Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Maria Six, France Fromage, Passion för Mat 2014
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2014

Some things in life, are unexplainably uncanny. Like my first time landing at the airport in Shanghai. As I stepped into the arrival hall, I saw two formally dressed individuals, one of whom held a name card that read, “Cheryl CAMPBELL”. Without pause, I found myself walking right up to them:

“Are you looking for me?” I asked curiously, careful not to mention my last name.

“You from Gothenburg?”

“Yes, from Gothenburg.”

“You, Cheryl Campbell?”

I hesitated a heartbeat, then answered, “Yes, that’s me, Cheryl, from Gothenburg.”

“Ah! Cheryl CAMPBELL! It’s a pleasure meeting you!”

I smiled, returned the warm greeting and said very little thereafter.

Then there were my days in Barcelona in 2011, where depending on which route I took to the IESE Business School, I would find myself every morning, walking past two different monasteries, one was a Carmelite Order, an order devoted to silence, contemplation and reflection, and the other with a heritage in the Order of Saint Clare / the Second Order of St. Francis of Assisi.

At the most superficial of coincidences of my days in Barcelona, my parents had wanted me to become a nun of the Carmelite Order. I also grew up in a convent founded by a Minim Friar, St. Francis of Paola (1416-1507), named in honour after St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226).

During these days, was that visit to Santa Maria de Montserrat, a Benedictine abbey located on the mountain of Montserrat, about forty-eight kilometres from Barcelona, where I found the most delightful of cheeses crafted by the monks themselves.

So I couldn’t help but muse when for several years in a row at Passion för Mat, whenever I meet with Jacques and Maria Six of France Fromage who specialise in fine cheeses, they seem to place in front of me, specific types of cheeses related to my life’s travels somehow. This year, when Jacques pulled us aside to relate the story of Reblochon, fromage de dévotion, I almost stared at him in disbelief.
Continue reading “Reblochon – fromage de dévotion! France Fromage, Passion för Mat 2014” →

Cheryl Marie Cordeiro, with Anders Arnell.
Anders is a culinary edutainer who has a summer restaurant, “Arnell på Kajen” in Marstrand. His new book, MAT-ematikerna co-authored with Jan Tern is now out in the bookstands.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2014

Ongoing, a part bantering of ideas, part negotiation, of a large block of crystallised Porcelana cocoa bean chocolate dating almost thirty years back, that after tempering, would render the silkiest textured chocolate. Not being able to overcome the initial realisation that I have been eating decades old chocolate, I finally got around to the main thread of talk at the table. The idea was how to keep a consistent standard of quality that at the same time, made the signature of your culinary work. Service was a given, they were all artists and experts in their own culinary field of choice, there could be no other way in this business otherwise. But in the ever increasing modularisation of the individual’s niche knowledge and skills, there came the question of the paraph that made it just that notch more exclusive for the customer:

“How would you propose I do that?”
“I told you, get this block of chocolate!”

And so it is, all part of this year’s Passion för Mat 2014 theme, Ärlig mat or True food. Food that leaves a lesser carbon footprint, a non-kitsch understanding of sustainable living and a redefining of what is luxury and exclusivity, without a mention of those words. It’s all very practical and all very Swedish.

Continue reading “Evolving culinary ideology, Passion för Mat 2014” →

Personally I would leave the steak some eight minutes before serving to let it rest a bit and even out the temperature. I have found that this leaves the steak much juicier too.
Text & Photo © JE Nilsson, CM Cordeiro 2013

Admittedly, it was a feeling of pure lust that washed over me from the moment the succulence of it appeared under my visual radar. I wanted it. I knew from the first instance I saw it, it was mine. Without a doubt, I wanted all of its deliciousness home with me.

It was not so much a question about how many inches of it I could have, but the fact that already the first two would give me a really nice piece, with both strip steak side and the tenderloin.

I really don’t know what it is with big chunks of beef that releases so much of the primitive hormones in me, but it seems the case that I often end up buying way too large steaks to a small household. Perhaps I just like large, in general, like fruits, diamonds, cars, houses. Anything.

However, there is no way any one single person can down a four lbs (2kg) T-bone steak alone. Not even two grown up persons can do it comfortably. With some modest side dishes, you need to be at least four.

And there you have it, a perfect reason to call a few friends and throw a dinner party.

I have always also felt a little bit intimidated by outdoor barbecuing, because it seems so hard to get any steak exactly the way you want it. Too many burst and charred tomatoes, too many raw and inedible chicken parts etc. have left their scars on my self confidence I’m afraid, but this would be the day, with a gorgeous find of a T-bone.

After considering a Barolo, my choice fell on a full bodied 2001 Rioja which worked out well.

When planning a dinner, I like to choose a wine that will complement the food, as soon as the menu is settled. In this case I felt a steak this brutal, would take a robust, mature red wine that would stand its own ground and not fade into the wallpaper when a medium rare two inch thick steak landed on the plate.

My rule of thumb when preparing a meat dinner, is one glass in the sauce and one in the chef. In this case I was not planning to have any sauce, so I recalibrated the wine ratio, which also worked out OK.
Continue reading “Love at first bite” →