Danish Food

My film club had scheduled a movie for this week but sometimes they assume that a new film will become available -- and it doesn't. So when we met last month they needed an on the spot replacement. I had been sitting with someone of Danish descent and we had been discussing Danish cuisine so I suggested "A Royal Affair" which is a pretty good movie and an exploration of some dark corners of Danish history. Around the time of the American Revolution, King Christian VII was pretty obviously mentally deficient and he was replaced by his doctor, Struensee (who was also having an affair with the Queen). They introduced lots of ideas from the Englightenment which was a shock to the powers that be in Denmark which had preserved the worst traditions of feudalism.

ANYWAY I was looking for stuff to put together for the party on Friday -- and I have to say Danish cuisine, while interesting in some ways, seems to be the most anal retentive cuisine in the world. I thought of making Frikadellen. But you can't just go buy some ground pork and ground veal -- you have to buy pork loin and grind it, lean veal and grind it, it has to be pristine.

And sandwiches. There are RULES for Smorrbrod, 1) they are always open faced, 2) you need superspecial bread (which you are encouraged to bake for yourself, 3) they must be eaten with Knife and Fork and 4) what you want to put in your Smorrbrod is probably illegal.

Ham is a good ingredient, cheese can work, but no way can your Smorrbrod include ham and cheese. It's not on the list. And there actually IS a list. Back in the 19th century some Danish housewife wrote a cookbook which lists maybe 40 recipes for Smorrbrod, and that is the allowed list. Note, the combinations are mostly quite good. But they require shopping and effort.

So you can have sliced eggs on your dense thin sliced rye bread, but then you have to put little pink shrimps on top. You can have liverwurst -- but then you have to decorate with crispy bacon and sliced sauteed mushrooms. You can have pork sausage (again you are encouraged to make your own) but you have to decorate with Agurkesalat, very thin sliced cucumber pickles made at home with vinegar, sugar, dill weed, etc.

I am stuck between fascination and annoyance. If I actually go ahead with this I will have to take some pictures and post them. A nicely arranged Smorrbrod can be beautiful in the same way that certain sushi and sashimi can be beautiful.

The party is Friday.

Oh, fer heaven's sake. Call it "Danish-American cuisine" and then you can spread your bread with pickled herring, kimchi, and glaceed rose petals.

What, no Danish pastry?

The Danes do eat Danish pastries but they acknowledge them to be a foreign idea. "Wienerbrot" or Vienna Bread.

Evidently the Danes discovered the Cheese Danish when there was a baker's strike in the 19th century, and I suppose they hired Austrian "scabs" who taught them about how to make millefeuil, the croissant type dough. And everyone loved it.

But that's the easy way out, and so would be "Danish American" smorrebrods with peanut butter and bananas. That's not who I am. I will have to figure out the correct line between complete overkill and barely good enough. I think concentrating on two accurate styles of smorrbrod may be the right way to go.

The woman I was talking to at last month's party was considering making colored marzipans which would be quite an excursion.

People actually make marzipans that look exactly like say a tiny peach, a tiny bunch of grapes, a tiny apple or orange. But you need special molds and special food coloring and an artist's touch. We often had those at Christmas when I was a kid. It is a German concept as well as a Danish concept. These were store bought.

[Jenise]

No gravlax with a slightly sweet mustard-dill sauce? Had the best EVER in Copenhagen, and per my Time-Life Foods of the World book on Scandinavia, that's real Danish food. And then there are Danish cheeses, Danish liver paste ("called postej, firmer than a French pate and perhaps less refined"). I love this sentence: "Danish cuisine is a blend of two traditions--the courtly and the rustic. The first lends color to dining, the second assures that nonsense will not dominate the table."

And then there is egg cake. A rather solid custard (1/2 c milk and 1 T flour to six eggs) is served straight from the stove, with or without bacon. Other recipes include pork loin stuffed with prunes and apples, cold buttermilk soup (euw), and Danish meat patties

I love Gravlax (Gravad Lax) -- Peter my neighbor makes it once in a while. My problem is 1) you can't buy good Gravlax, we have smoked lox in the fridge but that's different, and 2) I have a job, I'm busy and 3) the party starts at 5:30 on Friday. So it's sandwiches or nothing. For what it's worth, the person who wrote the Danish food website that I am relying on heavily described a gravad lax smorrebrod but said he/she hadn't had it in Denmark and thought it might "really be Swedish"!

Leverpostej is on my "consider" list, but I would just buy some liverwurst and do the thing with bacon and sauteed sliced mushrooms. I'm also partial to sliced HB eggs but I need to find out if I can get some remotely acceptable small shrimps to go on top.

[Jenise]

Gravlax is dead easy to make yourself. But you'd need to buy the salmon and start it tonight. FWIW the double-page picture in my book showing an array of Smorrebrod includes sliced smoked salmon topped with scrambled eggs (in the center) and chives.

Also, if you insist on the classics (and I question that you need to): roast beef with mustard and gherkins, salami rounds and raw onion rings with parsley, sliced boiled new potatoes with bacon, cocktail sausages and tomato slivers, Danish blue cheese with raw egg yolk encircled in an onion ring, pickled herring with onion, lettuce and tomatoes, sliced roast pork with prunes and orange curd, sliced HB eggs with tomatoes/chives/lettuce, sliced frikadeller topped with pickled beets and cucumber, curry salad on lettuce with chopped HB egg and cucumber twist, and liver spread with bacon and sliced mushrooms. In all cases, the bread is buttered (5 grams per slice, no more, no less!) before the toppings are added.

I did my shopping today and I'm feeling a little calmer and more focused. I can actually do Frikadeller -- Wegmans had thinly sliced pork loin for shabu shabu, and I bought some stewing veal. A bit of knife work and the cuisinart and I am good to go with no meat grinder. And I got little shrimps, and thick sliced ham, thick sliced Liverwurst, and the right kind of bread.

As I mentioned I have to do this in "spare time" over the next couple of days but it's going to work out. I will take pictures.

Tonight I am making Agurkesalat, it won't hurt it to marinate for a couple of days. And that's gonna be quite authentic.

Thanks for all the suggestions Jenise! I just wish I had a Dane to verify my results. The lady I was talking to about marzipan etc. is second or third generation here, so I'm not sure what she's going to recognize. It depends on if she's been back.

I don't mind fussy cuisine if I can navigate it and make it work.

The ham requires Italienischer salat, which involves a steamed carrot, cubed, and 4 steamed asparagus spears, cubed plus some other stuff. Supposedly making the colors of the Italian flag.

Was in Copehnagen summer 2014. The smorrebrod I saw were pretty upscale. I think the rules have been modified because many seemed quite Italian crostini -like to me. The "classic" ones were usually in the museum cafes and looked quite industrial, over arranged and glossy. What I would die for is the dense seed breads. Always very flavorful and filling. Have been searching recipes but have not found any that seem similar
Sorry I can't give any specific reccos that I vouch as authentic

I just wish I had a Dane to verify my results.

Robin! Here's a board member in distress! Can you help him find a great Dane?

I mean, I know we have Swedish members and Finnish members and Norwegian members....

I just wish I had a Dane to verify my results.

Here you go, Frank. https://www.linkedin.com/in/henrikkoudahl1

Henrik's an old friend of mine--Danish, but lives in Italy; imports Italian wine into Denmark.

I am not Danish but have spent a lot of time there - Copenhagen is just over the bridge - and I must say Jenise´s recommendations are spot on. The most important part is without doubt the dark rye bread but my recipes include things you will hardly find outside Scandinavia. Anyhow, I am quite sure your guests will appreciate your efforts and enjoy themselves dearly!

Greetings from Sweden / Fredrik L

PS. And yes, gravlax is typically Swedish.

OK now I'm excited. This is going to be The Best "Bogart Bar" food ever!'

Typically -- Louise came home with 15 minutes before she had to leave and play her French Horn. I had fried up a few mushrooms and cooked some bacon, and made her 2 Leverpostej, and she rolled her eyes about how good they tasted. I also gave her a smidge of Agurkesalat on the side and she loved those little pickles.

The bread I bought is Mestemacher Organic whole rye bread -- "bricks" of 7 thin slices of dense rich rye bread which includes some whole rye kernels. I couldn't find Danish butter but I knew the butter had to be delicious so I bought Kerrygold, and smeared a layer on the rye bread and then topped with liverwurst, and then mushrooms browned in butter and some crunchy bacon.

I also made one for myself -- each slice is good for 2 smorrebrods. I bought 2 bricks and I could go buy another tomorrow. The website says that for shrimp it might be better to use toasted white bread or Jewish rye.

Anyway I am surprisingly full from just the 1 smorrebrod but I cut up the veal before Louise got home and measured, I have about 10 ounces each of pristine pork and pristine veal. So in a little while I will make a bunch of little Frikadeller and I will just put those out on a plate, and have a bowl of agurkesalat with a spoon. I will eat a few of those to "make sure they are OK" and that will be enough for dinner.

All of this is a nice discovery for me and I will certainly be doing this again in the future..

I do realize that gravad lax is something I can do in the future, and I've seen how easy it can be from watching my neighbor put it together.

One of the websites had a home recipe for Akvavit made by infusing vodka. The commercial Akvavits I have tried are a little strong and harsh, with too much of the caraway seed taste. But for home made -- there are recipes involving star anise etc. that would be gentler and perhaps tastier. I don't think I have time for that now.

Last night I taught and didn't get home until 8:45. Tomorrow I have no schedule so I plan to go in and do some work and then perhaps go back to Wegmans, or perhaps come home early for prep.

I will probably also make the Italienischer salat tonight, to put on the ham. That may be comparatively boring but I have little doubt that it will also taste really good.

Thanks to everyone for the comments! For what it's worth the movie (A Royal Affair) is also pretty darn good, even if Struensee (AKA Hannibal Lecter) is a pretty creepy guy.

The frikadeller made a soft paste, I had to put it into the pan with two spoons. But when I tasted it -- so clean, very meaty and oniony, lovely stuff. And THEN I thought of the agurkesalat. I literally ate the first batch while I was cooking the second batch. Of course I knew there would be five or six batches, about 8 frikadeller in each pan full.

Enjoying this. Maybe I need to make more agurkersalat!

[Jenise]

Sounds like you're dialed in, Frank. Was feeling for you yesterday while we were in Vancouver picking up a few groceries yesterday--lovely ryes and other breads full of grain by an organic and artisanal bakery somewhere in the area called Ancient Grains. I bought a loaf because I love the stuff--would have been perfect for what you're doing but it sounds like you got something that will do nicely!

The party went very well. The other person who cooked Danish made dill shrimps and home made Marzipans. They didn't look beautiful but they did taste delicious. Everyone ate the Frikadeller and pickles (Agurkesalat) but the most popular sandwiches were the ham with Italiensk. I think people thought the liverwurst tasted a little strong. There were a few takers for the shrimp (Rejemad) but I brought a lot of that home, with some of Penny's dill shrimps, and for lunch we had reconstructed shrimp and egg sandwiches which were really delicious. At any rate I took pictures and while I am slow about such things I will pull them together and post them soon.

[Jenise]

Frank, I hope you do! Glad it all went well so well. You know what, the open-faced sandwich is one of those recurring items in so many different cuisines. Though the typical ingredients vary, the Italian bruschetta, Danish smorrebrod, French tartine and Mexican tostada, just to name four, share a common goal. And saying that just gave me a great idea--my local wine group is doing Northern Rhone on Tuesday night, and I might be out all day on Jury Duty. A platter of tartines might be just the thing for me to plan on taking--would be easy to assemble a lot of different elements that would speak well to syrah--ham/shaved fennel/blue cheese, mole salumi/fresh mozz/pesto, turkey/mixed olive-artichoke like muffaletta, roasted mushroom/herb, duck/truffle pate,etc. Frank, I think you solved my problem!