Eat like a Dane — smørrebrød
Hi again! And welcome to my last blog in this series about the Danish food culture. Last time we talked about experimenting and testing of our assumptions about the Danish food culture. I introduced you to “mormor mad”, grandma food, like juicy meatballs and roast pork with brown gravy. Hopefully your assumptions got tested when hearing about how you make “mormor mad” and where to get the best and cheapest when visiting Denmark.
This time it’s all about innovation of the Danish cuisine. We will talk about how the Danish cuisine has grown, adapted, and has been international recognized over the last years.
The best way to do so, is to introduce you to something every Dane eats at least 3 times a year for easter feast (påskefrokost), Christmas party/feast (julefrokost) and in the summer under the blue and clear sky. It’s called “smørrebrød” and is best translated to highly coated ryebread/bread or directly translated to butter bread/open sandwich. Highly coated bread is part of Danish history and culture. The word smørrebrød comes from ‘butter on bread’. Today we are known worldwide for our special smørrebrød-traditions, which was invented in the 1850s, when small smørrebrød restaurants appeared in the capital, Copenhagen. Gradually, other toppings were added such as potatoes and pork. The smørrebrød is just like eating pizza in Italy, it’s the Danish answer to the American burger.
Some of the reasons why smørrebrød never dies is because it’s simple and easy to innovate. In the following I will introduce you to some of the most classic smørrebrød and how it got innovated. It’s impossible to introduce you to all the different kinds of smørrebrød in one blog post like the “Veterinarian’s midnight snack” and “smørrebrød with roast pork”. But here are some of my favorites.
Perhaps the most popular smørrebrød and one of my favorites is breaded fish fillet with “remoulade” and shrimps. It’s called “stjerneskud”, and it’s often the pieces of stjerneskud that are torn away. To make it, you must use plaice fillets. You turn them in egg, then in breadcrumbs, and toast them in a lot of butter with salt. You end up with a delicious, juicy, and crispy fish fillet. You put the fillet on a homemade ryebread and top it with remoulade, shrimps, salt and a squeeze of citron. The first bite is mouthwatering.
My favorite which has been innovated a lot over the years is a highly coated potato smørrebrød with bacon. It’s classic and it’s easy to make yourself. You take some boiled Danish potatoes and lay them in slices on a fresh ryebread. The you top it with mayonnaise, bacon, and chives. The saltiness from the bacon combined with creamy mayonnaise, tasty potatoes and fresh chives on a warm ryebread is heavenly. Today it has been innovated to all kinds of smørrebrød, where you for example use estragon mayonnaise and “stegflæsk” instead of bacon. It’s only your imagination there is the limit and that’s why Danish smørrebrød is famous all around the world.
If you want to get the best experience of smørrebrød with a modern twist when visiting Denmark, you must visit restaurant “Vestergade 51”, in Aarhus.
