1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (89 page)

6.
Top the salmon with a double layer of wax paper. Choose another, smaller baking dish with some depth that will fit snugly inside the baking dish holding the salmon. Place this dish on top of the salmon inside the baking dish and weight the top dish down as evenly as possible using cans of food, jars of water, or anything that will press down on the dish firmly and evenly.

7.
Marinate the salmon in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. About every 12 hours, remove the top dish along with the weights and wax paper. Completely invert the entire fish “sandwich” in the baking dish so that the bottom fillet is on top, skin side up. Do not pour off the liquid that accumulates in the bottom of the dish. Replace the wax paper, top dish, and weights, and continue marinating the salmon.

8.
Prepare the mustard sauce: About 12 hours before you plan to serve the salmon, place the sweet mustard and Dijon mustard in a nonreactive bowl and whisk them together, beating in the sugar and 1 tablespoon of the vinegar. When the sugar has dissolved, beat in the remaining
tablespoon of vinegar. Add the oil in a thin, steady stream, beating the sauce constantly. When it is smooth and emulsified, stir in the minced dill. Taste, season with salt and pepper, and add more sugar, vinegar, sweet mustard, and/or Dijon mustard as desired. You might also want to beat in a little more oil to smooth out the texture or flavor. Refrigerate the mustard sauce, covered, until about an hour before serving time.

9.
Remove the salmon from the dish 3 to 4 hours before serving time, discarding the marinade and dill sprigs. Carefully scrape all of the sugar, salt, and dill seeds and any mushy residue from the flesh side of each fillet. Do this gently with the blade of a knife, then give the fillets a final wipe with a dampened paper towel.

10.
Rinse and dry the baking dish. Return the salmon to the dish without weighting it down, and place in the refrigerator to firm up. Just before serving, slice the salmon thinly on the diagonal. Hold the knife (preferably a salmon slicer or a ham knife) parallel to the work surface and cut long, wide slices, skimming each slice off the salmon skin beneath.

11.
Transfer the sliced salmon to a platter and serve the bread squares alongside so guests can make their own canapés, or place slices of salmon on top of the squares of bread. Either way, generously sprinkle the salmon with minced dill. Serve the mustard sauce on the side. Once cleaned of its marinade, unsliced gravlax can be refrigerated, covered, for 3 to 4 days.

Note:
Marinating salmon should not come in contact with metal or aluminum. Although stainless steel is nonreactive, connoisseurs swear it makes a difference in flavor. Use wax paper, not aluminum foil, for covering the salmon (plastic wrap is also acceptable but more difficult to handle in this process).

Retail and mail order:
In New York
, Russ & Daughters, tel 212-475-4880,
russanddaughters.com
(search gravlax).
Tip:
The gravlax mustard sauce is also good with
maatjes
(salt herring).

Funny how citizens of cold countries react to a bit of heat. One might think that given Denmark’s long, cold, and damp winters, summer could not be long enough or hot enough. But let Midsummer’s Eve arrive in late June, and those Danes who are at least middle-aged begin to think of
kærnemælkskoldskål
—cold buttermilk soup. Though not unlike the Indian drink
lassi
, based on nicely tangy, thinned-down, spiced yogurt, this addictively piquant Danish version is consumed with a spoon. Luxurious and teasingly flavorful thanks to a zap of lemon juice and some mellow, fresh vanilla bean, it makes a
light lunch and a remarkably restorative cooler. This being Denmark, whipped cream and a few crunchy rusks are the finishing touches that turn the simplest dish into an opulent indulgence.

Serves 4

2 large egg yolks

3 tablespoons sugar

1 vanilla bean, or 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Grated zest and strained juice of ½ lemon

1 quart very cold buttermilk

1 cup heavy (whipping) cream

8 to 12 rusks or zwieback biscuits, for serving

1.
In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar together until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is thick and light in color.

2.
If you are using a vanilla bean, cut the bean in half crosswise and set one half aside for another use. Split the remaining half lengthwise and, using the tip of the knife, scrape the seeds into the yolk mixture (set the empty pod aside for another use) and stir to mix. Or, stir in the vanilla extract, if using.

3.
Stir in the lemon zest, lemon juice, and buttermilk and refrigerate the soup, covered, to let the flavors develop, 1 to 2 hours.

4.
Just before serving, whip the cream to soft peaks and gently fold it into the cold soup, saving a few dabs to top each portion. Serve the soup in chilled bowls with the rusks on the side.

Further information and recipes:
The Scandinavian Cookbook
by Trine Hahnemann (2009);
tastingtable.com
(search buttermilk soup with biscuits).
Tip:
Organic buttermilk will produce better results than the thinner variety generally available in supermarkets.

Scandinavians seem to like their meatballs on the light and airy side, and in Denmark, these lovely sage-scented beef balls get an extra touch of sophistication from celery root. The big, round, knobby root (also known as celeriac) is used here in the subtlest of ways: Peeled and cut into chunks, it is not incorporated with the meat but is instead cooked to tenderness in salted, acidulated water. The ground beef, blended with grated onion, salt, pepper, lots of earthy sage, and beaten egg, is then shaped into walnut-size balls that are gently poached in the celery-root cooking water—a simple though worldly sounding step that infuses the meat with bright, faintly sweet vegetable overtones. Once cooked and drained, the meatballs are served in a ring centered around the cooked chunks of celery root. A liberal sprinkle of minced parsley and/or dill and a sauce of the thickened cooking liquid completes the picture.

No pasta, please. Mashed potatoes are the thing, and some pickled beets on the side wouldn’t be a bad idea, either.

Further information and recipes:
Danish Cooking and Baking Traditions
by Arthur L. Meyer (2011);
kitchenfears.blogspot.com
(search boller i selleri).

A Baltic delicacy, simply and elegantly prepared.

A list of must-do’s for a visitor to Copenhagen includes the following: Rosenborg castle, the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek museum, St. Peter’s church, countless cutting-edge design shops, the whimsical delights of Tivoli Gardens, and boiled cod. Boiled cod? Yes. One of this country’s great national treats, the banal-sounding dish owes its extraordinary reputation first and foremost to the firm, snowy-fleshed Baltic cod that swim in these ice-cold Nordic waters. The fish played an outsize role in Denmark’s commercial history, as it did for all of Scandinavia—an intriguing tale well told by Mark Kurlansky in his bestselling book
Cod.
Now becoming scarce and thus protected against overfishing, this large, lovely fish with gold-spotted silvery skin is the most succulently flavorful of cods, its tender flesh giving way with just the right amount of resistance.

A Christmas and New Year’s Eve tradition, boiled cod is most popular in winter months, as the cold renders the fish very flavorful. At its best when its natural elegance and richness is allowed to shine through, the dish is prepared with stunningly simple perfection in Danish homes and at the best of Copenhagen’s fish restaurants.

In the more traditional dining rooms, presentation is epic, the whole codfish arriving on a large platter with choice morsels of liver, roe, shoulder and neck meat, and the head complete with tongue, cheeks, and brains—all cherished by the most serious connoisseurs. Gently simmered (not actually boiled) in water with salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, and perhaps a little vinegar, the fish is accompanied by dill, boiled potatoes, chopped hard-cooked eggs, pickled beets, capers, freshly grated horseradish, and mild mustard sauce or a small lake of hot melted butter.

The traditional dessert after this fishy feast is a chunk of Danish blue cheese, usually served with a few slices of cold raw vegetables such as celery, cucumber, and red radishes, plus a few grapes. Naturally you’ll be toasting the
torsk
(Danish for cod) with aquavit at the start of the meal, and sustaining yourself through it with a sunny beer or a light red wine. And just as naturally, you’ll do as the Danes do and plan for a nap afterward—a necessity due to the meal’s high phosphorous content.

Where:
In Copenhagen
, in winter, Lumskebugten, tel 45/33-15-60-29.
lumskebugten.dk
.
Further information and recipes:
Danish Cooking and Baking Traditions
by Arthur L. Meyer (2011);
food.com
(search boiled cod);
scandinaviancooking.com
(search spicing up the humble cod).

Perhaps a forerunner of ice cream cones, this dessert is far simpler to realize, as there is no time-out for freezing. One of the prettiest and most seductive Scandinavian treats, this primarily Danish triumph consists of a crisp, thin, gaufrette-like cone filled with whipped heavy cream, lightly sugared and perhaps dotted with colorful preserves of strawberries, lingonberries, cloudberries, or red currants. The crackling pancake-cookies that act as receptacles for the snowy delight—
krämmerhüse
(
kremmerhuset
in Norwegian) literally translates to “cream houses”—are formed by spreading batter onto baking sheets in long ovals. Once baked, the ovals must be turned into cones immediately, as they become crisp and brittle once cool.

Filled with freshly whipped cream and garnished with fruit just before being served, the cones are most attractive when gathered, bouquetlike, in a footed glass vase or large, wide goblet, anchored in a base of glass marbles.

There they will not stay for long.

In Santa Barbara, CA
, Andersen’s Danish Restaurant and Bakery, tel 805-962-5085,
andersenssantabarbara.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Danish Cooking and Baking Traditions
by Arthur L. Meyer (2011);
bigoven.com
(search danish cones).
See also:
Whipped Cream
.

A festive cake made of almonds, sugar, and egg whites.

If the Danish town of Odense, on the island of Fyn, isn’t destination enough by virtue of being Hans Christian Andersen’s hometown, food tourists take note: It also happens to be an excellent place to sample expertly prepared wreath cakes,
kransekager
, as well as the most respected source of the Danish marzipan much loved in various chocolate-coated forms.

Likely to appear on special occasions with coffee or tea, the kransekage is virtually a trademark among Danish desserts. One taste of the subtly bittersweet pastry, tenderly moist, with toasted, nutty overtones, and you’ll understand why. Based on marzipan, the classic confectionery paste of ground almonds, sugar, and egg white, kransekage is distinguished by a blend of bitter and sweet almonds that creates a subtle flavor counterpoint.

Though the
kranse
means wreath, these
kager
—cakes—are most often found in the long finger shapes known as
stykker
, drizzled
with lacy zigzags of white sugar frosting. Widely available throughout Denmark and in some U.S. cities, they may be freshly baked, prepackaged and frozen, or even canned. Not surprisingly, the fresher the better. For special occasions such as birthdays, weddings, and holidays, kransekager are ring-shaped—baked in a series of graduated rings (hence the wreaths), stacked to form tall, tapering towers, and decorated with tiny red-and-white paper Danish flags or red-white-and-blue Norwegian flags. For weddings with a patriotic touch, the baked cakes are iced white before being stacked.