1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (90 page)

Retail and mail order:
In Solvang, CA
, Solvang Bakery, tel 805-688-4939,
solvangbakery.com
(click Products, then search kransekage);
in Seattle
, Nielsen’s Pastries, tel 206-282-3004,
nielsenspastries.com
(click Dessert Pastry); Larsens Danish Bakery, tel 800-626-8631,
larsensbakery.com
(search kransekage).
Mail order:
For Odense marzipan, amazon.com.
Further information and recipes:
Scandinavian Baking
by Trine Hahnemann (2014);
scandinavianfood.about.com
(search kransekake).
See also:
Marzipan
.
Tip:
A cool, flowery white dessert wine adds to your pleasure.

The recipe for this old-fashioned Danish specialty, a blush-pink salt-pickled duck, ought to be revived by some ambitious chef seeking a reputation for ingenuity; it has all the makings of the kind of showy winner that appeals to ordinary diners and food critics alike.

The dish calls for a whole, trimmed, lean bird of about five pounds—a mallard or a wild duck would do nicely. Heavily salted inside and out, and placed in a glass or ceramic bowl with bay leaves and crushed peppercorns, the duck ripens for two days in the refrigerator before being very slowly poached with a large onion, a carrot, a parsnip, a few sprigs of parsley, and a knob of celeriac. It is done after about two hours, or when the meat is falling off the bone tender.

Boned and carved into serving pieces overlaid with strips of skin, the duck is topped with
flødepeberrodssauce
, a frozen combination of whipped cream and grated fresh horseradish. That topping—also popular with boiled beef or poached chicken—melts down and lends its sweet-hot elegance to the luscious meat. Mashed potatoes make the best side, along with creamed, nutmeg-scented spinach.

Where:
In Copenhagen
, Schønnemann, tel 45/33-12-07-85,
restaurantschonnemann.dk
.
Mail order:
For whole duck, D’Artagnan, tel 800-327-8246,
dartagnan.com
(search rohan duck).
Further information and recipes:
The Scandinavian Kitchen
by Camilla Plum (2011);
allrecipes.com
(search frozen horseradish sauce).

Spiced, spiked, and stuffed for the holiday table.

Although their lean, sweet pork stands on its own, when the Danes pair the loin with dried prunes and fresh apples, the results are memorable. The fruit adds richness, keeping the meat moist as it roasts to succulent perfection for a dish that is a favorite throughout the winter, and especially at Christmas.

Trimmed off the rack of bones, the loin is wrapped in thin sheets of pork fat. A hole is punched lengthwise through the center of the meat with a wide-bladed knife and the inside is rubbed with salt, pepper, dry mustard, and a bit of powdered ginger before being packed with pitted prunes (soaked in a rich red wine such as port and seasoned with a few cloves) and chunks of tart apples sprinkled with lemon juice. Tied and rubbed on all sides with the same spice mixture, the loin is then ready for roasting.

The perfect roasting rack is the intact rack of bones trimmed from the meat, set inside a casserole dish. Roasted slowly in a moderate oven, the pork picks up the sweet and tart overtones of the fruit. As they cook, the meat and bones develop a kind of demi-glace concentration in the pan. This becomes the basis of a robust gravy, bound with flour and thinned with a little Madeira wine and a slight shimmer of sweet cream. All is tinted a festive pink by the final addition of some red currant jelly, which melts into the sauce to gloss the thinly sliced meat surrounding prune and apple. Sides of roasted potatoes and red cabbage are essential to this feast.

Where:
In Elk Horn, IA
, Danish Inn, tel 712-764-4251,
danishinnrestaurant.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Aquavit
by Marcus Samuelsson (2003);
food.com
(search danish fruit stuffed pork roast).

Summer in Denmark is the time for one of that country’s most famous and irresistible treats: the tiny shrimp called
rejer
, innocently sweet and no bigger than a toddler’s pinkie finger. To get an idea of just how small these shrimpy shrimp are, consider that one of the more spectacular open-faced rejer sandwiches, fittingly called “shrimps in a crowd,” features a pyramid-pile of two hundred of these mini-crustaceans. Thickly buttered French-style white bread and a thin lettuce leaf should be these tiny beauties’ only companions, with permissible additions being a sprig of dill and a slim wedge of lemon. Often the shrimp are served on a plate with bread on the side, but that is about the only variation.

Anything so deliciously salty-sweet and succulently tender comes at a high price—not only because of the law of supply and demand, but also because of the cost of peeling the shrimp, a delicate job that can only be done by hand.

Where:
In Copenhagen
, Kanal Caféen, tel 45/33-11-57-70,
kanalcafeen.dk
; Sankt Annæ, tel 45/33-12-54-97,
restaurantsanktannae.dk
; Ida Davidsen, tel 45/33-91-36-55,
idadavidsen.dk
.

In cold countries, summer fruits are highly prized and preserved in countless ways—frozen, jarred, cooked into lush jams and preserves, or bottled up as flavorful juice. It is to red berry juice that the wonderful garnet-red dessert the Danes call
rødgrød
owes its hue.

The Danes are probably the only people in the world who can pronounce its name, requiring as it does the back-of-the-throat glottal stop typical of the Danish language. Some claim—good-naturedly—the resulting sound to be the consequence of a pervasive throat disease. In Germany, the same dessert is known, a bit more pronounceably, as
rote grütze.

The height of red pudding season is in fact summer, when berry juice can be freshly pressed at home—the most desirable berries being red currants, alone or combined with raspberries and black currants, and sometimes with sour cherries. The fruit is simmered for just a few minutes, until it begins to give up its juices. Strained, seasoned with sugar, and mixed with cornstarch, the juices are then cooked again until they thicken to about the consistency of well-stirred yogurt. Poured into
individual glass dishes, the bright red substance is chilled until set.

Though rødgrød is most often compared to Jell-O, which owes its clarity to the gelatin with which it is set, here the use of cornstarch makes for an opaque, creamy gel in the style of an English flummery pudding. So popular is the dessert that its ingredients are sold powdered in packages, much like Jell-O or junket—actually quite pleasant, but no match for the freshly pressed version.

Rødgrød, of course, is only the first half of this treat’s name. What of the
fløde
, to say nothing of
flødeskum
? The former means cream (sweet and heavy), and the latter means whipped cream. In either form, that extra dollop of richness is the classic topping for this cool, sweet, and very red-tasting dessert.

Where:
In Santa Barbara, CA
, Andersen’s Danish Restaurant and Bakery, tel 805-962-5085,
andersenssantabarbara.com
.
Mail order:
scandinavianbutik.com
(click Food, then Desserts, then search junket).
Further information and recipes:
Danish Cooking and Baking Traditions
by Arthur L. Meyer (2011);
food.com
(search rodgrod med flode).

A dish that turns red cabbage into a precious gem.

With its shiny slivers of ruby-red cabbage and its piquant flavor, this festive Danish specialty takes on a jewel-like sheen and sweet-tart overtones as a few dollops of red currant jelly are stirred in for the last minutes of cooking. As in most northern European countries where red cabbage,
rødkål
, is favored alongside roasted meats and game, in Denmark cooks take pains to preserve the vegetable’s color and prevent it from fading to a pale, washed-out state. First, they cut the cabbage with a stainless-steel knife, as opposed to a carbon-steel blade, to help prevent blackening. Then, to further prevent discoloration, they toss the raw slivered cabbage with vinegar and allow it to sit for about fifteen minutes, at which point the mass actually takes on a distinct blue-purple tint (the reason for the dish’s German name,
Blaukraut
).

Once these measures are in place, it’s time to cook the rødkål in seasoned water, often with diced bacon or duck fat and sliced, peeled apples (first sautéed in butter) stirred in. Gradually seasoned with brown sugar as it softens, the cabbage develops a subtle sweet-and-sour tang. The water should be absorbed by the time the cabbage is soft, resulting in the desired dry-but-juicy state. Then, for the last fifteen minutes or so, it simmers under that color-enhancing glossing of red currant jelly.

The apples may be omitted, or grated raw and added toward the end of the cooking process; sautéed onions may also join the fray at this point. A scant sprinkling of lightly crushed caraway seeds can add an exotic touch to the mix, and the plain, sharp distilled vinegar used as the initial soaking liquid may be replaced by cider or red wine vinegar or the brine of pickled beets. But one thing all cooks agree on is that the dish should be prepared twenty-four hours in advance of serving, so it can develop a rich winey flavor as it ripens in the refrigerator.

Six to eight times higher in vitamin C than green cabbage, red cabbage is most often cooked with a little sugar in Northern Europe, thereby adding calories but also the luxurious flavor that makes it a winter favorite. No Scandinavian Christmas goose, duck, or pork roast would be complete without it. Slightly warm, red cabbage is a favorite topping on open sandwiches of sliced roasted duck breast or pork, or alongside the fried meat cakes called
frikadeller
(see
listing
).

Mail order:
For red current jelly,
scandinavianbutik.com
(click Food, then Preserves, then search red currant jelly).
Further information and recipes:
Scandinavian Christmas
by Trine Hahnemann (2012);
epicurious.com
(search danish red cabbage).
Tip:
When choosing a red cabbage, look for bright, shiny leaves. Avoid heads with blackened, cracked leaves. For the richest flavor, cook twenty-four hours in advance, chill, and reheat at serving time.

Dover sole may be considered the world’s prime flatfish, but those who have tasted its Danish cousin
rødspætte
, or plaice (
Pleuronectes platessa
), may go to the mat over the distinction. The closest comparison may be summer fluke, the flounderlike fish caught off Long Island, New York.

Taking its Danish name from the tiny, golden-red spots (
rødspætte
) that sparkle on its bronze skin, the plaice develops a remarkably fresh, deep-sea flavor as it swims in the icy salt waters of the North Sea. Firm-textured, the wide flat fish lends itself to many preparations.

Although it is sometimes marinated or smoked, like all great foods plaice deserves to be prepared in respectfully simple ways: sautéed whole,
meunière
-style, and then filleted. It may be topped with a garland of tiny shrimp, a dousing of hot melted butter, and a sprinkling of crisp bread crumbs. Or it can be filleted, quickly fried to a crisp, and accented with a sprightly rémoulade sauce, as it would be in an open sandwich.