Kitchen continental: chefs on the 12 European dishes everyone should try - MW

After all the years of Swedish working in a French kitchen and an Italian chef moving to Denmark, you can be forgiven for thinking of European cuisine as a big homogenous gift, a pot that doesn't melt as much as a Eurofood block. But it's all just a walk through a market in a new place for the untapped rich of the continent to hit you. We asked 12 excellent chefs - some Michelin stars, some of the world's best 50s, all passionate - to tell us about the local food they thought we needed to try. .

Belgium - waterzooi (stewed chicken)

In Flanders we make waterzooi, a fragrant stew chicken. You boiled a chicken with carrots, leeks and celery to make a stew. You take the chicken out and add roux, to thicken it into a white sauce, with a little cream and some fresh herbs, then you bring the chicken back and eat it with potatoes or bread. Belgian cuisine is full of strong flavors and slow cooking.
Peter Goossens, Hof van Cleve, Kruisem


Sweden - semla (cardamom and cake)

Everyone is eating semla right now – big fat cardamom buns with marzipan and sugar, topped with whipped cream. Traditionally, you would eat them on the last Tuesday of February or the first of March, for Mardi Gras. Nowadays, people eat them throughout Lent. Bakeries all over the country compete for the newspaper verdicts of whose is the best each year. I make the version my mother taught me.
Niklas Ekstedt, Ekstedt, Stockholm

Greece – roast rooster
I love roasted lemon-oregano rooster – garlic slices hidden in the thighs – with slowly baked potatoes, served with a side of freshly made slaw of fine-julienne lettuce hearts, lots of red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, dill and barrel-matured feta cheese. Families usually have this as a Sunday roast, but you can find it on the menu in any decent tavern or restaurant.
Nikos Roussos, Funky Gourmet, Athens and Opso, London


Germany – eisbein (pickled ham hock)

I'm from Berlin and eisbein is what I grew up with. My grandmother always did it for me. It eats a pretty ugly and very fatty dish, because it is traditionally made with ham; It comes with half a kg of sauerkraut and half a kg of yellow peas. At the restaurant we have brought so far. We have replaced pork for suckling, so it is less fat. We tasted and cooked it just like my grandmother did, and then the Asian part of my cooking philosophy came in and we fried the meat, so that it became really crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. . We serve it with a hint of cream from yellow peas, and we replace sauerkraut for pickled ginger.
Tim Raue, Tim Raue Restaurant, Berlin


France - vol-au-vent pastries

I always loved the texture of cakes, gourmet dishes. Instead of braising it, my André would cook it in a vol-au-vent and combine it with crayfish. Sweetbreads are still very popular in this form or in a bouchée à la reine, with mushroom sauce, as a Sunday appetizer to many families in France. The texture and flavor of my grandfather's dish, which became a classic of cuisine, was part of my childhood. These days, I poach the pastry in beeswax-flavored milk and honey, then wrap it in beeswax bark and let it mature. When I'm ready, I cook it in a pan with butter.
Anne-Sophie Pic, Maison Pic, Paris

Italian - pasta
Calabria is famous for its braised fish - dried cod, often made with pasta. You soak the fish in water for three days, then slice and add caper, olive oil and lemon zest. It is quite a typical dish for Christmas Eve dinner. The whole preparation of fish is a kind of ritual. I was always fascinated by the way my grandfather took care of it, not my grandmother, who used to be in charge of the kitchen. Occasionally, I have fish dishes on the menu, especially ziti (short pasta) and nduja.
Anthony Genovese, Il Pagliaccio, Rome


Spain - txangurro a la donostiarra (stuffed crabs)

Like most Basques, I'm crazy about fish and seafood. Txangurro a la donostiarra is a stuffed crab dish created in the early 20th century by a Basque chef. Crabmeat is mixed with onions, tomatoes and breadcrumbs and stuffed into an empty crab shell for baking. Our golden crab dish is a nod to this classic, still red sea food, but true to our philosophy. We use fashionable collagen, cauliflower, spider crabs and yellow shells on your face. We always play with the relationship between tradition and modernity.
Elena Arzak, Arzak, San Sebastian


Polish - zur (white borsch with sausages)

Zur is a mildly sour soup very popular in rural Poland. It is made from so-called white borsch: rye bread and crust are put in a jar and left in a warm place for two days to ferment. It can be stored for up to two weeks in corked bottles in a cool place. The soup is prepared with a stock of parsley root vegetables, carrots, leeks, onions and crushed garlic cloves, with dried forest mushrooms. You add traditional rural sausages, which you remove once cooked and sliced ​​thinly before returning to the soup to serve. You can also add lean bacon, smooth cubes and fry. You serve zur with potatoes marinated with onions fried in oil.
Zbyszek Siemieniec, R Restaurantacja Wentzl, Krakow

Estonia - black bread with pickles
Black bread with Baltic herring and boiled eggs is a fairly rustic dish that people usually eat at home on Sunday. The herring is soaked with strong pepper and a little garlic, and the bread is salty, salty and intense. It makes a nice dish, and will bring memories to every Estonian. It is the first thing people miss when they are abroad.
Orm Oja, Noa, Tallinn

Slovenia - frika (potatoes and cheese melted with herbs)

Frika is a traditional dish of potatoes and cheese cooked in lard and served with mountain herbs. Shepherds prepare it in the Sri Lankan Alps, but you also find something very similar in the Italian and Austrian mountains. That is the beauty of the dish: it does not respect borders; It introduces the culture we share. You heat the lard in a pan, and throw the chopped potatoes into the jacket, then cover the short cuts from cheese and cook slowly on one side before turning over and cooking on the other side. How to make caramel cheese with potatoes is very delicious. You serve it hot, ending with freshly picked herbs.
Ana Ros, Hiša Franko, Kobarid


Denmark - crocodile eggs

The extremely ugly lumpfish comes close to the shore to breed around this time of year, so the roe is harvested and eaten fresh. It is classically served on a piece of toast with dill and some creme fraiche, as a light lunch or a starter. The produce is something you can only source right here, so it really is particular to Denmark. We have used it in many different ways at Relae, once with hazelnut milk and fermented celeriac.
Christian Puglisi, Relae, Copenhagen


Ireland – boxty (fermented potato cake)

Boxty is a semi-fermented potato cake you find all over Ireland, but I think it comes from Cavan, in the border region. You cook the potato out and mix it with flour and seasoning, then leave to age and dry for a couple of days or weeks, until it’s like a very firm gnocchi, which you can then slice. To eat it, you fry it in a bit of oil, finish with butter, if you want to go the full hog, then serve with runny fried eggs and smoked fish – kippers or haddock. It’s one of my favourite things to have for breakfast.

Keelan Higgs, Variety Jones, Dublin

MW