Mette Søberg can give full credit to the Brussels sprout-and-apple dessert she concocted at Noma for landing her present-day job as its head of research and development. She’d begun as an intern at the famous Danish restaurant, quickly moving up to line cook. At one of the staff show-and-tells (dubbed Saturday Night Projects) she presented her dessert, which caught the eye of René Redzepi, Noma’s chef and owner. “Fucking crazy!” he exclaimed, thinking, This girl is creative and thinks deeply about food. Some time later, Redzepi moved her to the R&D kitchen, where she now creates, under his watchful eye, the menus for the restaurant.
Noma, as just about everyone is aware of now, is the restaurant that put Denmark on the map. Redzepi concentrated on local, often unheard-of natural products, transforming them through fermentation and other experiments. He showcased vegetables, carefully preparing them so they’d be as satisfying as meat, and created food whose influence spread far beyond Copenhagen. He also discovered and invested in the talented people who found their way into his kitchen.
One of these was Søberg, who grew up in Rødovre, a suburb of Copenhagen. She first discovered the joy of cooking while helping her grandmother prepare copious family meals during Christmas and Easter: “It was the highlight of the year for me,” she says, recalling plates of herring, shrimp, salmon, and eel, not to mention heaping servings of chicken, duck, and pork. “We just sat at the table eating and sharing. All day long.”
Even though she had planned to go to university to study, she wanted to cook and decided to take a gap year after high school to go to culinary school. After six months of classes she began an internship, and realized she’d made the right decision. “I just felt comfortable there, I loved that energy,” she says. Her first job was at a seafood house, which was then followed by a yearlong gig at Marque, a fine-dining restaurant in Sydney, Australia. When her visa expired, the chef gave her the recommendation that landed her at Noma.
Søberg created the menus for the Noma pop-ups in Sydney and Tulum, Mexico. With her tireless team and her boundless curiosity, she found local products and produce to create such brand-new dishes as celeriac truffle shawarma, mounted on a spit and carved like meat, and pumpkin cooked with kelp and avocado fudge. Ever unassuming, she credits Redzepi: “He’s taught me so many things, but I think the most important lesson is to trust your instincts and always be curious.”
On the rare moments that Søberg has some downtime, she cooks at home in a small kitchen filled with Mexican baskets and handmade pottery, where meals can be anything from quick snacks to a mash-up of items that look as if they came from Noma’s pop-ups—some foraged from her trips abroad. There are plenty of jars of fermenting fruits and vegetables as well as an impressive mother lode of condiments, including her homemade concoctions. Luckily for Noma and the future of foodies everywhere, Søberg keeps listening to the same inner voice that propelled her into her cooking career.
CURRENT HOMETOWN: Copenhagen, Denmark
RESTAURANT THAT MADE HER NAME: Noma, Copenhagen
SIGNATURE STYLE: Seasonal Nordic
BEST KNOWN FOR: Being the head of Noma’s R&D kitchen
FRIDGE: Ikea
- MUSHROOMS—“Some are from the market and some I forage in a forest north of Copenhagen. I like to go a couple of times when it’s mushroom season, and even though you don’t find many it’s always nice to take a walk in the forest to clear your mind.”
- CHICKEN STOCK
- JALAPEÑO AND HABANERO SAUCES, from Hija de Sanchez
- HOKKAIDO PUMPKIN
- BACON
- BLUEBERRIES—“My niece loves them and they’re good to have when I’m babysitting her on Mondays when I’m not working.”
- SHEEP’S CHEESE
- BÄHNCKE GROV SENNEP WHOLEGRAIN MUSTARD
- SMOKY WHITE RIND CHEESE
- SWEDISH PRÄSTOST (PRIEST’S) CHEESE
- ROSEHIP BERRY JAM, from her grandmother’s recipe
- FRESH CHILI PASTE—“I often make it with lemon, lime, salt, serrano and pasilla chilies, and oil.”
- PASILLA CHILI OIL
- PLUMS—“I cook them in a syrup made from muscovado sugar and water and eat them just as they are or on top of vanilla ice cream.”
- LEFTOVER COOKED PUMPKIN
- MUSHROOMS COOKED IN GRAPESEED OIL, for risotto or pasta
- FENNEL FLOWERS WITH APPLE VINEGAR
- CHILI PEPPERS: HABANEROS, SERRANO
Q & A
Holy moly, there is a boatload of chilis in there! I know! I brought a lot of dried chilis home with me from Mexico, when we did the Noma pop-up there. And I make sure to always have at least one type of chili oil in the fridge because you can put it on almost everything and it will make it better.
What do you eat when coming home from a long day at work? If it’s quick I always eat rye bread with something on top, whatever is in the fridge. Otherwise rice with fried egg, chili oil, and maybe some leftover vegetables from the night before.
What do you cook for your boyfriend and friends? Mexican food! Simple pasta dishes. Whenever I go food shopping I always take my time and end up buying way too much stuff, without knowing what I’m going to do with it! This is nice, but when you’re in a hurry and don’t have much time, it’s better to have a plan. I love cooking dried pasta and throwing in just chorizo, tomatoes, and chili, or just some sushi rice with different greens and maybe some mushroom and eggs with a broth. Otherwise, my boyfriend is crazy for Mexican flavors. I’ll get some of the amazing corn tortillas from Hija de Sanchez [a taqueria in Copenhagen] and make some kind of salsa, and then stuff them with avocados, fresh cilantro, and chilies, or chorizo, pork, or chicken.
What do you always have in your fridge? I always have the basics—yogurt, milk, eggs, and chili oil.
There is a lot of cheese in there too. I often have cheese in my fridge—it lasts long, you can use it for a lot of dishes. And it’s also great to serve if you have guests coming over unannounced.
What would we never find in your fridge? Sodas, unless maybe if we have guests.
What foods do you hate? Or what foods would you never eat? I can’t think of any! I eat everything!
What is your favorite junk food? Chocolate. The Mexican chocolate that we have at the restaurant is the best. We found it when we were traveling around Mexico before the pop-up in Tulum, and it is made from native Jaguar cacao, sometimes mixed with chili. And when I run out of that, I get some delicious little almonds covered in chocolate and cinnamon from a little shop around the corner from me.
Who does the food shopping in your house? Your boyfriend? And where do you shop? We normally do it together, and it’s usually a mix between the food markets in Copenhagen, supermarkets, and small greengrocers.
What are some of the lesser known, more surprising Danish specialties? We have amazing apples in autumn. A very classic (and quite easy) dessert is made from layers of apple compote, whipped cream, and macaroons—my grandmother would make this dessert every time we came to visit.
What is a favorite food from your childhood you still love to eat? One of my favorite meals as a kid was fjord shrimps. Both because the season starts in late spring so it reminds you that summer is close, but mostly because they are just boiled and served with the shell on. So you sit together at the table and peel your shrimps, and it’s such a satisfying feeling once you’ve finally peeled enough shrimps to fill your slice of bread and add mayonnaise, lemon, pepper, and dill. And in my family there would always be the added excitement that you couldn’t possibly leave the table, because then somebody would steal your already peeled shrimps.
What is in your freezer? Summertime berries, all kinds; homemade chicken stock; and ice cream.
Wait—is that a wedding cake in there too? Yes, it’s the cake from my sister’s wedding last year. I made it for her, and here it’s tradition that you save the top and eat it for your one-year anniversary. So it’s still in my freezer.
Does your boyfriend like to cook? He does like to cook but I probably end up cooking most of the time. He makes a very good lasagna. And I love it when he makes me pancakes.
Tell us about something special in your fridge. I have a jam made from rosehip berries and apples that I make every year. It’s something my grandmother always used to make.