Dishes That Raise Questions

Interview with chef de cuisine Sonja Frühsammer

On a rainy afternoon in December, with the Wissenschaftskolleg’s restaurant just now beginning to empty after lunch, the new chef de cuisine Sonja Frühsammer leaves her kitchen and answers questions posed by our editorial team.

ET: Today we had a delectable dish with baked pumpkin, how did you get it so spicy and crisp?

Sonja Frühsammer: The pumpkin is hollowed out, cut into slices, then marinated in olive oil and finally baked with a crust that most people only know from saddle of lamb. It consists of parmesan, mie de pain (breadcrumbs) und thyme. Today was the first time we tried the recipe. The crucial thing is how long you keep the pumpkin in the oven. My recommendation is ten minutes at most. If the pumpkin sits too long in the oven then it gets too soft. Then I serve it with a vegetable stock that I make with herbal tea and lots of fresh herbs and later thickened into a sauce. 

ET: That’s some recipe!

SF: The tea makes all the difference – and not only with this dish. Good teas have these unique and wonderful aromas that aren’t easy to come by. The important thing, incidentally, is to make the tea with water that’s not too hot; and later on not to boil the sauce, since essential oils are lost at the boiling point.

ET: Pumpkin is a typical fall and winter vegetable here in Berlin. Are there other regional and seasonal products that you especially like to cook with in the winter?

SF: I love Brussels sprouts, beets, pointed cabbage and salsifies. The toughest is February when your selection is less and all the guests have already had their fill of whatever vegetables might be available this time of year.

ET: What in the world can you make with salsifies?

SF: For example at last week’s Christmas dinner we had crispy chips as an appetizer. They’re very easy to make – peel the salsifies, wash, cut into slices, deep-fry and let cool. Tasty and fun.

ET: A propos regional – you live outside Berlin where you grow your own vegetables.

SF: Yes, right now I’ve got leeks and broccoli in a raised bed and I’ve planted winter spinach and lamb’s lettuce. So long as I can, I’m also harvesting the flowers of various vegetables because they concentrate the flavor of a plant. For many dishes they can be that final added touch.

ET: You yourself aren’t a regional product, but were born in Adelaide, Australia.

SF: That’s right. But my parents moved to Berlin when I was still very young – too young to say that I know Australia.

ET: And how did you start cooking?

SF: We were three sisters and a single working mom and each of us took a turn at cooking. I especially loved the shopping – but also the experimentation. Both of my sisters later went to college. I tried that, too, but it wasn’t for me. Then just by chance, through the student job center, I found work in the Siemens cafeteria at the Kraftwerk Union plant. Their French chef also whipped up some fantastic fare for the Siemens guests. These business meals often involved lots of money and the cooking was lavish. Sometimes they had lobster. I was fascinated by this world and began formal instruction.

ET: But it was a long road from the cafeteria to your own gourmet restaurant.

SF: Those were different times back then! In Berlin of the 1980s, gastronomy was a fairly simple matter. But in cooking school I noticed that the other trainees were working in much better restaurants than me. After my training period I bought a restaurant guide and started applying to the best establishments. At the time I could only dream of one day reaching the highest level. The world of haute cuisine was thoroughly dominated by men. The owner of a prestigious top-ten restaurant back then once told me to my face that he never hired women because they upset his team.

ET: An important station in your career was a Michelin-starred restaurant by the name of Alt Luxemburg. Then in the 1990s, after the birth of your children, came the Meta Design cafeteria and the Wissenschaftskolleg where you and your husband worked as freelancers. Your breakthrough came in 2009.

SF: I had a lot of fun trying out new things in the kitchen. My husband Peter had been a Michelin-star chef, he’s the perfect host and sommelier, so we decided to open our own gourmet restaurant. That’s how Frühsammers came to be, on the grounds of the Grunewald Tennis Club.

ET: Frühsammers enjoyed great success. For more than fifteen years it was one of the very best restaurants in Berlin. What was your secret?

SF: I always tried to create dishes that people wouldn’t easily forget. How frustrating to have gone to a fine restaurant the evening before and then think the next day: What did I actually eat? I try to cook things that jolt people awake. By maybe adding something very spicy. Or something with salsify chips. What I have in mind here is a cuisine that surprises – that raises questions.

ET: Evidently quite a few diners enjoyed being surprised. And not just diners. In 2014 you were awarded a Michelin star, which in subsequent years you defended with honor time and again. How did that change things?

SF: Above all the star is a mark of esteem. You’re more visible, you receive all kinds of great invitations, it’s easier to find good personnel. For me the star was a spur to never let up. But in the final analysis it’s me who knows best whether my food is good or less good. Apart from that, of course, it’s important to listen carefully to your diners.

ET: After many years at star level, in 2023 you returned to the Wissenschaftskolleg. What was the incentive for that?

SF: At a certain point I didn’t want to be self-employed anymore, I did no longer want to be responsible for a large team, I was tired of all the bureaucracy that comes with gastromomy today. So I was looking for a new home. I’d known the restaurant manager Dunia Najjar for a long time and knew how great it would be to work with her. Another attraction was being in contact every day with cultivated people. And it’s lovely to cook to a schedule, as it were, with diners all entering the restaurant at the same time.

ET: And a cuisine that surprises and raises questions is tailor-made for the Wissenschaftskolleg. For us the food is part of the scholarly program. If the cuisine is inspiring then it has a direct impact on the table talk. It induces animated conversation and, as we saw today, people don’t want to return to their offices. And the longer into the academic year, the greater is the Fellows’ astonishment that the kitchen never runs out of ideas and ingenuity. Concentration and creativity over the space of ten months is precisely what we at Wiko expect from the Fellows – and our kitchen exemplifies this.

SF: If that’s how it works then we’ve achieved our goal! For me, working here at Wiko is also a great responsibility. A whole group of people rely on me for their daily sustenance, health and well-being.

ET: You’ve only been back here a few months now – nevertheless, do you have any dreams for the future of Wiko’s restaurant?

SF: Right now I’m just glad to be back, and I think that everything is fine the way it is. But as soon as we’ve gotten used to each other and everything has settled down a bit, there are a couple ideas we’d like to implement. For instance cooking with the Fellows every now and then. That was indeed the case in the past – that individuals or small groups of Fellows joined us in the kitchen. We want to bring back that practice. It would be exciting for the Fellows and an inspiration to us.

English translation: Kevin McAleer