LOOKING TOWARDS NEW HORIZONS The historic Dragsholm Castle and the fascinating seasonal character of its kitchen have always intrigued Jeppe Foldager. He has followed the work of Claus Henriksen from the sidelines and witnessed how the kitchen and food philosophy at Dragsholm Castle landed it in the top tier of Scandinavian gourmet restaurants. – The kitchen will be developed further and my approach to the craft of cooking will leave a different imprint. Having all the ingredients right outside the windows, seeing how everything grows, the deer in the fields, and knowing that all you have to do is reach out – that’s incredibly inspiring. Following the progress of the growing vegetables and herbs and working with them at different stages in their development. The vegetables are totally fresh when they arrive in the kitchen, which means that you can achieve the purest expression. This is what makes it so attractive to work in this particular castle kitchen, says Jeppe Foldager. Jeppe Foldager was working as head chef at Restaurant Kanalen, Copenhagen, when Peter Fagerland, head of F&B and sommelier at Dragsholm Castle, rang him last autumn. – I wasn’t planning on a job change and had no idea that this concerned Claus Henriksen’s job. But the phone call was about this dream job and Peter Fagerland wanted to know if I was interested. – Initially, I thought – no thanks. I’ve just become a dad, it’s too far. I’m an ambitious chef and kitchen manager, but I’m not prepared to work eighty hours a week. After thinking things over for a while, however, Jeppe Foldager decided to accept the offer. BLOOMING PASSION – This place has all the ingredients an enthusiastic chef could ever wish for. I’ve been to Odsherred before because I know Claus Henriksen and I’ve visited Søren Wiuff, the rock star of vegetable growing. The potential is enormous here at Dragsholm Castle. We’ll be using as much as we can from the local area in an almost hundred per cent Nordic kitchen. Vegetables, game … and high-quality beef and lamb besides our own forest-raised pigs. The raw materials are, as far as possible, grown and harvested from the fields in Lammefjorden and from forests and beaches near the castle. We will source fish and seafood from areas that are as local to here as possible. Jeppe Foldager has a licence to hunt and intends to go out shooting
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deer in the early hours of the morning, skin and hang the animal immediately, and perhaps put the liver and heart on the menu that same evening. – We’ll be working to use and preserve the produce, use all the mushrooms that appear in the autumn, pickle and dry them, so that we can enjoy them during the winter. Mix preserved and seasonal produce. – The kitchen garden will be filled with an abundance of produce and appear luxuriant. I’m also planning an everyday kitchen garden in boxes by the back door for day-to-day harvesting. Then we won’t have to harvest quite so intensively from the lush herb garden, which also serves as an ornamental garden and contributes to the general experience of the castle surroundings. We also dream of establishing a kitchen garden by the old gardener’s cottage and opening it up to castle visitors. It needs looking after carefully – I know. But it’s still at the dream stage. We could also get our own sheep – or perhaps lambs from some of the breeders and suppliers we’re already using. A GOLDEN THREAD According to Jeppe Foldager, he steps into some very big shoes. The Dragsholm Castle kitchen is a gastronomic beacon and the head chef plays a key role. Jeppe Foldager’s plan is to leave a strong personal imprint on the castle kitchen and in the Michelin restaurant ‘Gourmet’ while also being involved in planning the menu for the Bistro as well as setting the gastronomic Dragsholm Castle standard at conferences, celebrations, and the entire package associated with hotel stays. – In the food bar ’Madbaren’ on the castle terrace ’Bastionen’, I’ll also be setting a new course. Besides the food truck and the castle’s interpretation of street food with plenty of vegetables, I plan to serve oysters on the terrace with special touches of fresh vegetables and herbs. – There are lots of practical opportunities to run a golden thread through all the taste experiences we give visitors to Dragsholm Castle. Right from the time they check into a hotel room until they leave the place after a gourmet stay or after having enjoyed the food served in the ‘Bistroen’ or ‘Madbaren’ during the summer. That’s what I and my team will be working towards. Finding new versions. Regardless of the high ambitions, there should also be time to recharge the batteries and spend time with the family: – I need time off to retain both equilibrium and creativity when working. Chefs have two families. One of them – my chef’s family – can rightfully claim that I’m extremely ambitious, but also known for keeping calm and make space.
