Gastroanthropology

Dreaming Danish

I've been gushing about savory Danish food, when in reality the best thing about Denmark might be the yeasty and buttery Danish dough. In Copenhagen its easy to stumble upon bakery, after bakery, after bakery. Kanelstang, kringle, klipkrans, kanelsnurrer...everything is lovely, delicious, with a bit of cinnamon or cardamom, maybe a sprinkling of fruit, or a dusting of sugar, and remonce (Danish pastry filling often made with butter, sugar, and almond...think frangipane) in no short supply.

Danish dough is a laminated dough, like croissant dough, where butter is folded into the dough to create layers. Danish dough is enriched with eggs and contains yeast.

If this is a bit too much indulgence there are huge selections of multi-grain bollers...

Or deep tarts loaded with apples...

Selections differ depending on which bakery you hit, but Drømmekage, or Danish Dream Cake, is something you can't avoid. It's a basic yellow vanilla cake loaded with a moist, brown-sugar-sweet, coconut topping. 

DRØMMEKAGE

For the Cake...

• 4 eggs
• 250 g homemade vanilla sugar***
• 50 g unsalted butter, melted and set aside to cool
• 200 ml whole milk
• 250 g all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbs baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

Combine the eggs and sugar. Beat until the mixture is fluffy and turns a pale yellow. Gently whisk in melted butter and milk. Gently fold in dry ingredients. Place in a buttered springform pan or cake pan lined with parchment so the cake can easily be taken out of the pan, top side up. I baked this in paper loaf pans and just cut away the sides to remove the cake. Bake in a 350F oven for about 25 minutes or until just set. At this point you will remove the cake to add the topping. Directions continue below.

***Vanilla sugar is a very popular ingredient used in Scandinavia. It can be bought in a super concentrated form that has a texture similar to baking powder. If using this sort for this recipe use regular granulated sugar and 1 tsp of the concentrated vanilla sugar. I prefer homemade vanilla sugar as it has a more natural taste. This is made by combining leftover vanilla bean (once the seeds have been used for something else) with granulated sugar. About 1 leftover husk to 1.5 c sugar is a good ratio. Let sit in an airtight container for about 1 month before using. Keep for about 6 months. If you don't have either just add 1 tsp of vanilla extract to this recipe.

For the Topping...

• 125 g unsalted butter, melted
• 225 g muscovado sugar
• pinch salt
• 50 ml whole milk
• 100 g desiccated coconut (unsweetened)

Combine the topping ingredients while the cake is cooking in the oven. When the cake is 7 minutes shy of being done pull out of the oven and gently spread all the topping over the cake. Put back in oven to finish cooking. Do not put the topping on if any of the cake batter is loose as you run the risk of having the topping sink. Let sit for a few hours or overnight before enjoying. Please! 

Patience is a virtue that sadly I don't possess. I'll burn the roof of my mouth on a cookie hot out of the oven and my tongue on too hot soup. With this dream cake one must wait. It must sit for at least a few hours for the eggy cake to mellow into the perfect vehicle to carry the moist coconut sweetness. This is the perfect cake for a late-night-sleeplessness-bake because its best the next day.

Danish Smørrebrød

When you are a trained chef people always ask, where do you go to eat? A chef working in fine dining often craves traditional, simple, good food. If you work in restaurants, chances are your only day off is Monday. So where do you go for lunch on a Monday in Copenhagen when its icy, cold and covered in snow?

Told & Snaps for Smørrebrød. 

It's best to arrive via bicycle (chosen method of travel by Danes in Copenhagen, even in the deep of winter!). 

I went with a chef friend for an early lunch. We sat at a table for two. As the afternoon progressed chefs from the best in Copenhagen trickled in (just getting out of bed of course, as chefs are notorious for sleeping breakfast away). Soon we moved to a table for four, then six, then eight. Lucky for me - most of the chefs hail from Scandinavian countries and knew just what to order.

Smørrebrød are open-faced sandwiches served on buttered rugbrød (Danish for rye bread). I was in absolute rugbrød heaven as I stumbled bakery-upon-bakery serving all sorts of this tangy, seeded, dense bread.

At Told & Snaps there are over 30 different smørrebørd and 2 to 3 are recommended per person for lunch. Classics include lun stegt sild i lage - fried and marinated herring.

This smoked eel with scrambled egg (røget Ål med røræg) is one of the most popular dishes and a delicious combination.

Can't leave Scandinavia without a little fishcake...fiskefrikadeller med hjemmerørt remoulade.

Fish is followed by a Danish classic of meatballs served with red cabbage - lune frikadeller med rødkål og surt.

Nørrebro Bryghus is a local Danish beer and produced carbon neutrally.

Another classic smørrebrød is beef served with shaved horseradish and pickled vegetables...Oksebryst, kogt i porter med pickles og peberrod.

You can't leave Denmark with having a bit of pork. Why not start with warm pork rib roast and red cabbage? Ribensteg fra fritgående grise.

It's tradition to wash all this rich food, like warm liver pate with bacon - lun leverpostej med bacon og agurkesalat...

with a bit of housemade snaps (Danish for a small shot of strong alcohol, like the German schnaps)...

Potent and a touch sweet we choose elderflower akvavit to cut the richness of the smørrebrød. We also had some housemade walnut akvavit which was equally lovely.

Told og Snaps, Toldbodgade 2, 1253 København. 

Noma

Last week I was in Copenhagen and had one of the most amazing meals. At dinner, we kept gushing about the delicious food and that we were eating at the 3rd 1st best restaurant in the world. How cool is that? The 3rd 1st best restaurant in the world! And with El Bulli toying with the minds and stomachs of obsessive foodies about closing its doors or not, it might soon be the 2nd! ***2010, Noma considered the 1st best restaurant in the world.

Before I go on about the meal, let me preface by saying that I'm not a huge fan of fine dining. And a huge bill at then end does not a meal make. I hate tablecloths, feeling pressured into drinking expensive wine, and servers that list off an endless list of ingredients. Oh, and I the excessive use of hate foams.

Dinner at Noma was one of the best dining experiences I've ever had. The food tasted delicious, but at the same time was innovative and inspiring. Foods weren't morphed beyond recognition and I didn't feel like the cooks in the back had turned into scientists. There is absolutely a science to food, and this is apparent at Noma, but I've sort of missed the boat on excessive molecular gastronomy. The chefs and stagieres 

in the kitchen 

not only plate the food

but also help run the food to the table. After meeting most of the stagieres the night before - (yes, they cooked, a simple meal by Noma standards, but, of course, passed around a pastry bag filled of herb emulsion...I love eating with chefs!), and again for smørrebrød the next day (best thing about touring a city with a chef is that they know where to go to get some good grub, no tourist traps or money wasted on crap food) - I really enjoyed having them explain the food they cooked for service. Each of the stagieres, who come from all corners of the world, were so excited about the food being produced in the kitchen. There was a wine pairing, but more importantly there was a juice pairing! I don't like drinking too much alcohol so was pleasantly surprised with a new juice every few courses. They started me off with cucumber juice, followed by apple pine, carrot, seabuckthorn (my new favorite thing and more on this in a future post), celery, lingonberry, elderflower, and sorrel. At Noma there are no tablecloths, lots of wood, stone, and candles. It is understated, comfortable and elegant.

I tried to remember everything, but I know I've missed some. At Noma, Nordic ingredients take center stage, and no, that doesn't mean salmon, herring, and lingonberries are the stars of the show. Some real magic comes from Noma's test kitchen pictured here:

And what cook wouldn't be inspired if the test kitchen was on a boat!

Apologies for dark food pictures...I despise taking pictures at restaurants, and of course we know the evils of flash, but I had to document this meal. I was eating at the 3rd best restaurant in the world for goodness sakes!

So it goes a little something like this...

We started with a few snacks.

Sorrel with speck and blackberry, then this seabuckthorn and carrot leather with pickled elderflower:

Pressed chicken skin with smoked cheese, dill and lumpfish roe and crisp rye bread (this was an instant where I got too excited and gobbled up my snack, and then remembered I was trying to document my meal with pictures). Quickly forgotten when this smoked quail egg arrived, served in this custom made egg!

Some of the foods at Noma are quite whimsical and playful, like these fresh radishes served in a flower pot with edible malt soil:

I think I might consider flying back to Copenhagen just to have another serving of this herb toast with cod roe emulsion and fresh herbs dusted with vinegar powder, topped with the thinnest bit of crispy duck fat:

I had heard about this dish before I arrived and it was much anticipated. Sea urchin from Norway with frozen cream, dill granita, and cucumber balls rolled in ash:

I've never had raw chestnut, but this shaved chestnut with cod roe, walnut, and rye crumbs was one of my favorites of the night:

Everyone's eyes lit up when this was brought to the table, Norway lobster with fresh oyster emulsion and Icelandic purple seaweed powder served on a hot stone:

Onion with verjus, tapioca and thyme:

When I first sat down at the restaurant I could smell this truffle dish being served at another table and because we had no idea what we would be served I had my fingers crossed that this would be included in our meal...Salsify wrapped in milk skin with Swedish black truffle:

Seared turbot with celeriac, celery with elderberry caper sauce:

What could knock our socks off at this point? Maybe this brined root vegetable dish, each rolled by hand and doused with bone marrow:

Beef cheek cooked for 72 hours in hay with mushroom bullion, green cabbage stuffed with white cabbage compote, cauliflower leaves, rosehips, mustard seed and lingonberry.

Because Noma stresses the use of Nordic ingredients, typical desserts like something chocolatey aren't served. Instead we had this carrot sorbet topped with buttermilk foam and anise:

This walnut ice cream was quite possibly one of the most delicious ice cream flavors I have ever tasted. It came with cream, oat crumble, and blackberry powder:

Isn't this the perfect way to end the meal? A snowman made of meringue, a belly of cloudberry sorbet, and surrounded with yogurt snow:

Thought we were done? Just one more thing...Øllebrød. A traditional Danish porridge, where dark rye bread is soaked in beer. Served here cream, skyr cheese ice cream and rye crumbs.

If you are ever in Copenhagen, Noma is a must.