Chef Klaus Erfort – Blending Different Tastes

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If there is one thing that can be said about Chef Klaus Erfort is that he is a very simple man with a very extraordinary culinary skill. He is very talented chef who does not have to hide behind flavorful sauces to make a wonderful dish, but makes use of fresh ingredients as well as local produce to bring out the natural tastes of all the elements in his dishes. His culinary skill in blending different tastes have earned his restaurant, Gaestehaus Erfort the 64th position in the San Pellegrino’s Top 100 World’s Best Restaurants.

Chef Erfort is a German chef who was born on the 8th of March 1972 in Saarbrücken, Germany. It was in the year 1987 that he first started his journey towards becoming a chef, and for three years, he underwent apprenticeship at the Restaurant Thiel in Saarbrücken-Dudweiler. When he finished his training in 1990, he then went to Saarland where he became the saucier of Villa Fayence. From 1990 to 1992, he then worked as an entremetier at the Hubertus Hotels, also in Saarland. From Saarland, Chef Erfort moved to Baiersbronn to work in the kitchens of the Restaurant Bairess where he stayed from 1992 to 1993. Here, he was the chief saucier and got to work under Chef Claus-Peter Lumpp. That same year though, he transferred to Chef Harald Wohlfahrt’s Schwarzwaldstube, also in Baiersbronn, where he found work as a tournant. Come the next year, in 1995, he went back to Saarland to head the kitchens of Parkhotel Gengenbach’s Orangerie where he was the chef de cuisine. He stayed with Orangerie from 1995 to 1999. Under his leadership, the restaurant received a Michelin star. However, he left Orangerie on the year 1999 to become the chef de cuisine of Schlosshotel Bühlerhöhe’s Imperial Castle in Bühl where he also earned one Michelin star for the restaurant.

It was in 2002 that he finally decided to go independent and start a restaurant of his own. Chef Erfort went back to Saarbrücken where he opened Gästehaus Erfort. Because he already built a very good reputation for his culinary skill, his restaurant soon had its own loyal diners. With the freedom to experiment with ingredients, he began creating new dishes bearing his culinary personality, but he stayed true to his own culinary philosophy which was to offer wholesome cuisine. 2002 also marked the year that he earned his first Michelin star for his own restaurant.

Two years after he opened Gästehaus Erfort, he was awarded as the Newcomer of the Year by the Bertelsmann Guide and was also awarded with another Michelin star, and in 2008, Gault Millau named him as the Chef of the Year. That same year, he also ranked as the third best chef in Germany according to the Gourmet-Portal.com as well as earned his third Michelin star. This year, 2010, Gästehaus Erfort was named as the 64th best restaurant in the world, according to the San Pellegrino.

His culinary background speaks clearly of his accomplishments as a chef, and the fact that his restaurant is one of the must-visit restaurants in Germany is proof enough that many gourmands enjoy the cuisine that he creates. His cuisine is wholesome, contemporary yet retains its deep roots to tradition, and free from frills like heavy sauces that would divert your attention from the natural flavors of the dish.

Chef Klaus Erfort’s Apple Strudel with Rum-Raisin Ice Cream

Rum-raisin ice cream:

Ingredients:

1 vanilla bean
150 ml milk
150 ml cream
70 g egg yolk
70 g sugar
40 g raisins
6 cl dark rum

Directions:

1. Boil rum and raisins together. Halve vanilla bean and separate into threads. Boil cream and vanilla.

2. Stir egg yolk and sugar together. Add milk and cream mixture and shape the mixture into a rose in a water bath. Freeze in an ice-cream maker until creamy, and flavor with the rum-soaked raisins.

Strudel dough:

Ingredients:

4 sheets of phyllo dough (available in gourmet shops)
Butter
Powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Drizzle the phyllo dough with melted butter, dust with powdered sugar and cover with a second sheet of dough. Cut in 4-cm-wide strips. Wrap phyllo strips around a greased metal tube (or the handle of a wire whisk).

2. Cover and bake 4 min. in oven preheated to 180° C. Remove from tube and keep warm.

Apple filling:

Ingredients:

2 Granny Smith or Boskop apples
50 g almond brittle (available in gourmet shops)
30 g sugarDark rum
Raisins
Lemons

Directions:

1. Peel and dice apple and drizzle with lemon juice. Heat sugar in a pot to caramelize, douse with rum. Add apple dice, raisins and almond brittle and cook until thick.

Apple froth:

Ingredients:

500 g green apple puree
100 ml cream
5 slices of gelatine, softened
Lemons

Directions:

1. Warm 100 g of the apple puree and dissolve gelatin in it.

2. Mix remaining ingredients and season to taste with lemon juice. Fill a siphon with the mixture and apply 2 capsules of pressure.

Apple jelly:

Ingredients:

200 g apple puree
3 slices of gelatine (softened)
1 vanilla bean

Directions:

1. Separate vanilla bean into threads and cook with the apple puree

2. Dissolve gelatin and allow to gel in a flat container, then cut into 1cm-square cubes.

Arrangement:

Fill 3 warm strudel tubes per person and stand in a row on a plate.
Arrange a scoop of rum-raisin ice cream, one each on left and right in a row on the plate. Top the center tube with the apple froth and garnish with mint sprigs, apple jelly and, if desired, a sugar spiral.

Image Credit: spiegel.del

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