Christopher serves crab on white tablecloths, and in the boathouse

Ever since he first got a foot in the door washing dishes at the Tyholmen Hotel in Arendal, Christopher has had clear goals for his career as a chef. Already behind the pots in the staff canteen at Statoil in Stavanger, «Doffen» had decided to become the best chef in the world.

– I started thinking about competing in the Bocuse d’Or. The most important thing is that you have to dream of taking part in this competition. Without the dream you give up. I had the dream for ten years. When I felt I was getting ready, I trained mentally for four years with the Norwegian national culinary team and took part in many smaller competitions. All in all it was about six years before I found myself in Lyon, says Davidsen, who won silver in 2017.

To many people in Trøndelag, the west-coast native is best known as head chef at the Michelin-starred restaurant Speilsalen at the Britannia Hotel in Trondheim, a position he held from the opening in 2019 until a few months ago. At Speilsalen he worked only with the best hand-picked Norwegian produce, prepared with the greatest care and respect. When Christopher cooks, nothing is left to chance, and flavour is the most important goal in everything he makes.

New projects lie ahead, but first he is going to share his best crab recipes with you this summer.

- At home, crab on the dinner table meant a weekend treat. I remember very well that we fished for crab and boiled it out in the garden room, and the smell of freshly boiled crab still brings back childhood memories. When we did boil crab, we boiled a lot. There had to be plenty, so we could indulge. And if there was enough left over for a slice of bread the next day, happiness was complete. That almost never happened, though. My grandfather was a professional fisherman and always had crab pots to haul up. And my father had a summer job fishing and selling crab. So crab is an ingredient we appreciate greatly at home.

In other words, Christopher's use of crab is not purely professional.

One of the dishes at the Bocuse d´Or featured crab, and crab has appeared at Speilsalen for many years. There is a reason for that.

- Crab is 100 per cent my favourite thing from the sea! I love the powerful, sweet crab flavour and the delicate texture. Shore crab is also incredibly good in sauces and soups. I have a tradition with my youngest daughter where every summer in Stoksund we catch loads of shore crabs down on our jetty and make «shore crab soup» inside the boathouse. I hope that will become one of her childhood memories. When we asked Christopher what is so good about crab, it was quite easy for him to sum up.

- Crab is a fantastic ingredient that is easy to get hold of and that most people like. It is very flavourful and can be used for so much. Crab is beautiful on white tablecloths, and when it is simply boiled and nothing more.

Perhaps best of all in crab soup, with his daughter in the boathouse at Stoksund.