Danish Pork Roast - Flæskesteg

Danish Pork Roast

December 14th. Do you know, what you are having for your christmas dinner?

If you look into the homes of the danes, at their christmas dinner, you won't see many variations in the menu. You will see goose, duck and pork roast with crackling skin (flæskesteg) for the most part. This is petty much the same a hundred years ago. Danes has stuck to their traditions even though some have started eating turkey instead. The pork roast is the youngest of the christmas proteins, not counting the turkey. It became more and more popular after people got wood-fired stoves in the kitchens. Making the pork roast tradition about 120  years old.

The thing that sets the Danish pork roast apart is the crackling skin, which is so yummy. You can't get the pork roast with skin on in most stores, but I found it at my favorite butcher shop Dittmers Goumet Meats and Wurst-haus in Los Altos, CA. But you might find it at german or mexican meat shops. 

I you haven't had Danish pork roast you should give it a chance, it's a yummy way to eat pork.

Ingredients:

Roast:

• 4-7 pound Pork roast with the skin on*

• 30-40 g butter

• a handful coarse salt

• 10-14 whole black peppers

• 6-8 bay leaves

Sauce base:

• 1 teaspoon beef base (I use the one from Better than Bouillon)

• 1 onion (cut into 8 pieces)

• 1 teaspoon rosemary

• 1 teaspoon thyme

• ½ pint Water

Sauce:

• ¼ pint heavy whipping cream

• 1 tablespoon blue cheese

• 1 tablespoon redcurrant jelly (Bonne Maman)

• salt & pepper

• gravy browning or the the danish kulør**

Directions:

Score the skin for every 5 - 7 mm. Be careful not to cut into the meat, this causes the skin to be soft. You want to have crackling skin when the roast is done.

Rub the skin with butter and salt. Make sure to get in all the cuts in the skin. This helps to get the skin crispy. Put the bay leaves and peppercorns in the cuts spread them evenly on the roast.

The raw roast ready for the grill or oven.

Curl up some tinfoil, an put it under the roast, so the roast won't tilt to one side. You want to have the top to be horizontally. Put the roast on a rack over a pan. Put herbs, onions, water and bouillon in the pan under the roast.

Roast the pork at 400℉ (200℃) for 1,5 - 2 hours. The temperature in the center has to be 167℉ before the roast is ready. Make sure that there always  water in the pan. You have to use it for the gravy/sauce. 

Just before the center temperature is 167℉, pour the dripping from the pan into a saucepan through a strainer, and boil the drippings for about 5 minutes. If the crackling are soft, let the roast stay in the oven. Set the oven at 527℉, or start the boiler. Keep an eye on the roast. the skin should bubble up and become crispy, be careful not to burn it.

Separate the fat from the drippings, don't use the fat (the fat is good on rye bread instead of butter, when eating herring). Add cream, blue cheese, jam and kulør (coloring). Add salt if needed. Thicken the sauce with corn starch. (cold water and corn starch)

Cut pork in thin slices and serve with cooked white potatoes, caramelized small potatoes, pickled red cabbage, pickled cucumber and the gravy.

* You can get the Danish pork roast at Dittmer’s Gourmet Meats & Wurst-haus in Los Altos, Ca. But you might get at a German or Mexican butcher near you.

** You can get Kulør here.

Danish Caramelized Potatoes - Brunede kartofler

Danish Caramelized Potatoes

December 13th - the weekend is just around the corner. For me the planing for christmas is getting started. I look forward to caramelized potatoes, we only have this sweet goodness once a year.

Caramelized potatoes are an important part of the traditional christmas dinner.  Basically it's caramel covered small boiled potatoes, what can be wrong with that?

The caramelized potatoes is an old dish dating back to 1785, but back then it only was for the wealthy people, because sugar and butter was expensive. 

As a child I didn't care for these, but I think it was the kind of potatoes my mom used. They were kind of bitter. Now I use small firm potatoes, best of all fingerling potatoes. Fingerlings are the Rolls Royce of potatoes wether they are boiled, roasted or caramelized.

I was taught to make caramelized potatoes by my mom, but she didn't use any measurement. It was always just rough estimates. The amount of sugar should be enough to cover the bottom of your skillet, so you can't see the bottom. And add a little dollop butter. With these measurements it's hard to write a recipe.

The amount of sugar

Ingredients:

• 1 pound small firm potatoes

• 100 g sugar

• 15-20 g butter

Directions:

Boil and peel the potatoes. Do it in time for them to cool completely.

Heat a large skillet over high heat, pour in the sugar and melt it. When the sugar are turned the color of light amber, add the butter and stir with a wooden spoon. Rinse the potatoes with cold water, and carefully pour the potatoes into the hot caramel. Lower the heat and make sure the potatoes get covered in the caramel and get heated through.

Serve immediately, otherwise the potatoes looses the shine.

You can caramelize pearl onions this way. Caramelized pearl onions are great as a side for red meats.

Rødkål - Pickled Red Cabbage

Rødkål - Pickled Red Cabbage

December 12th. It's time to get ready for christmas dinner, and making red cabbage a few days early eases the stress of making the traditional Danish christmas dinner.

My mom always made her own red cabbage, but she had the recipe in her head, and it's lost forever. I like the simplicity of the dish. You only need 4 ingredients, not counting salt and pepper. The sweetness from the sugar combined with the acidity from the balsamic really works well with the red cabbage.

Rødkål is a traditional danish side for the christmas dinner, but it's also very good with medisterpølse and meatballs/frikadeller or in sandwiches.

This is my take on pickled red cabbage.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium red cabbage

• 25 g butter, salted

• 3 tablespoons brown sugar

• ¼ cup balsamic vinegar (I mixed half balsamic and half blackberry-ginger balsamic for a sweeter taste)

• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Remove outher leaves of cabbage, and cut cabbage into quarters and remove the white core. Thinly slice the cabbage across the quarters width-wise. To get uniform slices I use a mandolin.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the the cabbage and sear it for a couple minutes. Add the vinegar and sugar.  Simmer the cabbage for 10 - 15 minutes until cabbage is tender.

Season with salt, pepper, vinegar and sugar. Serve heated to pork roasts or roasted duck. 

The cabbage can be served cold on (open faced) sandwiches.

Elf Cookies - Nissehoveder

Elf Cookies - Nissehoveder

December 11th - Time for remembrance.

I have never seen these elf cookies aka nissehoveder (elf heads) anywhere else than in my family. The cookies were very much appreciated by my brother and me, but I know my mom hated making these, because they are a bit labor-intensive. The cookie itself is straight forward and easy, but it's a sticky mess to cut out all the eyes and mouths. The first year I made them, I even had made a nose, but that was a bad idea, a bad bad idea.

Thank you mom and dad for teaching me to make elf cookies - I miss you guys so very much.

Here is how to make my family's elf cookies.

Ingredients:

• 250 g all-purpose flour

• 200 g butter

• 100 g confectionary sugar

• 1 egg yolk

Topping:

• red and green cherries

• confectionary sugar

• water

• red food coloring

Directions:

Crumble the butter in the flour, until it looks like bread crumbs. Add the sifted confectionary sugar and the egg yolk and mix until it’s all combined.

Form dough into a rod with an inch in diameter. Press to form a top on the rod, this makes the elf hat. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Cut the green cherries into small cubes, these will be the eyes.

Cut the red cherries into quarters and slice the quarters, these will be the mouths.

Cut the logs into ¼-inch thick cookies and put them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spacing about 1 inch apart. Place eyes and mouths on the cookies.

Bake until slightly golden around the edges, about 10-12 minutes at 350°F. Cool cookies on the pan on wire racks.

Icing: Mix confectionary sugar with a few drops of water and food coloring. Paint  the cookies with the red icing. Let the cookies dry on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

The Danish version:

Nissehoveder

Ingredients:

• 250 g hvedemel

• 200 g smør

• 100 g flormelis

• 1 æggeblomme

Pynt:

• røde og grønne cocktailbær

• flourmelis

• vand

• rød frugtfarve.

Directions: 

Smørret smuldres i melet. Flormelis sigtes i og æltes let i dejen sammen med æggeblommen. 

Dejen formes til en pølse på godt og vel et kosteskafts tykkelse. 

Pølsen trykkes lidt i den ene side så den kommer til at spidse, gerne meget. Pølsen lægges i køleskabet i mindst 0,5 time. Herefter skæres den i tynde skiver med en skarp kniv. 

Når kagerne er kommet på bageplanden, pyntes de med øjne, og mund (cocktailbær). 

Herefter bages de i 7-8 min ved 200ºC. 

Inden de er helt afkølede kan nissehovederne få hue på, med lidt rød glasur.

Risengrød - Danish Rice Porridge

Risengrød - Danish Rice Porridge

December 10th and it's time to feed the elfs/nisser. 

According to Danish christmas traditions, risengrød is given to the elf aka nissen.

Nissen lives  in houses and on farms, and protects the people and animals who lives there against evil and misfortune. But nissen is more than a protector, he can also play tricks on you, and then he is called drillenissen. By giving nissen its favorite food, risengrød, during the month of december, he will for the most part be at his best behavior.

Back in the days farmers would put a bowl of risengrød up in the attic at night, and the next morning the bowl would be empty. Now the farmer knew that he did his best to soothe nissen. But most likely there were no nisse, it most likely were the cats that ate the risengrød.

Nowadays it's only children who are raised to believe in nissen, as a sweet christmas tradition. Pretty much like the elf on the shelf here in the US.

Risengrød is a Danish comfort food, it's soft, sweet and easy to eat. Maybe thats why it's a favorite for many kids. A lot of parents likes this dish too, and it's very easy on your pocketbook. 

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup water

• 1 L (4¼ cups) milk

• 190 g rice (danish grødris or aborio)

• ¼ teaspoon salt

Toppings:

• butter, salted

• cinnamon sugar ( cinnamon + sugar)

Directions:

Boil the water in a saucepan. Pour in the rice and boil them for a minute. Add the milk and salt, and bring it to a slow simmer while you stir constantly. 

Let the risengrød simmer at low heat for about 30 minutes, stir occasionally. Well, every recipe calls for stirring occasionally, but I have burnt the risengrød so many times, so I stir constantly. And yes it's kinda like watching paint dry. 

Season with salt.

Serve with cinnamon sugar and a little dollop butter. I like to drink nisseøl or cherry juice with this meal. Nisseøl is a very very sweet low alcoholic beer. In Denmark we actually let children drink this beer. Yes we are living on the edge 🎅   

I don't like my risengrød to thick. I serve it as soon as the rice is tender and the milk has thickened a bit.