Radically regional – this is probably not how TV chef Tim Mälzer (51) imagined his short culinary trip to the Swabian Alb.
His opponent, the food activist Hendrik Haase (37), sent him to organic chef Simon Tress (39) on Sunday evening in a gourmet duel from “Kitchen Impossible” (Vox). Instead of rushing through the supermarket there, Mälzer had to get his hands dirty in the field.
This task not only brought the TV chef to the limit of taste…
Food activist Hendrik Haase challenged Tim MälzerPhoto: RTL/Nady El-Tounsy
As always in the cooking duel, Mälzer was presented with an unknown dish that he was supposed to cook without a recipe or given ingredients. His challenge at the Gasthaus Rose: Spelled risotto with fermented kohlrabi and kohlrabi puree with rapeseed oil with carrot greens and a jus.
The twist: the restaurant obtains the majority of its ingredients from within a maximum radius of 25 kilometers – this rule also applied to maltsters. Above all, it meant doing without for the TV chef, because the supermarket was taboo. Mälzer even had to harvest his ingredients himself.
Not in the mood for organic! The chronically annoyed connoisseur grumbled: “Nothing against regionality, but not everything makes sense to me. If I have to cook a lump of grain like that, I don’t enjoy it.”
think! Because although the job was a bit irritating for the TV chef with the big mouth, he developed great joy at work – also because Simon Tress taught him his biodynamic art of cooking with the patience of an angel.
Mälzer even raved: “He explained the beauty of growing vegetables to me.”
Beautiful: Tim Mälzer finally appreciates the beauty of growing vegetablesPhoto: RTL/Nady El-Tounsy
From because of “grain rag”! Maltster and organic – that fits!
The chef developed the basic recipe even further and amazed not only the test eaters with his green oil, but also the chef. Tress admitted, “This was definitely prettier than mine. I think I’ll take care of that.”
The score was correspondingly high. Mälzer beat Haase with 14.8 to 11.5 points. It looks as if maltsters and the biodynamic way of life are still getting on a green branch…
Schlemmer rivals: Tim Mälzer (left) and his opponent Hendrik HaasePhoto: RTL/Nady El-Tounsy