Danish chef Dak Wichangoen is releasing her first cookbook, “Daks Køkken,” on September 29, 2026. The book includes a recipe for her late father’s meatballs.
Wichangoen, a former kitchen chef at the Michelin-starred restaurant Kiin Kiin in Copenhagen, told Avisen Danmark that the book has been in the making for years. She is also known to Danish television audiences as a recurring judge on “Masterchef.”
According to the interview, the 39-year-old chef was born in Thailand and grew up in Djeld in western Jutland. She now lives in Aarhus with her husband and their two children, while her mother still lives in Djeld.
A recipe for Kjeld Georg
One of the recipes in the book is named “Kjeld Georgs frikadeller,” after her father. Kjeld Georg died in 2023 after a short illness, Avisen Danmark reports.
Wichangoen said the Danish meatball is not high gastronomy, but that it holds a special place in the Danish kitchen. She linked the dish to memories of standing in the kitchen with her father shaping meatballs, describing the association as nostalgic.
The subtitle of the book is “Opskrifter med kartofler, karry og kærlighed,” meaning recipes with potatoes, curry and love. She told the outlet that she grew up surrounded by potato fields, while the curry reflects her mother and Thailand.
Danish ingredients with Asian influences
Publisher Politikens Forlag, whose catalog is listed at Politikens Forlag, describes Wichangoen as equally at home with brown sauce and meatballs as with noodles and lemongrass. The publisher’s description states the recipes are built on the idea that healthy and tasty food need not be expensive or complicated.
Examples cited by the publisher include pork roast rubbed with red curry and smoked cod roe served on an aromatic yam salad. The description says the dishes are intended both for ordinary weekdays and for more festive occasions.
Wichangoen said the project had been in her head for nearly 10 years, but that she could not find the right collaborator until she began working with Nana, whom she had known peripherally. She said they shared the same views on food.
The chef described her aim as getting people back into the kitchen and making them aware of what they eat. She said she hopes the book will be used and get messy, comparing that ambition to the classic Danish cookbook “Frøken Jensens Kogebog.”
Wichangoen also said the recipes are designed to remove excuses. If a specific onion called for in a recipe is missing, readers can use another onion from the same family, she explained to Avisen Danmark. The ingredients, she added, can be bought in a local supermarket.
Alongside her television work and her time in the country’s Michelin-level kitchens, the book marks her first release as an author.
