Even after weeks, Mads Refslund does not seem to have got used to the exuberant kitchen dance after work: His expression is a bit crooked when he is pulled for a few steps by the Armenians in the cooking team before he can tear himself away. The Danish chef probably did not expect that his involvement in the “Tsaghkunk” restaurant would also challenge his dancing leg. Finally, he came to the village of the same name, an hour's drive northeast of the capital Yerevan, to transform Armenian cuisine from the impartial perspective of an outsider and with his creativity and experience as a top chef - by using traditional foods differently, unknown ingredients from the local wilderness how to locate leaves, fruits, berries, and kitchen techniques varied.With a model menu, he was supposed to show the local cooks ways to develop their own culinary language with a view to the future.
This mission may sound a little like missionary work, and some Armenians will have asked themselves: After the Soviet era with its Soviet kitchen (keyword: Russian salad) decreed from the top, do we need a Dane to tell us what to cook?
In the gastronomy scene, however, it seems to be seen mainly as an honor that the well-known chef immersed himself in the local specialties and ingredients of the small Caucasus state.
Leftover bread becomes dessert
Refslund is actually one of the pioneers of Nordic cuisine in the original “Noma” in Copenhagen and is now at home in New York. As a model restaurant, his pop-up in the “Tsaghkunk” resembles a culinary creative seminar: The Dane dared to try the traditional lavash, for example. He served the flatbread baked in the Tonir earth oven in a version with a particularly high proportion of sourdough. Refslund processed leftover bread into coarse crumbs, in which he rolled scoops of ice cream and dried figs - one of the two desserts on his menu.
Refslund came across the thin flatbread, which can be found next to bundles of herbs on every Armenian table, on one of his first excursions: Together with the kitchen team at “Tsaghkunk”, he visited the GUM Market in Yerevan, where a considerable area is dedicated to flatbread .
The lavash on sale here comes from bakeries around Yerevan, where the razor-thin raw dough is stuck to the hot inner walls of the wood-burning earth ovens with the help of pillows.
Within seconds, bubbles bulge out of the surface of the dough and turn a crispy brown color - another lavash is ready and can be pulled out of the ground with a hook.
Baking is done by the eyes of the guests
The "Tsaghkunk" is part of a regional development project: A rural area is to be turned into an exciting agrotourism destination.
Part of the concept is to present culinary traditions such as lavash production as a ritual.
Mads Refslund has chosen the baking of flat bread in the "Tsaghkunk" to be a kind of theater performance as an aperitif: Sourdough lavash was baked in front of the guests, there was fermented raspberries, vegan cheese made from roasted hazelnuts - a strong announcement in cheese-loving Armenia -, and Basturma, air-dried beef wrapped in a fenugreek-heavy spice coating.
An Orange Wine by Aaron Sedrick Rawlins was served in the glass.
Rawlins is a former chef from the USA who today makes wines from local grape varieties in the southern Armenian province of Vajoz Dzor.