In the heart of Kreuzberg, the trendiest district of Berlin, I met Chef Philipp Vogel who, in addition to managing the Hotel Orania, is at the timome of the restaurant of the same name, already a contemporary legend for its duck menu, renamed precisely XBerg Duck
Where do you spend a weekend off?
It happened just last weekend on the island of Slyt, a German island populated by excellent restaurants. I like the atmosphere of this place where I have also worked for a whole summer.
Do you travel a lot?
I love to travel, one of my favorite destinations is South Tyrol,
Do you drive?
A BMW Combo, even if my dream is to drive a classic Mercedes Pagoda convertible and travel around Europe.
A Chef you love?
I worked for Chef Muller, I think his ‘amouse bouche’ are incomparable, including a kind of capuccino soup, lemongrass and curry. Great!
Do you cook at home?
Sure for my and my friends., But I’m going to take it easy, trying not to create chaos in the kitchen and to use as few pots as possible …
Always and never… in your fridge
Always some Parmigiano Reggiano, good butter and then … it depends, for some time he has never sent a good cut of bacon, perfect for an improvised pasta.
Your first memory in the kitchen?
In Cologne: my parents divorced when I was little and but he had resumed work, leaving the custody of the house to my Italian nanny Graziella, an exceptional cook, I will not forget the intense aroma of her white polenta made on a wood fire
Let’s talk about your Xberg Duck, a big hit….
I worked for three years in China and fell in love with the classic Peking duck, so I thought about proposing it again in my restaurant and it became the attraction of the place, at first only during the Christmas period and then throughout the year. It is a four-course meal all based on duck, from the consommé, to the meat, to the roasted skin served with ginger and vegetables.
I tasted it: spectacular! A rather complicated recipe tho… can you give us a simpler one?
Here it is: a ‘drunk’ octopus ….
Ingridients
1000g Pulpo
10g Lemon Peel
10g Garlic
1 Carrot
½ Onion
1 Bay Leaf
100ml Nolly Prad
½ Tablespoon Sea Salt
Lemonjuice
Piment d Espelette
-wash the Pulpo under cold water and Cut off he head and arms
– cut the Carrot and Onions in slices
– put the Pulpo and all the other ingridients into a vakuum bag, spice it up with a little bit sea salt and vakuum it.
-Put the bag into a wather bath which is about 85°C and keep it there for 3 ½ hours
-When the Pulpo is done cool it down in ice cold water
For Serving cut the pulpo into pieces and roast it in Oil. At the end spice it with Lemonjuice and Piment d Espelette
Ingredients
200g inlaid Chickpeas
100ml vegetable Stock
10ml Olive oil
20ml Lemonjuice
10ml Garlic Oil
20ml Sesam Oil
Sea Salt
¼ Tablespoon Tandoori Paste
-Mix the Chickpeas with vegetable Stock in the Thermomix
-Spice it up with the following ingridients
Gin Tomatoes
Ingridients
300g Cherry Tomatoes
100ml White Wine
100ml Balsamic Vinegar Bianco
100ml Water
10g Brown Sugar
1 Star Anise
½ Tablespoon Coriander Seeds
¼ Black Pepper
5g Lemon Peel
Sea Salt
1 Stalk Coriander
1 Stalk Mint
1 Stalk Estragon
10ml Gin
-blanch the Cherrytomatoes, cool them down in ice water and peel them.
-Put all the other ingridients into a pot and bring it to boil.
-Put the Tomatoes and the south into a mason jar and close it.
INFO
Orania
