December 15th.

Rullepølse is a traditional cold cut served for lunch in Scandinavian countries. The spices may be different for the different countries, but my favorite is the spiciness from pepper and allspice.

Here I served rullepølse with meat flavored jello/gelatin, and raw onions. Another way is with mustard and pickled beets. Another more untraditional way is with mayonnaise and raw button mushrooms. The latter was my favorite way to eat my parents homemade rullepølse.

My parents always made rullepølse in the weeks up to christmas. Normally they would buy rullepølse at the grocery store. To be honest, the homemade tasted so much better, but in a busy life, we all take shortcuts.

Makes 1

Ingredients:

1 - 1½ kg (2-3 pound) pork belly or pork loin
3-4 tablespoons coarse sea salt salt
½ teaspoon sodium nitrite (food grade) optional*

Spice blend:

1 onion, finely chopped
3 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon ground allspice
2-3 packets (21 g) gelatine

Cooking broth:

water
2-3 teaspoons salt
10-15 whole peppercorns
2 bay leaves
1 onion optional

Directions:

If you are using a pork loin, you need to cut the meat into a large rectangle about ⅕ inch (1 cm) thick.

Cut off any large chunks of fat, but don't make it too lean. Trim the ends so they are straight. Trim any really thick places if that side is too thick when you roll it up. Lay the pork belly flat on a cutting board and sprinkle salt and sodium nitrite all over. Fold the meat up, and place it in a ziplock bag in the refrigerator for 24-36 hours.

Rinse the meat, and pat it dry with paper towel. Lay the meat flat on a cutting board, and sprinkle it with ⅓ of the gelatin powder. Spread the chopped onion on top. Sprinkle a good amount of pepper and allspice blend on top, ending with the rest of the gelatin.

Carefully roll or fold up the meat into a large sausage. Use cooking twine to tie the meat up all the way.

Bring water to a boil, and place the rullepølse in the water with salt, peppercorns and bay leaves. Cook the rullepølse for 2 hours at a simmer.

When cooked, place the rullepølse in a press. I used two loaf pans and tied it up hard with more twine. Put the rullepølse in a large ziplock bag and into the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.

Remove the twine, and slice the rullepølse in thin slices, and serve it on rye bread or another good bread, as an open faced sandwich.

Enjoy!

*Sodium nitrite makes the rullepølse keep the pinkish color.