A culinary pilgrimage into freezing Sweden

How does a 28 year-old unknown Swedish chef become one of the most controversial figures in the culinary world, invited to every major food congress and event? How in less than four years do you convince a renowned international publisher like Phaidon to produce a book about you? It doesn’t require any celebrity or rock and roll qualities. You don’t even have to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Rather, the complete opposite.

Magnus Nilsson, from the Swedish restaurant Faviken, puts on his thick wolf skin coat and dives into his beloved wilderness in search of edible treasures. But without a gun this time, because Nilsson also hunts. We’re talking about mid-winter, when the sun only shows itself above the white, snowy horizon for a couple of hours a day, and where temperatures regularly drop to -30°C. The setting is a tranquil and extreme winter wonderland in Jamtland, a half hour drive from the famous Swedish ski resort of Åre, and located on the 8000-hectare private estate owned by a Swedish hedge fund millionaire who occasionally holidays here.

Each day in winter, one of Magnus’ four-strong kitchen team ventures out to pluck fresh juniper branches often deeply buried under metres of snow. These branches are not for eating but for cooking with enormous, voluptuous scallops from the nearby Norwegian island of Hitra—served in their shell, in their own juice, on a bed of juniper branches and decorated with a few glowing pieces of charcoal. “Just eat the scallops with your hands and drink the liquid from the shells,” Nilsson suggests when he serves the dish during the evening meal.

Excerpt from the January issue of epicure