Year end at the royal shooting range

We once again visited Sølyst Manor – The royal shooting range, for our year end finale. The manor has been owned by the Royal Shooting Society since 1949, but the history of the house dates back more than 500 years. At the Royal Shooting Society, it has been a tradition since the 16th century that the Danish monarch is one of its members and this is also the case for Queen Margrethe II and Crown Prince Frederik. Queen Margrethe II is also the only female member of the Royal Shooting Society.

It wasn’t just a dinner, it was a Grand Dinner with chapitre. We had a good number of promotions, and intronisations of new members. Among the promotions we had Her Royal Highness Princess Romanov who was promoted to Grand Officer d'Honneur. Bailli Délégué Jørgen Krenk, who was conducting the ceremony, had a special surprise for Conseiller Gastronomique Honoraire  Jim McIsasac, who received the Chaine Bronze medal for his assistance to the Danish Chaine, especially for his Pin design skills.

When we arrived, we had some canapés and a glass of Crémant D'Alsace, before we headed into the main dining room.
Halfway through the dinner, Grand Officier Maître Rôtisseur, Thorbjørn Moy held a short speech for a now retired educator at the chef school in Copenhagen, Bent Aggestrup, who over the years had been training more than 5000 chefs, among them many of our famous chefs, incl. Thorbjørn himself. Chaine awarded him  the Chaîne Merit Medal for his lifetime achievement for the gastronomic scene. Thorbjørn said that he once said “Chefs must be idiots, when they believe that they can boil meat in a bag and called it fried”. He is a defender of the craftmanship, and doesn’t believe in fancy tools that modern chefs use, as the old craftmanship is still the best way to prepare food. After his retirement he has been working in restaurants such as Noma, Geranium, Amass, Kong Hans. He has been judging in chef and students competitions, incl. Masterchef.

The menu was as follows:

 

* Iberico ham

* Tartlet with caviar and chives

* Truffle toast with Comté

* Cucumber, crab and dill

* Crispy scallop, tarragon and cress

Crémant D´Alsace Brut Organic, Domaine Rieflé

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Langoustine tartare with crispy chicken skin, horseradish cream & cress - small potato waffle

Weisser Burgunder Trocken, Weingut Korrell Johanneshof

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Fried turbot with red pepper puree, chorizo, Spanish almonds & smoke

Cadalso Sierra de Gredos, Garnacha / Pinuela / Rufete, D.O. Uclés, Castilla-La Mancha

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Grilled veal fillet & cheek croquette - white onions and crispy potatoes

Tensión La Ribera, Malbec / Petit Verdot, Santa Julia

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Choux au Craquelin with apple, vanilla cream and apple sorbet

Moscato d´Asti DOCG, Viberti Giovanni, Piedmont

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Coffee, tea & sweets

After the dinner we had a lineup of the staff and Grand Officier Maître Rôtisseur, Thorbjørn Moy gave his appreciation. He went through the dishes and explained how they had composed the different  dishes, and praised the craftmanship they had shown, especially for such a big party. Also he liked the young (and a couple not so young) waiters, that made the service completely flawless, removed the table numbers, replaced dropped napkins etc. So based on the appreciation Bailli Délégué Jørgen Krenk  awarded the staff the Danish Chaine service staff pins, for their  first class service.

In the saloon, tea and coffee was served and the bar was open. When we left there was a small appreciation gift from our sponsor “Grøn Grossisten” for the women – a bag of Christmas hyacinths.