No idea yet about this year´s Christmas dinner? Roland Kroiss has looked over the shoulder of Dorothea Waydsch, the island´s most interesting insider tip for home cooking. She prepared a modern crossover meal for abcMallorca and organized the dining table´s decoration for the purpose. We detail every production step for our readers.
Dorothea Waydsch takes two substantial pieces of Iberian pork and, in the morning, places them in a thyme and rosemary marinade. After marinating them for at least six hours, she rolls the heart-shaped dark red pieces of pork shoulder in grated almonds, before browning them in a pan on the hob. A splendid aroma begins to waft through the open kitchen. The temperature is not too high, so as not to burn the coating – which should only be golden. The hearty pieces of meat are still uncooked inside, so they’re quickly placed in a roasting pan and put in the oven to finish cooking. “The meat shouldn’t end up well done, just medium pink and soft,” says the distinctive chef firmly. After 15 minutes of baking at 180 degrees Celsius, the meat is taken out of the oven and wrapped in aluminium foil – to rest without completely cooling. Then it´s put into the oven once more, shortly before serving – ready.
Pork shoulder fillets are the main course of a very different Christmas dinner arranged by Bavarian cook Dorothea Waydsch for abcMallorca. The menu includes the following dishes: Champagne (Veuve & Clicquot) combined with Swedish appetizers, made of potatoes and herring. The official first course is Papaya salad, followed by Ravioli filled with Spanish chorizo and chickpeas. After that the pork shoulder slices are served with braised vegetables. Finally, curd cheese balls covered with sweet almond flakes and tangerine pieces complete this dinner.
Imagine a Christmas dinner without turkey, duck, goose or venison – can this work? “It certainly can,” Dorothea replies. The German gastronomy specialist loves to surprise her guests with experimental dishes, often a culinary crossover of several different food cultures, to stimulate the taste buds. Her gourmet journey starts in Sweden, then jumps over to Italy, reaches a Spanish crest and waves goodbye to Austria.
Perhaps this unexpected mix of dishes comes from Dorothea´s international experience and business situation. The German woman, who comes from Munich, uses the island as a hub for her gastronomic services. Her formula is composed of individuality, exclusivity, discreetness plus outstanding quality of both service and ingredients.
The guiding professional principle of the tall, slender lady chef is convincing simplicity. Two celebrity chefs know very well how brilliant she is: firstly, Alfons Schuhbeck, Bavaria´s local cuisine hero, with whom Dorothea underwent her apprenticeship in Waging am See, and, second, Austrian Eckart Witzigmann, who placed Dorothea in a job in Mallorca eight years ago.
Thus, Dorothea is believed to be the only bookable home-chef on the island offering food on a Michelin star level. She has lots of new business ideas in her mind, e.g. indulgence tours for demanding gourmets. Before every new job, Dorothea makes a home inspection to get an idea of the rooms where the party or the business meeting is taking place. She listens to the clients´ culinary requests and comes up with an individual food and decoration concept for the event.
Accessories, crockery and cutlery are usually supplied by Flavourhouse.
After the meal Dorothea and her assistant tidy up everything and take the used dishes and cooking utensils with them. Flavourhouse also does the shopping for all the ingredients.
For the Christmas decoration in abcMallorca´s model house, Dorothea chose the colour orange, because “it´s festive and resembles gold”. The table is laid festively and stylishly without seeming overdone. The night lights of Palma are shimmering through the transparent glass wall, providing a romantic Christmas atmosphere. Even the first course with its orange papaya flesh fits in with the colour scheme.
But first, a few words about the appetizer “Swedish mouthful”, this evening´s only tapa. Dorothea loves Swedish cuisine, not just because her business collaborator Chris is a Swede. Her bite-sized “Swedish compliment” accompanying the Champagne is an long bowl filled with sweet potato slices, cubes of salted herring, red onion and chopped egg white and egg yolk, in warm nut butter. It´s a tasty dainty and it’s impossible to resist dipping some baguette bread into the dish to soak up the last drop of dressing.
After the appetizer the guests move towards the beautifully decorated Christmas table. In the meantime, Dorothea stays in the kitchen and prepares every course fresh and as required.
Course number one arrives. Papaya is the only fruit “you cut open and find fresh caviar inside,” Dorothea remarks. Indeed, the fruit pips look better than real caviar. For the preparation of the salad, our chef has cut the papaya into small pieces and marinated it with tomato dressing. Another marinade made of freshly squeezed orange juice and freshly fried calamari rings finishes the dish.
The second course quickly follows: Homemade Ravioli, filled with Spanish Chorizo. As side dishes, roasted and curry flavoured chickpeas are served on a sweet potato base. It´s a fabulous combination, of which one notices only the spicy taste of the Chorizo sausage – a product that can be very chewy when served uncooked.
Pork is the star of the third course – the peak of the abcMallorca Christmas dinner. The fine slices, decoratively arranged with braised vegetables, possess intense taste and colour. One could almost think it was fillet of beef.
The Austrian farewell dessert melts in the mouth. The shell of almond and cinnamon crumbs dominates the flavour due to the light and airy consistency of the curd cheese dumplings. There’s a hint of the fine nut butter Dorothea used in the gentle roasting. Fresh slices of tangerine provide a light sweet and sour overall aroma.
Let’s not forget the wine savoured this evening: firstly, an excellent red “Rioja La Montesa 2005“ and second, the white wine “Bodega Armero i Adrover/Weingut Hammel” 2007. Enjoy trying these dishes at home, and Merry Christmas!
Photographer: Thomas Baar
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