The food profile: “The pea soup has been abused” | All about Food

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It smells lovely, homemade somehow. Like when, as a child, you opened the door to grandma’s house, and were met with immediate security, in the form of food that you knew you liked. On this day, it is Stefan Ekengren who is standing by the stove in a food studio in Värtahamnen, evoking memories with wonderfully golden-brown rag donuts. Nowadays, he is a recognized and celebrated chef. Chef in the TV box, head chef at restaurant Hantverket and one of Sweden’s most popular cookbook authors. But despite the successes, it is still the down-to-earth home cooking that is dearest to his heart.

– The family diet has always been part of the foundation. It is food that works, food that is likeable and also very well thought out. Take raggmunk with pork as an example, it’s a perfect combination, says Stefan with commitment in his voice.

“I would say that there is a perfection in a homemaker. It is proper cooking”

Today, both tacos and meat sauce with spaghetti are classed as homemade, but after all, the name is often associated with food from another time – such as pea soup, cabbage dolmas, raggmunk, kalops, pork with onion sauce or cabbage pudding. Many people still love the “old classic” food. Others think that the home cooking is tired, a little mossy and that it feels heavy and unfresh. Especially at a time when “lighter” food, including from Asian cuisine, is hugely popular. Perhaps it is even the case that the classic Swedish home cooking is under threat. That it will eventually feel so out of fashion that it ceases to exist?

– It is clear that it is a little threatened, because people eat less home cooking. But it is not seriously threatened, says Stefan, who does not care much for the criticism that is sometimes heard against husman, that it would be boring and poorly seasoned food.

– I do not agree with that. I would say that there is a perfection in husman. It’s proper cooking. Should you start running home cooking like today in a restaurant, then there will be twice as much work in the kitchen, because there is twice as much cooking. That says it all, because it is so genuine and well prepared.

Can the home diet survive in the future?

But the fact is that the fantastic food selection we have today from all over the world is here to stay. So even though ragmunk and salmon pudding are still being made around the country, there is uncertainty as to whether the tradition will be passed on to future generations. So the question is not just how, but whether the home cooking will be able to survive in the future? Maybe we need to back off the band and instead dig into why it is not considered genuine by many, but rather a bit outdated, tired and boring. Could it be that for a time, when every second large kitchen was cooking at home, it was battered and torn apart and therefore got a bad reputation? That the home diet became synonymous with sloppily prepared lunch?

– I think that is a great point. Many of these dishes have been ruined due to carelessness and people who can’t. It was “rhymed salmon with dill-stewed potatoes for 100 bucks, and a big strong one at that,” says Stefan.

Stefan Ekengren prepares the stock in the kitchen. Photo: Joel Wåreus

Stefan Ekengren

Age: 52

Occupation: Chef, cookbook author and restaurateur (co-owner and kitchen manager at restaurant Hantverket in Stockholm). Also works as a lecturer, with television format and with courses.

Background: Has worked at Krägga Herrgård and Hotel Borgholm, among other things. Is behind several acclaimed cookbooks such as “Husman – all the classic dishes” and the success “Potatoes” (2022’s best-selling cookbook).

Favorite gadget in the kitchen: “A big and good cutting board”.

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It is important that the food develops

He believes that it is important that the old classic home cooking constantly evolves within its genre in order to become part of the future. To find keys to what can make classic old dishes more modern, Stefan searches among common mistakes that may have brought the home cooking a certain reputation. Like the food is stiff, rough and lacks elegance.

– You often make sauces that are too thick and it becomes heavy and stiff. It is good to try to lighten up the food, to serve slightly smaller portions and to make thinner sauces and stews. Maybe use a little lemon peel when making dill stewed potatoes, and a little less cut potatoes. It can feel easy without making too many changes, explains Stefan.

“The pea soup has been abused, because people don’t understand”

Another example is the classic pea soup, which he believes has been abused for many decades both at home and in commercial kitchens – where it has been served far too thick. Stefan thinks, for example, that you should see the peas clearly in a pea soup and that it should be made with a thin broth.

– It shouldn’t be a thick gruel like that, but a bouillon soup. Then you can eat it more like a ramen. But a thick pea soup porridge, it won’t be good. It has been abused, because people don’t understand, he says.

Home cooking should not be forced out to 500 people

That home cooking requires knowledge and genuine work to come to its right, Stefan has been aware of before. He even believes that it is food that works poorly to serve to many people at once. A paradoxical and somewhat comical thought, because that is precisely how it has been served many times throughout history. For example, in the school meals and at large lunch breaks.

– Home cooking requires you to be in control, that it is freshly prepared and neatly laid out. Home cooking does not work to slather out to 500 people. It requires far too much “finish” for that, Stefan continues.

Okay, so home cooking built on knowledge and love, served in smaller portions and with a higher freshness – it saves the food tradition in the future. But now we are talking about developing the classic dishes themselves. Stefan Ekengren believes that it is also important to develop the home cooking as new dishes, and to let classic “ordinary” food be a source of inspiration. All so that even more people will want to implement home cooking in their cooking. At his celebrated and popular restaurant Hantverket in Stockholm, for example, he has home cooking as inspiration for most things.

Stefan about…

… the ultimate home cooking: Potato pancakes with pork belly. The combinations are perfect. The salty pork, a crispy rye donut that is slightly round and delicious in taste, and sweet and sour lingonberries. That combination is absolutely perfect. Once I didn’t have lingonberry jam at home, but tried with blueberry jam. Then the whole combination fell.

… the most common mistake when doing housework at home? That it becomes too heavy and too rough. It’s good to try to lighten it up at home. Serve slightly smaller portions, make slightly thinner sauces and stews and use smaller cut pieces.

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Stefan Ekengren in action in the kitchen. Photo: Joel Wåreus

Stefan Ekengren believes that it is also important to develop the home cooking as new dishes, and to let classic “ordinary” food be a source of inspiration. All so that even more people will want to implement home cooking in their cooking. At his celebrated and popular restaurant Hantverket in Stockholm, for example, he has home cooking as inspiration for most things.

– Almost all the dishes in the evening are inspired by above all Swedish home cooking, but can also be inspired by European home cooking. For example, I have a variation of hazelnut potatoes as a snack. I have made stews with whipped duck liver, freshly fried perch with stewed cabbage and fish gratin. We’ve also done stewed macaroni properly and sloppy jam with tuttul bread is a classic, says Stefan.

Try one of Stefan’s recipes: