> We blend it, and we dry it.

>> Viestad: Mm.

>> Then we blend it again, and then it comes out like chunky pieces like this.

>> Viestad: Mm.

>> So it gives both a sweet and a rich flavor that helps the dish.

And finally some more lovage here in the shape of a powder.

>> Viestad: Mm.

>> We just dried it room temperature.

Then one each way.

>> Viestad: How lovely.

>> And we top with the potato cream and then just puree it with a little bit whole milk.

>> Viestad: It looks amazing.

Can I taste?

>> Please do.

>> Viestad: Mm-hmm.

>> I hope it tastes as good as it looks.

>> Viestad: Mm.

This combination of herring and potato is such an important part of Norwegian food culture, but with this presentation and also with that little tang from the lemon cream and from the sorrel, it tasted fresh.

It tasted new.

When the Nordic food scene sort of expands and modernizes, we must keep these traditional foods as well as a part of it.

>> Definitely, and we'll do our part.

>> Viestad: Thanks for doing that.

>> [ Chuckles ] ♪♪ >> Viestad: It's time to go across the sea to Denmark.

The last part of the transfer onboard Fjord Line includes an overnight stay.

♪♪ Fully rested, I arrive in Denmark.

I'm on my way to Limfjord, a fjord that stretches into the heart of Jutland.

I'll visit a modern mussels farm on the water, where I can harvest fresh blue mussels cultivated on large ropes.

I'm here with Mark in Limfjord in Denmark, and we're in the middle of a farm.

>> Yes.

>> Viestad: This is a mussel farm.

>> This is a mussel farm, yeah.

>> Viestad: Tell me, what does it take to grow mussels?

>> It takes a lot of time and know-how.

>> Viestad: And what do you feed them?

>> I don't feed them.

They feed in the water.

We are removing CO2 and phosphorus from the fjords instead to put it in.

>> Viestad: So when there's runoff from the agriculture industry nearby, you are actually helping to clean it up while producing food.

>> Yeah, yeah, exactly.

One big mussel is filtering around 80 liters per day.

>> Viestad: Yes, so that's about 160 million mussels working for you all the time.

>> Yeah, yeah, yeah.

>> Viestad: Mm.

Mm!

♪♪ Until the beginning of the 19th century, when Denmark and Norway were still a union, this place, Thorupstrand.

was an important trading post.

The traditional technique for landing boats on the beach is strange and beautiful and still used today for the 19 fishing boats.

A line is laid out at sea, and the boats are pulled up on the sandy beach.

The cutters are affiliated with Thorupstrand.

>> [ Speaks Danish ] >> Viestad: And all the fish landed here is fished according to sustainable principles.

[ Speaking Scandinavian language ] I'm going to make a fish stew using the fabulous fresh fish I got straight off the boat, fabulous mussels and some of the same flavors that I've used earlier in the program but just in a bigger format in every way, and I'm starting off with potatoes that I'll add to a hot and quite big pan.

I'm adding leek and then onion.

So now I want to get some real browning.

Later on, it will be quite wet in this pan, when I start adding the fish and the mussels.

And some aromatic herbs.

This, again, is fennel.

And some root vegetables.

Here I've got some yellow polka beets.

I think that beets are lovely to use in a fish stew like this, but if you use red beets, it will just take over and color everything.

One of the things that is not much utilized in Scandinavian cooking is squid, so very often, fishermen will just give you squid extra to bring home to your cat, but I think that it is a real delicacy.

And the best part of the catch today were these two small turbots.

You're not supposed to catch them when they're this small, but they are delicious.

And some plaice, another delicious flatfish.

And then dab and one fantastic Dover sole.

It is delicious, but it has quite thick skin, so I've actually skinned it.

One mahogany clam and finally a strange little fish called gurnard, which has the tendency to make a sort of growling sound when you get it into the boat at first, so the fishermen used to be quite afraid of it.

It is delicious, has a delicious stock, but it's relatively bony.

Up until now, all the ingredients in the pan have fried, and they've got a nice, crispy surface, and now I'm adding moisture by adding all the mussels.

And some local beer.

Mm.

And then I'm adding some marigolds straight from a local garden here, and that gives the dish nice color.

It used to be referred to as the saffron of the north.

Finally some herbs, some vegetables.

This is chive and celery, celery stalks with the leaves as well.

Mm.

It smells and tastes fantastic.

Yes, granted, the French have many things that we don't have.

They have sun-ripe tomatoes.

They have the Mediterranean.

They have olive oil and white wine, but what we've got here in Scandinavia is the angry North Atlantic that gives us seafood that is much better, in my opinion, than many of the fish in the Mediterranean, and we've got butter, and we've got beer, and we've got our own herbs and vegetables, and I'm not saying that this soup is better than a bouillabaisse, but it is as good, in my opinion, and it is a dish that says something about this place, the strange place far north.

[ Conversing in Scandinavian language ] >> Remember that you can find all the recipes at our website, newscancook.com.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ >> For more of the "New Scandinavian Cooking" experience, visit our website or Facebook page.

♪♪ >> Funding for this series has been provided in part by the following... >> Up Norway, curates Norwegian travel experiences in the footsteps of "New Scandinavian Cooking."

>> ♪ No, take me home ♪ Take me home where I belong >> Vgan, the full taste of chocolate.

>> Grieg Suites.

Chocolate with apples from Norway.

♪♪ Havila Voyages.

Pure Northern.

♪♪