Marco Mueller
Why Berlin’s only three-star chef suddenly came up with carp
This is what “Dry Aged Carp” à la star chef Marco Müller looks like.
© Jörg Carstensen / Picture Alliance
The carp, that’s what grandma serves up at Christmas. Or? Star chef Marco Müller takes the fish out of the boring corner and explains why we should all eat more of it if we want to save the seas.
Marco Müller is Berlin’s best chef, at least according to the Michelin Guide. His chef’s jacket and the “Rutz” restaurant are decorated with three stars. Now the cook breaks a lance for the regional fish. Because this is still often underestimated in the German gastronomy scene. For example, Müller experiments with different approaches to carp – he serves it like tuna or bakes the scales until they are crispy.
Several restaurants are now focusing on regionality, also with regard to the environment and climate. When he started cooking, they worked a lot with French products and had little appreciation for regional things, Müller said at the beginning of Berlin Food Week.
With regionality against overfishing of the seas
In the past, this was also due to the water quality of rivers and lakes when it came to fish in Germany, but this is no longer the case. Instead, Müller sees an opportunity to do something about overfishing in the seas with a regional alternative. “If I can get a carp like this from the Müritz, then I don’t need any tuna from the Mediterranean.”
His grandmother was happy to process carp for Christmas Eve every year, said Müller on Monday evening. But carp are not only good for Christmas and New Year’s Eve. You have to know how to cut around the bones, then you get a lot of great meat. At the beginning of the Berlin Food Week he served up a “Dry Aged Carp”.
One question for the festival this year is what nutrition may look like in the future and what alternatives there are to meat consumption. For example, a venison bratwurst, which consists of about half roasted vegetables, and a meat-free version of Königsberger Klopsen were presented at the start.