Stanislav Pesotsky chef biography. In the wild north: features of Scandinavian cuisine

Since 2011, the annual Silver Triangle competition has been identifying the most talented young people who have chosen the profession of a chef. Over the years, the winners of the competition and the title holders of the “Best Young Chef of Russia” were: Dmitry Zotov, Vladimir Mukhin, Anatoly Kazakov, Sergey Berezutsky and Georgy Troyan.
On November 14, 2016, young chefs of Russian restaurants competed in a full-time creative duel: Evgeny Vikentiev (head chef Hamlet and Jacks And "Wine cabinet", St. Petersburg), Stas Pesotsky (chef Bjorn, Moscow) and Oleg Kusov (chef Delicatessen, Moscow).

The title of the best young chef was determined in the format of an anonymous tasting of dishes prepared by the three finalists. Each chef prepared one appetizer and one main course. The presented competitive dishes were evaluated by a professional jury of chefs: Ivan and Sergey Berezutsky (Twins, Wine and Crab), Anatoly Kazakov (Selfie), Mirko Dzago (Cheese), Dmitry Zotov (Madame Wong, Haggis, Zotman), David Emmerle ( brand chef of the Four Seasons Hotel Moscow), Georgy Troyan ("Northerners"), Nino Graziano (Semifreddo), Regis Trigel (Sixty), Luigi Magni (William "s, Pinch), Vladimir Mukhin (White Rabbit) and Max Must (general Manager of the Four Seasons Hotel Moscow). None of the jury knew which dish of which chef he was evaluating. Each participant in the final acted simply under the number, and each dish was evaluated on a ten-point scale. As a result, the winner was determined by the highest number of points scored from all members of the jury.

Dishes participating in the competition:

Evgeny Vikentiev:
. Scallop, "Dashi" from crayfish and smelt, pike caviar
. Beef tongue, pickled pumpkin, burnt pumpkin cream, dried strawberries

Oleg Kusov:
. Smoked saury with turnip, mango and spelt
. Baked onion and fennel marinated in beer vinegar with spinach sauce and pear

Stanislav Pesotsky:
. Salted salmon, vodka, cranberry, horseradish
. Beef rib, onion, soaked apple, barley malt syrup

Stanislav Pesotsky was recognized as the winner: “I got the main cooking experience in the USA, I lived and worked for 3 years in Boston and New York. Then I became interested in the Scandinavian style, northern cuisine, in which the basis is naturalness, seasonality, natural taste and usefulness. I am trying to implement the principles of Scandinavian restraint and environmental friendliness in dishes from Russian products, combining Russian tastes and the principles of Nordic Cuisine. I am very happy with my victory. The example of Vladimir Mukhin, Georgy Troyan, the Berezutsky brothers inspires me a lot and encourages me to do my best or even more to become one of those chefs who will turn Russian cuisine into modern, fashionable and in demand all over the world. The style of cuisine that I presented in the competition can already be tasted by everyone at the Bjorn restaurant.”

Slow Food ideas are becoming more and more popular in Russia, largely thanks to chefs, members of the Alliance of Chefs.

We spoke with one of them - Stanislav Pesotsky, chef of the Moscow northern restaurant Bjorn, the best young chef in Russia 2016 - about local products, Nordic principles of work and where to look for responsible suppliers.

The philosophy and ideology of your restaurant is the freshest, local, seasonal. Where do you get your products?

This is a very broad and complex question. There are catastrophically few conscientious suppliers who are ready to fulfill all the requirements that we place on them.

We do not have a priority in terms of working with any particular supplier, the starting point is the product itself. Regardless of what they tell me about it - how it was processed, how it was grown, and so on.

I can tell what is good and what is bad thanks to my experience, including experience working abroad with high quality products.

For example, fish. If it is frozen or, conversely, instead of minus 18°C, as it should be, it was stored at minus 5–8°C, then it is simply impossible to eat it. It is felt, and we refuse such suppliers.

If we talk about large production, they are generally not able to give the quality that we need. I would call it biomass plants. We try to work with exclusively original suppliers, we try to get chilled fish, if the economy and the scale of delivery allow us.

If not, then we take the one that is immediately subjected to shock freezing on the ship. This is a whole fish, not a semi-finished product. We have a northerly direction, and the main fish comes from there, mainly from Murmansk.

What about vegetables? Is there a supplier you source from, for example, root vegetables for this amazing salad?

We find some products on the market, some - from suppliers who specialize in vegetables and fruits, with an emphasis on local products.

By the way, root vegetables in our menu are at the forefront during the cold seasons. Now spring has come, we are updating the menu, and I'm afraid this wonderful salad will be gone in two weeks, the season of root crops is coming to an end.

If you are asking if there are farmers who grow vegetables especially for us, then there are none. Unfortunately, our format of work (90 seats with a full hall) excludes this possibility.

In addition, if we talk about the competence of modern farmers, then it is just beginning to form as such. We live in a country in which people are not accustomed to work and are not accustomed to being responsible - no matter what they undertake.

Therefore, honestly, I have not met conscientious farmers who are ready to work at such speeds and with similar quality standards. I've heard about them, probably they are, but within our conditions, I'm afraid it's just technically impossible.

What can we get from local producers today? This, for example, is a deer - we carry it from Krasnoyarsk, reindeer moss - from the Vladimir region. Of course, we are trying to use point such things, “craft”, as much as our capabilities allow us.

Something you have to find on your own. Spruce branches, for example. Or the stones on which we serve food - natural flagstone. I personally selected it, then it was polished by the restaurant. Now birch sap has gone - we collected it, prepared birch ice cream. Ramson will appear soon - I hope to reach the Vladimir region and collect it there.

But there are examples when some items on the restaurant menu are provided by local farmers.

Yes, there is LavkaLavka, "Mark and Lev", which work in the direction we are talking about, but this is a slightly different style and format of doing business in general.

We have 35 items on the menu, and I have to be responsible for them. So that it doesn’t turn out that the guest came and didn’t get what he wanted, because the conditional “Uncle Vasya” could not deliver the product to us on time. This is definitely something to think about.

Cooperation with small suppliers is possible, but not within the framework of daily work “here and now, 7 days a week”, but within the framework of some tasting sets, a farm dinner, some event organized by the Alliance. These are small steps towards development.

In my opinion, it's better to do a little less than you can afford, but with better quality, and take real responsibility for it. And to talk about what is not really there is not about us. Business must be done with integrity.

You have a lot of dishes that you burn. Tribute to northern tradition?

The philosophy of Scandinavian cuisine is based on very simple products and very simple cooking techniques. Our ancestors, when they still lived in caves, used fire for this.

Over time, a lot of gadgets appeared for food processing, including thermal processing, processing with live fire faded into the background. But meat cooked on an open fire “sounds” quite differently in terms of taste.

Yes, we love to burn, it's true. Because it is delicious, because it is natural, in our opinion, because it corresponds to all our ideas about what we do.

You have bread baked on an open fire. It's not fried, it's burnt. Fried bread will taste completely different. You have root crops that were prepared in a strange way: they were burned over high heat to give a little taste and, as it were, “seal” the product, and then they were compressed under high pressure. We try to “pull out” as delicately as possible what we can get from the product, thereby showing our respect for it.

Careful and rational attitude to products with the maximum reduction of waste in your restaurant also came from the North.

For Nordic, within which we work, this is one of the basic principles. Before leaving the house in the morning, brush your teeth. So it is with us: before we finish preparing the dish, we must make sure that we have received everything from the ingredients that we could take.

This is economically justified - the percentage of waste is close to zero. And the skills of cooks are improving, because with this approach there are subtleties that need to be taken into account.

For example, on the base of the green part of the leek, which is usually thrown away, we make butter. We cut off the chicken skin, fry with spices, turn it into a crispy crumb and sprinkle the cooked chicken fillet with it. We decorate vegetable salad with burnt powder prepared from vegetable peels.

This list I can go on for a long time. I do not use something for the sake of show and do not do it because it is fashionable. It has always been and always will be at Bjorn Restaurant.

Respect for nature, the right attitude to products - not blasphemy over consumption, but harmony, balance. It is these simple principles that dictate the things that I have voiced to you.

There is one idea that I still have not implemented. I would like to record all the food waste during the day and sort it into different boxes, collecting everything completely. And then invite each employee to prove himself and do something from the collected.

Thus, we can give chefs the opportunity to develop professionally, to use the product as a whole. We will see that someone has created a masterpiece from potato peels, and we will launch it on the menu on an ongoing basis.

But, unfortunately, the pace at which we are doing business does not allow us to do everything that we would like to implement.

"Last year's" apple

The same ideology is shared by Anton Abrezov, head of the Gräs restaurant in St. Petersburg, also a member of the Chefs Alliance.

We went to St. Petersburg, cooked with Anton. Great guys there. True, their organization of some processes is more conducive to doing what we are talking about.

Do you have any other plans in this direction?

We talk a lot on similar topics with the owner of our business. Now the plans for the next year are to draw up an internal environmental program for the Bjorn restaurant.

There will be a huge number of items. For example, use lighting only where it is really needed, reduce the amount of plastic used as a consumable, sort garbage and take food waste to vegetable growing areas to process them into fertilizer. This includes building relationships with local manufacturers.

And with which local manufacturers will you interact more closely?

With those that are. That “Uncle Vasya” with whom we need to get to know and build mutually beneficial relationships.

So you're still planning to get to know him?

You misunderstood me, or I didn't express myself correctly. The point is not that we do not want this, but that there is no one with whom. How do you imagine who will look for them?

Just one of the ideas of the Alliance of Chefs is to create a register of responsible local suppliers who can be recommended. And bosses can share contacts within this registry. The larger the list, the better.

Yes, personal acquaintance and communication with already existing manufacturers plays a role here. Some restaurants even have people who specialize in extracting herbs for them.

We were approached by guys who brew beer. They have a microscopic enterprise, but the product is insanely high quality. Due to the fact that everything is done by hand and done honestly, the actual cost of this beer is many times higher than what we can buy by barrels.

Most establishments send them away, and we negotiate with them. I think this beer will appear on the menu of our restaurant. We are always open to dialogue.

Alliance of Cooks, which was launched in Russia, what can it give to Russian chefs, how can it influence Russian cuisine?

If people do something together, the energy potential increases. Rene Redzepi said: "If you want to go fast - go alone, if you want to go far - go together." What we are doing is gaining more and more powerful potential, more intensively spreading.

The approach is to think not only about money, but also about more important things, about what will happen tomorrow. Now it exists only at a rudimentary level. It was important to start - and it has already happened. Now we need to continue what we are doing. Further more.

Thanks for the interview!

S.P.: Yes, it gets worse. The main problem is the general amorphousness. It seems that now no one needs anything. People who do not seek to learn, develop, achieve something, but simply go with the flow, get a job.

V.D.: Since Soviet times, it has developed that those who could not enter more prestigious educational institutions go to culinary schools. Anyone who does not love his profession, toils in the kitchen, waits for the end of the working day, does not seek to learn new things. Employees prefer to perform simple operations, and their motivation comes down to earning money. In restaurants with author's cuisine, such chefs have nothing to do. There are not enough those who have burning eyes, who have ambitions and a desire to develop.

Viktor Devyatko

S.P.: The usual situation in a Russian restaurant: for one really working employee - at least one loafer or clumsy, with whom, at best, you have to put up with. At Bjorn, we decided on principle not to hire such "ballast". It turned out that it is extremely difficult to assemble a team in which everyone works intensively.

V.D.: Some successful projects were on the verge of closing just because they simply could not find the right staff. With employees it is difficult for everyone who treats the matter responsibly. For example, a team of cooks for the restaurant "Cafe Pushkin" was formed for almost two years.

A restaurant with a well-thought-out concept and a competent team can work for many years! But there are very few of them in Moscow. Now not restaurants are popular, but restaurant projects - the difference is huge. They opened with noise, worked for a couple of years, earned money. The fashion has passed, there are fewer guests, they closed, opened another - this is how many people work.

Is it not the fault of the restaurateurs themselves in the state of affairs with personnel?

V.D.: Partly there is. For example, now passions are running high on Facebook - a large restaurant holding has been delaying salaries for the second month, from managers and chefs to dishwashers. Often institutions do not fulfill their obligations to employees, do not provide normal working conditions. In such a situation, it is difficult to demand something. In Bjorn, the salary is above the market average, payments are made to the day in exchange for knowledge and the desire to learn new things.

How to change the situation?

V.D.: I see a way out in tightening the requirements for the level of professionalism of cooks on the part of employers. If there are strict standards everywhere, you will have to comply, work on yourself, otherwise you will not get a job.

S.P.: I do not agree. You can't force anyone. The initiative, the desire to work and grow must come from the chef himself.

Stanislav Pesotsky

V.D.: It is necessary to popularize the profession, possibly with the participation of the state. In Soviet times, by the way, the corresponding mechanism worked like clockwork. Remember films about tractor drivers, installers, pilots... Can we name at least one domestic film about the profession of a cook, equal in impact, for example, to the film "Tractor Drivers"? But propaganda alone is not enough, the education system must be changed.

What kind of specialists are lacking in the restaurant business?

V.D.: There is a shortage of absolutely everyone, from simple cooks to managers. It's generally a problem with waiters - in Russia this is not a profession, it never was and, apparently, never will be. This work is always perceived as temporary, forced. If you are over 30 years old and you are a waiter, they look askance at you. In Europe, waiters over 40 do not surprise anyone, but here everything is different.

S.P.: The restaurant has no minor employees. The reputation of a place depends even on the dishwasher.

What is the level of education in Russia as a whole?

S.P.: There is no quality of education. Graduates don't know the basics, but worst of all, they want absolutely nothing.

V.D.: Somehow we agreed with a representative of one college that they would send promising students for an internship. A few days later it turned out that there was no one to choose from dozens of students.

Plans are now being discussed to create a culinary school on the basis of the Higher School of Economics. I'm sure it will turn out to be something worthwhile.

Does the Guild of Chefs of Russia do something in this regard?

V.D.: I have great respect, but the Guild today is more like a professional club than a really functioning organization.

S.P.: I don't know anything about the Guild except that it has an asparagus emblem.

Are there any good cooking courses in Russia?

How do you rate online learning opportunities?

S.P.: Skeptical. Our profession cannot be taught remotely.

V.D.: A cook is like a surgeon, he needs a lot of practice.

Do chefs need overseas internships? How many restaurants pay for such trips?

S.P.: Yes, of course you need it! True, not all chefs have enough money for such trips and not every restaurateur is ready to take on the costs. Although this is an investment in their employees, that is, in the most important element of the business. Yes, and internships are not crazy money.

V.D.: Restaurateurs, apparently, are afraid that the cook, for whose training serious money was paid, may later go to competitors. But, for example, Vladimir Mukhin has not gone anywhere and continues to participate in international competitions under the flag of the White Rabbit Family.

What qualities do you require from applicants?

S.P.: Last summer, there was such a situation that the staff of cooks in the kitchen was only half full. The load was critical. We worked seven days a week - and this is almost a daily full landing in the restaurant!

Superheroes of Bjorn Restaurant

V.D.: I think that professional pride and reliability helped to survive. Any normal person would have said long ago - “Fuck it all! At home, the wife is waiting, there are a lot of things to do. ” But they held out, because a team was created in which the feeling of the elbow is not an empty phrase.

S.P.: We need people for whom cooking, gastronomy is not just a job, but the main interest in life. Such people do not go to work for money, although Bjorn has very good salaries. If you give your soul to the cause, constantly develop and strive to get out of your comfort zone, then income grows by itself. Someone who just wants money will never make it. This applies to any profession. Be at least a janitor, if you work the best, you will be fine. Most find it hard to realize that this is the case.

I don't like it when job seekers want to get into Bjorn to boost their egos or tick off their resumes. “I worked in a top restaurant”, “I worked with the best young chef in Russia”. I think this is the wrong motivation.

What kind of training do new employees receive at your restaurant? How long does preparation take?

S.P.: We require certain basic knowledge. Naturally, we do not expect that a person will be able to do what we do, this is unrealistic. There is no specific program, everything is individual. If a person actively and successfully studies, joins the team - in two or three months he becomes a superhero! I say this without any irony. Each of my line chefs can easily become a sous chef in any other restaurant, but many sous chefs who come to us as simple chefs often fail.

What mistakes do you forgive and what do you not?

S.P.: We all mess up from time to time, that's okay. If something happens, raise your hand and admit it. And I do not forgive irresponsibility.

Who decides who stays on the team?

S.P.: We take into account the opinion of each member of the team. This is never my personal decision. And I don’t remember such that my assessment did not coincide with the decision of the guys.

An effective team rejects those who work "for fuck off". Our waiters themselves, without the participation of the manager, expel trainees who are late. If a person, even on a trial period, brings everyone down, why is he needed in the team? It just drowns everyone.

What are your expectations from the Law on Independent Qualification Assessment - what will it bring to workers and employers in the catering industry?

V.D.: Without significant changes in the system of personnel training, that is, what should actually lead to advanced training, you can do as much as you like with its assessment. Well, we get the result - low qualification. And where to improve it, who will give new necessary knowledge and form the necessary skills, is still unclear.

S.P.: He will bring money to someone, but nothing good to us. Laws that make life easier have not been adopted for a long time.

The popularity of Scandinavian cuisine is gaining momentum. This is explained by an unprecedented interest in the countries of the north (Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland), and at the same time closeness to us in spirit, and perhaps also by the fact that we are simply tired of Italian and French cuisine restaurants and want to try something new. Elle decided to understand the peculiarities of northern cuisine and asked the chefs of Nordic restaurants about all the subtleties. Recipes are attached.

Bjorn chef Stanislav Pesotsky:

Like the Scandinavians, we try to treat our products with care. When I buy a deer carcass, I use different parts of it in the preparation of the corresponding dishes: I bake the fillet or lightly grill it, the ham makes excellent meatballs. In the next version of the menu, I'm going to use the bones in the serving. You probably noticed that when buying this or that product, we throw away a certain percentage of it, cut something off, and so on. We try to use everything. We cook mashed potatoes from cauliflower stalks, use the inflorescences as a separate garnish for veal cheeks. We burn the vegetable peelings with fire to the state of coals and use them as a decor imitating a fire for the Burnt Apple dessert. Salmon skin makes delicious fluffy chips!

Scandinavian cuisine is largely due to climatic features. Most of the year in the Scandinavian countries is quite cold, and therefore the choice of local products is limited. The main New Nordic cooking technology is a minimum of spices and minimal heat treatment, thanks to which we try to preserve the taste of the products as much as possible. In each dish, the natural taste of the main, key component is brought to the fore.

And among the features of Scandinavian cuisine, I would note moderation. When developing my menu for the Bjorn restaurant, I tried to make each dish not only balanced in taste, but also optimal in terms of portion size. We should eat exactly as much as our body needs in order to feel good and use energy correctly. This also expresses concern for nature and man, in this case, for our guests.”

• Difficulty Difficult
• Type Second course
• Time 1 hour
• Person 1

Ingredients

• Ingredients for 1 serving:
• Marinated barrel herring - 1 pc.
• Water - 1 l
• Table vinegar - 150 ml
• Sugar sand - 250 g
• Farm sour cream - 50 g
• Farm cottage cheese - 50 g
• Rye bread or Borodino - 1 piece
• Garlic - 1 clove
• Parsley - 1 bunch
• Dill - 1 bunch
• Thyme - 2 sprigs
• Radish - 1 pc.
• Salt, pepper - to taste

Cooking

1. We cut the barrel herring: we separate the fillet from the bones, cut into triangles of arbitrary shape. For the marinade, mix 1 liter of water with 150 g of table vinegar and 250 g of sugar.
2. The proportions of sugar and vinegar can be changed depending on your own preferences. At the same stage, you can turn on the fantasy and add various spices and ingredients to the marinade, such as spruce branches, wild berries, and so on. We put the chopped herring in the marinade and leave it overnight.
3. After the herring is marinated, we prepare creamy homemade cheese. We mix farm cottage cheese and sour cream, add chopped garlic and chopped herbs to taste: dill, parsley, thyme.
4. Salt and pepper to taste. As in the case of the marinade, the proportions of sour cream and cottage cheese can be changed to your own taste.
5. We prepare rye bread crumbs: grate a piece of bread or chop it in a blender and fry in a pan over high heat without oil for a couple of minutes until crispy, salt to taste.
6. Roll pieces of pickled herring in finely chopped parsley.
7. Next, we assemble our dish: spread homemade cream cheese on a plate, sprinkle with bread crumbs, put slices of herring in parsley on top, sprinkle with chopped herbs on top and decorate with thinly sliced ​​radish slices.

MØS Chef Andrey Korobyak:

“The menu of our new project reflects the gastronomic traditions of Estonia, Sweden, Norway and beloved Denmark, where the idea of ​​opening a Scandinavian restaurant in Moscow was born. Our restaurant is a "Nordic for every day" - a rethought, adapted to the Russian mentality, the author's view of the cuisine of Northern Europe. In addition to the kitchen itself, a special pride is the unique handmade Würtz tableware, created by the team of the ceramics studio of father and son Aage and Kasper Würtz. Located in the small provincial Danish town of Horsens, Würtz is well known to restaurateurs, gourmets and fans of Scandinavian cuisine around the world - from Noma, Geranium and Aamanns in Danish Copenhagen to Törst and Luksus in American Brooklyn. The tableware, completely handmade and meeting the most modern technological requirements, carries a part of the national Danish culture and craft traditions of the 17th-20th centuries. The quality and authenticity of ceramic and porcelain products under the K.H.Würtz brand are guaranteed by the personal signatures of the craftsmen on each item without exception.”

• Difficulty Difficult
• Type Second course
• Time 1 hour
• Person 1

Ingredients

• Salmon fillet on the skin - 1 kg
• Dill greens - large bunch
• Coarse sea salt - 2 tbsp. l.
• Sugar - 1 tbsp. l.
• Allspice peas - 5-7 pcs.
• White freshly ground pepper

Cooking

1. Remove scales from salmon, rinse with cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Cut the fillet crosswise into two equal parts.
2. Wash the dill, dry well on a paper towel and chop coarsely.
3. In a mortar, crush the allspice peas (if you don't have a mortar, you can crush the pepper with the flat side of the blade of a wide knife). Mix allspice with salt, sugar and freshly ground white pepper.
4. Spread cling film on the table, sprinkle with a little spicy-salty mixture and put one half of the salmon skin side down. Sprinkle both parts of the fish fillet with the spicy-salty mixture. Put chopped dill greens on one fillet.
5. Top with the second fish fillet (skin side up) and sprinkle with the remaining spice mixture. Wrap the salmon in cling film and place in a container.
6. Leave the fish for 2 hours at room temperature. Then press down with a light oppression (for example, a cutting board) and put in the refrigerator for 1-2 days. Fish should be turned occasionally.
7. Salmon on the skin is marinated for 1-2 days, without the skin - about 8 hours. The quickest marinated salmon, cut into thin slices. This will take 30-40 minutes.
8. Release the prepared salmon gravlax from the cling film, carefully clean the dill and spices from the fish fillet with a knife. Pat the fillets dry with paper towels and cut into thin slices. Serve with boiled potatoes or as an independent snack with mustard or homemade cottage cheese.

“Nordic and New Nordic cuisine are products from the forest and rivers: venison, fish, berries. The presented kitchen is as simple as possible, which gives me the opportunity to work with a minimum number of ingredients, making them full-fledged dishes. If you have a product with a clean and rich taste in your hands, then you need to be crazy to add chili peppers to it. The three most important things to me are taste, taste and taste! I have respect for products. I like food that retains the flavor of the ingredients. By the way, similar techniques are used in traditional Scandinavian cuisine. For example, how do you cook carrots? Probably boil in water? But boiling water completely deprives carrots of taste, so I boil carrots in carrot juice. I cook asparagus in asparagus juice. And the most used machine in my kitchen is the juicer.”1 hour

Ingredients

• Sauce Ingredients:
• Venison broth - 500 g
• Red table wine - 400 g
• Port wine - 50 g
• Madeira wine - 50 g
• Wine vinegar - 10 g
• Onion - 50 g
• Carrot - 50 g
• Celery - 50 g
• Champignons - 50 g
• Celery root - 50 g
• Leek - 50 g
• Rosemary
• Thyme
• Tarragon
• Parsley
• Juniper
• Black pepper
• Bay leaf

Venison and puree:

• Venison tenderloin - 600 g
• Celery root - 300 g
• Celery juice - 200 g
• Liquor "Tar" - 10 g
• Oil - 10 g
• Brown butter - 10 g (butter must be melted at a temperature of 157 degrees, boiling takes 10 minutes, after which the whole mixture must be filtered)
• Freshly squeezed lemon juice

Cooking

1. Sauce: fry finely chopped carrots, celery root, onions and mushrooms without using oil.
2. After sautéing, put the vegetables into a saucepan, then pour in the venison broth and add the following ingredients: table red wine, Madeira, tarragon, parsley, bay leaf, thyme, black pepper, juniper and Tar liqueur. Cook for 30 minutes at a temperature of 150 degrees. Next, you need to strain the resulting broth, salt it and cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Puree of celery: Boil finely chopped celery in its own juice until fully cooked. We make puree from the resulting product, add lemon juice, brown oil and salt (to taste).
4. Venison: venison is fried in brown oil until half cooked, each steak should be wrapped in foil for 10 minutes.

The best young chef of Russia according to the Silver Triangle-2016 competition - Stanislav Pesotsky , northern restaurant chef Bjorn. Interview wasted no time in meeting the champion and finding out how the competition went, what paths he followed to his professional vocation and what to expect from the best young chef now.

You have been holding the title of the best young chef in Russia for almost a week - how does it feel?

Mixed. Inside myself and the restaurant, nothing has changed: they remained meticulous in terms of work. Much more information began to come in from outside: new proposals, requests from journalists, and so on. It's nice. But I still have my own templates for measuring success.

Let's remind the readers once again, with what dishes did you enter the competition?

Cooked two meals. Gravlax, which I transformed into the format of the competition, was made more elegant and complex: in the form of a snowball with cranberries and vodka jelly. The second is a beef rib with onion, pickled apple and barley malt syrup. The idea of ​​the dish is to make everything out of onions, showing how interesting this product can be.

Young chief - how much is it?

How is the selection of participants? Why did you decide to participate in the competition?

Professional chefs are aware of the existence of the Silver Triangle competition. Responsible for the selection of participants and the selection of finalists - Igor Gubernsky. Special thanks to him for what he does. Igor travels, looks, tries, chooses. Initially, there are many applicants, then the list narrows down to about 6 people, three remain at the finish line. At the Triangle, you have to show your potential, the techniques that you own. Competitive dishes are not food for every day. They are more difficult in terms of taste, visualization and understanding. I also had the task to fit my style into the framework of the competition. And I'm happy with the result.

How long does it take to develop a menu?

I had 2 weeks.

What is the atmosphere like in the kitchen when all three members are side by side?

I, Evgeny Vikentiev, Oleg Kusov - we are professional guys. Everything was quite friendly, without shouting and any panic. Everyone was busy and focused on the result - victory! When I served the main course, I felt absolute peace inside.

Why do you think your dishes won?

Perhaps I should say thanks to my perfectionism and obsession with details, which sometimes comes to paranoia. Not everyone is ready to be strict with themselves, and this is a very important feeling. As soon as the thought comes to a person that he is incredibly cool, in that very second he becomes a dead man.

Will these dishes be on the menu?

In the form in which the jury was presented at the competition, no. For many, they will be difficult to understand. In Russia, they like more understandable food and rich tastes. Therefore, I will adapt the ideas of these dishes to the concept of Bjorn. Most likely, they will appear in the winter version of the menu.

By the way, what do you think about the fact that, according to journalists, Oleg Kusov was in the lead?

Calmly. I spend a lot of time making sure every dish has an idea. Unlike ordinary restaurant guests, restaurant reviewers and critics are more gastronomically prepared and can read a lot of information from a plate. But professional chefs read even more. Taste, visualization, idea - more often it is the cook who is able to correctly calculate everything that you put into the dish. It's about the range of perception. Therefore, the recognition of professional colleagues is especially valuable for me.

Let's rewind a little into the past. Why cook?

I am a creative person. I write music. He released, for example, three albums, without knowing a single note. At first I studied in Kyiv, at two institutes at the same time: I studied restaurant business and service and English (translator). Then I went to the States, where my first experience in the kitchen happened.

Where exactly did you work?

They were casinos: first Mohegan Sun Casino, then Foxwoods, between New York and Boston, on the site of huge Indian reservations. There were many restaurants there. I didn't know anything when I arrived. But the constant desire to do better than the last time has helped me grow quickly and move forward.

I understand correctly that you learned to cook yourself?

Nobody taught me how to cook professionally. From a technical point of view, I draw skills from everywhere: the Internet, literature, communication with colleagues. From the point of view of ideas, I have a notebook, divided into folders, where I write down thoughts, ideas. For example, in the menu section I add what seems interesting to me: salted plum, pumpkin puree with coffee, soaked spicy apple, malt dessert, oysters with sorrel, cod scallops, deer bone soup.

What happened after America?

I returned to Ukraine. I got a job in a five-star hotel, passed three interviews in English, worked for two days and realized that I had nothing to do in this country. In 2010 he came to Moscow. By the way, my future wife insisted on this. First I got to the Clouds restaurant, where I spent three years from a cook to a sous-chef. The next project was the Extra Virgin restaurant. Then I found out that Bjorn is looking for a new chef.

And what is the difference between the local restaurant industry and the Russian one?

Management. There is no better country to work in than America. They respect you there, they don't look at where you're from. Everything is determined by the quality of the work you do.

What's going on at Bjorn now?

When I came to the restaurant a year ago, it was on the verge of closing. Having completely changed the team of cooks and the menu, he began to work with the staff not only in the kitchen, but also in the hall. Now the restaurant is working steadily and is gaining momentum every month. I am very happy, but there are still not enough people like me who are ruthless to themselves, ideological colleagues nearby, in the kitchen. I try to work with people for whom it is important what and how they do.

When did you feel drawn to the new nordic style kitchen?

This philosophy has always been close to me. Nordic is respect for nature, for products. I like simple, straightforward food. At the same time, I try to put an idea into each dish. Take, for example, an appetizer of halibut caviar, smoked sour cream with onion puree. It is served on a homemade plate, reminiscent of the seabed. Halibut caviar has a natural bright marine salty taste. Nearby are sour smoked sour cream, sweet onion puree and a few thyme leaves. The result is a perfect balance. Or take smelt, which in nature moves in flocks. I tried to fix the fish in motion. When serving, we spread it in a flock on a stone, and instead of salt we use broken seaweed. Nearby is a sauce based on burnt butter and whey from the same butter. Or our reindeer tartare. The deer lives in the forest, feeds on reindeer moss, cranberries grow there - all this in one dish, which is served in the bones of the same deer. We practically do not throw away products, we use the most unpopular ones. Bran, moss, spruce branches, hay are very cool natural products that often go overboard.

Are you hugging birches?

I go to the forest. Shut up. The city is very exhausting.

Who do you look up to professionally?

Professionally, there are no specific idols. There are many talented people, and everyone has something to learn. A lot of respected people, and not even in the culinary world. Peter Mamonov, for example. Or Andrei Lysikov. Everything they do absolutely resonates with who I am.

The best young chef is good, but what goals do you set for yourself in the future?

I had certain plans, goals even before winning the competition. Ahead is a trip to Sweden, an internship at the Vollmers restaurant (one Michelin star) and visits to the most interesting establishments. The Swedes are cool guys with their own style. I will definitely make a set or a special menu based on the results. At the beginning of the year I plan another update of the main Bjorn menu. I know exactly where I'm going.