A menu that blends the flavours of the Mediterranean with the robustness of the North. All based on a large number of ingredients. This is what characterizes this year's Nobel banquet which will be served to 1,300 guests, 200 of them young students.
This year's hors d'oeuvres are a crayfish panna cotta with fennel-baked Arctic char, scallops, Norway lobster, and baby lettuce. The combination of elements in this year's hors d'oeuvres has a nice balance of ingredients from the marine environment, which is much appreciated today.
Baking the Arctic char in fennel is a splendid way of partly reinforcing the char's own flavours but also obtaining a piquant touch of a slightly stronger spice, since fennel has a characteristic liquorice flavour. This goes very well with the natural flavours of the fish, lobster and scallops, as these are very mild.
The baby lettuce provides a crisp element to contrast with the smooth, firm and soft structure of the fish and the shellfish.
The main course is ptarmigan breast baked in horn of plenty mushrooms with caramelized apples, poached onions and broad beans. This is served with Calvados sauce and potato cake.
Ptarmigan is game, and as such has a distinct flavour that some may think strong. By choosing to serve caramelized apple, poached onions and broad beans with the bird, the game flavour will not be felt to be too insistent, but will be softened by the sweet-sour taste of the apple (together with the Calvados sauce), the saltiness of the poached onion and the robustness of the broad beans. The inclusion of the potato cake enhances the flavour experience.
The banquet dessert for 2005 is a lemon and yoghurt mousse with Arctic bramble marmalade, fresh raspberries and raspberry and Arctic bramble sauce.
It's a good choice to finish the meal with a lemon and yoghurt mousse, as the flavours are fresh and light and balance the heavier flavours and textures of the main course. It is combined with Arctic bramble marmalade and fresh raspberries, along with a sauce made from these two berries. That means the dessert will also have a touch of sweetness.
In my view, this year's banquet menu is a combination of Mediterranean flavours with more robust Nordic flavours and with many different ingredients. The scallops, Calvados and lemons are examples of flavours originating in the former region, while ptarmigan, broad beans and potatoes are more Nordic in character. Apples occur in both regions.
As long as the Nobel banquet had four or more courses, fish and shellfish featured regularly as hors d'oeuvres. Fish as a major ingredient of the main course is a recurrent element in menus until about 1940, after which it disappears completely as a main course dish until 1982.
Fillet of beef is the most frequently occurring ingredient on the menus of recent years. Where poultry is concerned, chicken has been very popular. Game birds have been represented by species like capercaillie, black grouse, pheasant and hazelhen, so this year's choice of ptarmigan is a little out of the ordinary.
New this year is the yoghurt mousse, which has never previously been on the menu! During the 100 years and more of the banquet, the most popular desserts have been fruit in various forms, such as poached pears in champagne, even if the dessert which is best-known today is the so-called Nobel ice cream. This was frequently served from the 1980s onwards.