NORILSK /Krasnoyarsk region/, May 3. /TASS/. Chefs from the capital presented to guests of the North gastronomic festival in Norilsk unusual dishes, made of every-day northern ingredients. They told TASS about how the festival would favor development of the Northern cuisine, about the interest of Muscovites to dishes from Russian northern products and about the quality of local meat and fish, and organizers shared feedback from the festival’s visitors.

Reindeer cheeks and smoked sour cream with caviar

Chef Anatoly Kazakov presented about a dozen dishes. One of them is reindeer cheeks. "At first, we leave them in a 1% salt solution, so that they absorb the liquid, and then cook at 68 degrees in a sauce, which we make from boiling reindeer bones for about 20 hours," the master told TASS. "Then, we cook the fat: we thaw the fat, then freeze it and slice, then we put those slices on the cheek - and here is this half-transparent, glossy surface."

Prior to the festival, the chef studied thoroughly the samples, he received in Moscow. "About 80% are local products - we have used local fish, caviar and reindeer beef," he said. "We have tried the products brought from here to Moscow, though we have also brought some from Moscow, as here is the Extreme North."

Chef Georgy Troyan cooked reindeer heart, whitefish and made smoked sour cream with whitefish caviar. According to him, local products are of very high quality. "The fish quality here is wonderful - so good that we have agreed supplies to Moscow," he told TASS.

Product makes a region’s look

Chef Kazakov is optimistic the North gastronomy festival will give an impetus to development of cuisine, using local products. "We want to demonstrate that here not only Italian on Japanese restaurants may be possible - it is most interesting to work with local products," he said. "In the gastronomy format, local products make the region’s look: is it senseless to open restaurants and bring 90% of products from abroad."

Chef Troyan’s opinion is that gastronomy festivals of the kind would favor development of catering. "Such festivals are good for the city and will develop restaurants and the entire industry of restaurants," he said.

According to the chef, the public in Moscow is interested in the Northern and generally Russian cuisine, and restaurant businesses are trying to present to it high-quality local products. "I travel across Russia a lot, looking for interesting or specific products - if the quality is fine, I negotiate supplies to Moscow," he said. "I share the products with other chefs, we exchange experience, and thus, those products are presented at other restaurants."

"It is most important to present the Russian products to Russians - our people have traveled the world, have been to Europe, but do not know about high-quality products in this country," he added.

Higher cuisine - higher life quality

Head of the Agency for Norilsk’s Development Svetlana Rubashkina told TASS the festival has another objective - to present every-day products differently.

"The people living here, first of all eat local products, but due to the visiting chefs, we demonstrate to them a new view on usual products and show how they may be used in high cuisine and in new recipes," she said. "We want to make quality of life here modern, and the new views presented by the chefs add to the pride for Norilsk."

On the festival’s first day, Chef Yuri Aguzarov at the Copper plant cooked 350 dishes of whitefish, reindeer and ptarmigan - the guests enjoyed this event greatly.

"The cooks made a great job, we participated in the dinner - everyone loved it," she continued. "We have a few plants, and people wished such events were organized at other plants, too."

"We want to make this festival traditional - clearly, the people have enjoyed it, and, besides, guests from other regions may be interested in it," she said.

Norilsk hosted the North gastronomic festival on April 27-29. The chefs from Moscow restaurants cooked products, chosen in a strict casting. The festival’s organizer is the Agency for Norilsk’s Development with support from the Norilsk Nickel Company (Nornickel).