Born in England but gave up offshore job and associated snowboarding/travelling lifestyle to live wi...
Born in England but gave up offshore job and associated snowboarding/travelling lifestyle to live with my danish girlfriend and 2 year old daughter in Denmark. Life is good.
Not the first place you would associate with a burgeoning food culture I know, but there are a number of dishes in Denmark that you just wont find in England. Denmark is culturally very similar to England, and neighbours with Germany and Sweden, and all these influences are apparent on the dining table. More background info is available here: http://www.answers.com/topic/cuisine-of-denmark The danes generally take a continental style breakfast, and then a light lunch, with the main meal of the day in the early evening. Working through these in reverse order, Here is an idea of what to expect:
Evening meals. Generally, there is a tendency towards a "meat and two veg" approach to dining, and most meals would receive the approval of your granny. Potatoes are a staple, and are served boiled, roasted or "brown" Denmark has new potatoes starting in early summer, with the pick of the crop coming from an island called Samsø (Samsoe), which is Denmarks answer to Jersey, producing milk and new potatoes as well as all manner of organic (Økologisk) vegetables. Brown potatoes
are more of a winter dish, and are prepared by taking the pre-cooked bottled boiled potatoes available in supermarkets and caramelising them in a frying pan. Sounds bizarre, but don't knock it until you've tried it, the sweet-savoury combination is used a lot in denmark and works well. Being a traditionally maritime nation, there are plenty of fish dishes available in Denmark, and for an evening meal this will take the form of a good sized fillet, probably battered, fried, and served with or without sauce. Another option is fiskekrikadeller - fishcakes made with egg and flour Schnitzel is also a common feature on Danish menu cards, widely eaten by Danes as well as keeping any visiting Germans happy. There is a second traditional pork dish, "flaeskesteg" which is roast pork, including a generous portion of crackling. The danes do not shy away from fat in their dining - I suspect it helps keep them warm in the winter and gives them energy for all the cycling they do. Pork also features in "frikadeller" - which are a cross between meatballs and burgers, and very good served with gravy (brown sauce). Danish are fond of their roast dinners, but often there will be a twist in the form of an unexpected flavour - traditionally this could be Red Cabbage cooked in vinegar, or alternatively a pickled side dish such as asier - which are crunchy pickled cucumber slices - might be available. If there is nothing vinegary on the table, the chances are there will be something sweet. Ribs (redcurrant) sauce perhaps, or, more likely with a pork dish, apple sauce. For those of you more interested in fast food, beware remoulade - this is served with chips and tastes somewhere in between mayo and mustard. A bit of an acquired taste. Expect to pay anything between a tenner and upwards of 50 pounds for your evening meal. Hunt around for a smaller restaurant or eat in the Tivoli restaurant for a blowout.
Lunch The big savoury meal, and based around white (sometimes brown) bread as found in England (franskbrød) and rugbrød, which is impossibly heavy "bread" made with rye. To me, this looks and feels like a thinly sliced piece of rubbery christam cake, dark in colour and heavy in weight, but it tastes nutty and light. Toppings could well include the following: Smoked salmon or gravad trout Herring (sild). There is no escaping this, Danish boats catch tons of herring every year, far too much to make into kippers. The herring is sold in jars in supermarkets and there are several different types. The most common is the marinatedin a clear sweet sauce and comes in a jar with onions. The best, however, is the curried version, coming in a thick, mild, korma-esque sauce. This stuff is great and I have already converted a few of my English friends to it. If you like curry, you'll love this. Leverpostej. This is basically pate, but it is best served (and is sometimes sold) hot, when it is truly delicious. If you see any hot in a supermarket or a market, buy it immediately and eat it at once with chunks of fresh bread. Pålaeg Pålaeg is, literally, "something laid on" and so anything thinly sliced in supermarkets will qualify. Typically this will be cheeses and hams. Worth a special mention is rullepølser. This is made in the same fashion as a swiss roll, but uses ham instead of cake, and pepper instead of Jam. Tastes great. Often there will be side dishes of mayonnaise based salads if it is a big lunch, potato, rice, and pasta salads are all common. If you don't know anyone in denmark who can offer this kind of lunch, keep an eye out on the pub blackboards - some of them sometimes throw a traditional buffet lunch. A lot of these dishes you can also find for yourself in a supermarket.
Elevenses. Not officially a Danish meal, but if you are going round to someone elses house for coffee it is common practice to stop off and buy a weinerstang - a long thin cake concocted from equal amounts of flaky pastry and sticky sugary stuff. You can ask for a half in the shop if a whole one is too expensive or too big. GO on - do something to help shift the EU sugar mountain… Prices will be anything up to 8 pounds, depending on where and how much you buy.
Breakfast. This is continental style rather than English style, and will often consist of freshly baked bread rolls with a selection of "fillings" Commonly available on the breakfast table are jams (raspberry and strawberry) ham, sliced cheese (a hard, buttery-tasting cheese), and soft boiled eggs. You should cut your roll in half, and then put a slice of cheese on, and then Jam on top of that. Jam on cheese? Sounds weird, I know, but its great. Butter, if present, is supplied for English people only. As a treat there may also be Pålaeg chocolate, which is a wafer-thin layer of chocolate to be placed on top of warm bread, where it should melt onto the bread. Not healthy, but good. As a further sweet option there may also be weinerbread, the traditional Danish pastries. Freshly baked, these are delicious and should be eaten as often as possible. No question. Breakfast is served with coffee and /or orange juice, and I have no idea how much it would cost.
Avoid. Anything spicy. Danes have not embraced Indian cooking like the UK, and start sweating and loosening collars when eating a korma. All Danish food is relatively mild, and so if you enjoy strong spices you will be disappointed. Try something different instead. (but don't forget the curry sild.)
Summary - While in Denmark why not eat like a local. Sure you can find Italian, Chinese, German and French style cooking, but the best cooks in Denmark cook Danish food. Don't leave without trying a roast with all the trimmings, the stang cakes and the curry sild.
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A great review about a topic very close to my heart- FOOD!! Excellent write up! n x
Reynarda 17.07.2005 15:18
Bah humbug for all the partypooper comments - this was a GREAT review - espec helpful for me to understand the psyche of my Danish boss!
When I went to Denmark, we stumbled into an Italian restaurant in Copenhagen and had the BEST garlic bread- it was made with fresh tomatoes and basil on a chunk of bread, not like the pathetic stuff you get in most restaurants. And of course, LICORICE and PORK RINDS (nothing like the pork scratchings you get in England!) where do I sign? Cheers, Zed
dottyuk 12.07.2005 22:36
Good info would like to more about the country....Jane
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Jul 8th, 2005
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