Throughout the years, the Danes improvise their cooking methods as time goes by. However, many of its dishes are cultivated from the old country kitchen. We bring you a few facts on their food culture.
Poultry
Generally, the Danes enjoy pork and beef. They would have their meats preserved, such as smoked pork that has been preserved and can be stored for almost a year before consummation. They also like to have Spegepølse, which is beef and pork salami that has been air dried. A real treat during any meal would be the Brawn, made from pig head.
One of Denmark’s famous foods, the red sausage, Rød Pølse, is made of pure pork. The national treat is eaten in summer as well as winter. More than 135 million red sausages are consumed every year, either at home or at outdoor venues. When bitten over, the sausage must possess a crisp sound.
Seafood wise, the smoked herring is one of the more popular ones. It is much enjoyed to an extent that it is nicknamed ‘Gold from the Sea’ in the 1800s. The Danes enjoy it by marinating or pickle it with Akvavit.
Open-faced Sandwiches
Smørrebrød or known as open-faced sandwich is basically rye bread topped with your choice of filling. During the 1840s, workers, farmers and labourers packed their own lunch with their own type of flat bread. It consists of a piece of buttered rye bread, thin pieces of cold cuts (usually meat or fish), cheese and liver paste as toppings. Some placed the toppings in between the pieces of the rye bread, just like the usual sandwich we have today.
Just like tradition, it is usually eaten as lunch and is available almost everywhere. A variety of meat, fish, cheese and salad dressings can be chosen. The national delicacy has been re-invented that the bread contains more fiber and the butter spread thinner whereas the toppings are not buried under a sea of mayonnaise and tartar sauce.
The popular choices for open-faced sandwiches are Egg with Scrimps (on rye bread or white bread) or Veterinarian’s night snack sandwich with liver paste (salted meat on rye bread).
Deemed as the national spread, the liver paste is Dane’s most popular and favourite spreading on any open-faced sandwich. The ingredients for the paste include chopped pork liver, lard and onions. It has a high concentration of nutrients such as vitamin A, B2 as well as iron.
Danish Pastry and Coffee
Commonly known as Danish, the Danish pastry is well served in almost every bakeries and cafes across the city. The sweet and tasty speciality is well loved by the Danes that they eat about 10 kilograms of pastry and cakes every year. It is usually filled with fruits and known as Wienerbrød" (Vienna Bread).
The best drink to accompany the sweet treat is of course, coffee. It has been the national drink and Danish consumers are one of the world’s largest coffee-drinking nation. Statistics showed that they consume more than 20 million cups of coffee every day.