It has been a dream of mine to make a cookbook with recipes collected from all of the countries we race in. Here in Ruhpolding, I got a good start on that venture! Coach Matthias Ahrens introduced me to the head chef at the race site’s ‘Family Club’. This is where athletes, coaches, support staff, etc. all come for anything from a quick coffee and snack to a full meal. Ruhpolding’s Family club is arguably one of the best on the World Cup circuit.

After chatting to Chef Johannes about certain bavarian recipes, he invited me for a day in his kitchen for a lesson! Foodie heaven.

Chef Johannes showed us four beautiful recipes: Gingered Coconut-Carrot Soup, Atlantic Salmon with Vegetable Vinaigrette, Kaiserschmarrn and Rohrnudeln.

The chef honed our knife skills and then sent us into groups to make a chosen dish. I was with Chef Johannes making the Salmon. Not only did he share some of his favourite dishes, he also taught us some tricks with meat temperatures, frying techniques, and how to properly work with dough. Very cool indeed.

 

 

 

 

 

Heres basically what we did for the main course:

1. Dry salmon and season with salt and white pepper.
2. Sear salmon (skin down) in a pan with oil until the skin is crispy
3. Pop into a 50*C oven for about 30min. *** Super cool trick*** Cooking meat at a low temperature ensures that it stays tender and juicy. This is because the protein in the meat will change its structure at 68*C. SO, by cooking the meat below this temperature the protein strands will stay ‘long’.
4. For the vinaigrette, finely dice green zucchini, yellow zucchini, eggplant, yellow peppers, shallots, and cherry tomatoes.
5. Sauté each vegetable group (except the tomatoes and shallots) separately (cooking them separately ensures the flavours will stay bold) with a little oil and season well. The chef put a whole clove of garlic in the pan while cooking the veggies and then removed it before each group to ensure flavour without garlic breath.
6. Mix the cooked veg with the tomatoes, shallots and some chopped fresh basil.
7. Toss with about three tablespoons of cider vinegar, and a good couple sloshes of olive oil. Of course, taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
8. When internal temperature of salmon is 52*C, its DONE!
9. Serve salmon on a pile of the vegetable vinaigrette.