Crispy Pork with Parsley Sauce

Crispy Pork with Parsley Sauce

I am serving Crispy Pork with Parsley Sauce aka stegt flæsk med persillesovs for election night in America. In Denmark we have a term called 'valgflæsk' (election pork) meaning the hot air or elaborate promises politician give in order to be elected. So many Danes eat this crispy pork dish on election day in Denmark. 

For me crispy pork with parsley sauce was my favorite dish growing up. I always chose this as my birthday dinner, the most important for me was the potatoes and the sauce. 

In 2014 Denmark voted for their national dish, and crispy pork won in a landslide. 

I hope you will try out this old Danish classic dish, maybe even served with a cold beer.

Serves 4.

Ingredients

• about 600 g (1½ pound) potatoes (I prefer fingerling potatoes)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 16-20 slices pork belly 

For the parsley sauce:

• 25 g butter
• 2½ tablespoons of all-purpose flour
• 300 ml milk
• 100-200 ml water from the boiled potatoes
• ⅛ teaspoon sugar
• salt
• 1 cup finely chopped parsley

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350℉ (175℃)

Lightly sprinkle the sliced pork belly with salt on both sides. Place the pork on a wire rack over a sheet pan, so the fat can drain away from the meat. Roast the pork in the oven for 30-40 minutes turning it once or twice until the pork looks crisp and delicious, remove from the oven and place plate.

Bring the potatoes to the boil in lightly salted water, then simmer until tender, about 15-20 minutes.

Parsley sauce:

Melt the butter in a pan. Add the flour, mix with a whisk and warm through, making sure not to get any color on the mixture.

Add some potato water while whisking vigorously making a thick paste without any lumps. Add more water and milk until you have the desired consistency, you want it to be a bit on the thick side. Let the sauce boil a few minutes to get rid of the flour taste. Season the sauce with sugar and salt. Remove from the heat, and whisk in the chopped parsley.

Serve the crispy pork with the boiled potatoes and a large spoonful parsley sauce.

Enjoy!

Pølsesalat - Danish Sausage Salad

Pølsesalat - Danish Sausage Salad

Pølsesalat, or Danish sausage salad, is a typical mayonnaise based lunch salad served on rye bread in Denmark. I remember standing at the butcher shop's deli section with my mom or dad, and the sausage salad would be my pick, if I had a say. And sometimes I was allowed to get it. I do believe that I was the only one in the family who liked it. As an adult, I still bought it now and again, for a trip down memory lane. Most deli's would have pieces of cold boiled potatoes in their sausage salad, but I left them out here. 

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon ravigotte sauce, or a sweet mustard
• 4 german franks, boiled, cooled, sliced
• chives, for sprinkle

Directions:

Put the german franks in a Bowl and pour over boiling water, let stand for about 5 minutes. Remove the franks and put them into a bowl with ice-water, set aside to cool.

Mix the mayonnaise and ravigote sauce together in a bowl. Slice up the franks, and mix them into the dressing. 

Serve the sausage salad on a slice of Danish rye bread, as an open-faced sandwich. Sprinkle some chopped chives on top.

Enjoy!

Danish Meatballs

Classic Danish Meatballs with creamed green cabbage.

Danish meatballs or frikadeller as they are called, are a popular dish in Denmark. It might even be the national dish at one point. According my mom the traditional meatballs are made with half pork and half veal, but you can make them with most ground meats. I always use rolled oats in meatballs, even though my mom used all-purpose flour. I think the meatballs become more compact using flour. This recipe is the basic recipe for Danish meatballs, and the taste fantastic. But you can spice them up by adding different spices like garlic, rosemary, thyme or any other spice you like. 

There are many different ways of serving these simple meatballs. You can serve meatballs with:

• boiled potatoes, brown pan-gravy and pickled red cabbage.

• creamed green cabbage or pointed cabbage

• a cold potato salad

• or served on rye bread as a open-faced sandwich

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 750 g (about 1⅔ pounds) ground pork

• 750 g (about 1⅔ pounds) ground veal

• about 50 g (about ½ cup) rolled quick oats

• 2 eggs

• 2 medium onions, finely chopped or grated

• ⅓ cup milk

• 1½ teaspoons salt

• pepper

• olive oil for frying

Directions:

Mix the meat with salt.  Divide the meat in quarters, lift one quarter up unto the other quarters. Fill the missing quarter with rolled oats (about 50 g or ½ cup). Put in finely chopped or grated onions, the eggs, milk and pepper and mix until you have a cohesive meat mixture.  Place a skillet over medium-high heat. Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in the skillet.

How to make the meatballs taken from my lamb meatball post.

Forming the meatballs dip a tablespoon in the oil and scoop up a good spoonful meat. Use the hand and the spoon to form the meatball.  The meatball should be oval an the size of a small egg. Placed the meatball in the skillet, repeat until you have a full skillet. Be careful not to let the meatballs touch each other.

Fry the meatball for about 3 to 5 minutes on each side until they are well-browned and no longer pink in the center. Depending how big the meatballs are and how hot your pan is the time may varies.  When done remove the meatballs and set aside.

If you have a more meat mixture in the bowl, clean the skillet with a kitchen towel and add new butter and fry another batch.

Serve the warm meatballs. 

Enjoy!

Pork Roullade with Prunes

Pork Roullade with Prunes

My mom loved this kind of pork roulade called rullesteg (rolled roast) in Danish. It might have been the prunes that made it special for her. And I have to agree with her, the prunes gives this roast a sweetness that pairs well with the pork and the saltiness.

Don't get me started about the gravy. Danes are a meat, potato and brown gravy kinda people. The sauce or gravy should be spooned over the potatoes and not just used as a small amount of dipping sauce. The sauce from a roast like this makes the most fantastic sauce. All the flavors from the roast is concentrated in the cooking liquid, making the sauce to die for.  I normally only make a sauce like this at christmas when we have roasted duck or/and Danish pork roast, but this roast calle for the traditional brown sauce. 

Ingredients:

• 1½ kg (3 lbs) pork belly, no skin
• 200 g pitted prunes
• salt & pepper
• butter and olive oil for the searing
• 4-500 ml (2 cups) water

Directions:

Cut off any large chunks of fat, but don't make it too lean. Trim the ends so they are straight.   Lay the pork belly flat on a cutting board and sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides. Place the prunes on the pork belly along one of the sides. Roll the pork belly into a tight sausage keeping the prunes in the center. Use cooking twine to tie the meat up all the way.

Heat butter and oil in a pot, and sear the roast on all sides. Add the water, turn heat to low and let to simmer for about 90 minutes, turning a few times during the cooking process.  

Remove the roast from the pan, and let rest on a cutting board, before slicing.

Extra: Make a sauce from the cooking liquid, by adding cream (or whole milk) to the pan, and bring it to a boil. Thicken the sauce with a thick mixture of water and all-purpose flour. Add browning (kulør) to get the brown color. Season with salt, pepper and sugar.

Serve the roast sliced thin with boiled potatoes and some kind of vegetables.

Enjoy!

Head Cheese - Sylte

Head Cheese - Sylte

6th Day of Christmas.

Sylte or head cheese as it is called in English is a cold cut danes often eat around christmas time. It might be an old tradition and maybe young people will not carry this tradition on, but if the sylte or head cheese is well made, it is very good. My dad was the one who made the sylte in my house. I loved the homemade version, but the commercial version was to hard, fatty and salty for my taste. Originally the sylte is made from meat from the head of the pig. But it is easier to use more available cuts, such as hocks, loin roast or pork belly.
I made this sylte so I can have this traditional cold cut for my Christmas lunch. 

Makes 2 medium or 3-4 small

Ingredients:

• 750 g pigskin from the pork belly
• 1 hock, with skin and bone
• ½ gallon (2 liter) water
• 200 ml vinegar
• 12 bay leaves
• 3 pounds (1½ kg) pork loin
• 5 teaspoons (35-40 g) salt
• 10 peppercorns
• 4-5 sheets husblas or 8-10 g non-flavored gelatin powder

Directions:

Put water, vinegar, Peppercorns, cubed pigskin and hock in a large pot, bring it to a boil and let it simmer for about 2 hours.  Discard the pigskin. Add the cubed pork loin to the soup, and keep simmering for another 1-1½ hours, until all the meat has fallen of the bone tender.

Remove hock and pork loin, and let it cool for a while, so you can handle it. Strain the soup into a clean pot. 

Soak the husblas in cold water or bloom the gelatin according to package instructions. 

In a large bowl, season the pork loin and the meat from the hock with salt. Pull some of the meat a bit apart. Fill 2-4 loaf pans ¾ up with the meat. 

Melt the husblas/gelatin in the soup and pour it over the meat. Cover the loaf pans and let them rest for about 24 hours in the refrigerator before slicing. 

Eat the head cheese on Danish rye bread topped with mustard and pickled beets.

Enjoy!