Story by Elaine Revelle
thewoodenspoon@Juno.com

Favorite Danish Recipes

With a rousing kick-off Solvang has prepared to pull out all the stops in this its centennial year.
  Founded by three Danish immigrant ministers from the Midwest, Solvang began as a typical California agriculture community in 1911.
  However, visiting Danes, drawn to the mild weather and rolling hillsides, soon made the Santa Ynez Valley their own.
  Homes and businesses sprang up around Old Mission Santa Ines and the town began its inevitable shift from Spanish arches to the cobblestone streets of Denmark.
  The Danes brought with them their traditional cuisine. From meatballs to pancake balls, Danish food is unique and delicious.
  Smørrebrød, not to be confused with smorgasbord, is a meal of beautifully composed open-face sandwiches which must be made according to specific ingredients layered in an exacting order. Too complicated?  Check out a few Solvang restaurants where they are on the menu and you will find that they will all be “built” the same. A feast for the eyes as well as the appetite; no visit to Solvang would be complete without tasting this treat.

  I’m a complete novice in the sandwich making department and don’t even try, but I will let you in of a couple of my favorites. Try the shrimp, frikadeller, roast beef or pork, these are tops on my list.
  In my opinion these “humble” sandwiches are the one area of Danish cookery I steer clear of. I choose instead to focus on other delicious recipes that are a little less structured and therefore more adaptable to the American kitchen. So without further ado, let me share some of my favorites, one or two from each course at the Danish table.
  For starters, let’s consider breakfast.  Although good any time of the day, æbleskiver are a good way to start the morning.  But first, a little Danish lesson.  There is no such thing as æbeleskivers, in Danish the “r” makes a word plural.  So you may eat one æbleskive or many æbleskiver…bear that in mind.
 There is an old legend (maybe an “urban” one) that æbleskiver came about during the Viking era.  These hardy Norsemen had little in the way of foodstuffs when out pillaging and plundering, but probably had access to flour and fresh eggs.  It is said that a “mash” or dough was made with flour, eggs and fresh milk. Then all that was needed was to build a fire and improvise some cooking implements. This is the fun part, some say that those Vikings would place their shields over the fire, pour the batter into the indentations (the handiwork of opponent’s canon balls, clubs or other weapons) and cook.  Nowadays we have special pans, usually cast iron, with seven round indentations and we turn our æbleskiver with knitting needles not swords.
  It’s a good story, but I’m not sure how much truth is to be found.

  Get a pan and try your hand at one of the following. The first recipe is an age old “from scratch” version but I’ve included a short cut method using Bisquick.
  Moving from breakfast to a few heartier dishes brings me to one of my all-time favorites. Frikadeller are Danish meatballs, not to be confused with their sweeter cousins made by the Swedes, these are savory and delicious. Good for dinner, these also play a part in one of my favorite open face sandwiches.

ÆBLESKIVER
(Scratch Method)

2-1/2 cups flour
1-2 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 teaspoon soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs, separated, whites beaten stiff
3 tablespoons melted butter

Sift dry ingredients.  Beat egg yolks and add to milk.  Combine with dry ingredients and add melted better.  Fold in beaten egg whites and fry in aebleskive pan.

ÆBLESKIVER
(Bisquick Version)

2 cups Bisquick
4 eggs, separated, whites beaten stiff
1-1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup melted butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla, optional

 Mix egg yolks, milk, melted butter and vanilla into Bisquick, beating until smooth.  Fold egg whites gently into batter.  Add more milk if too stiff.

TO COOK:  (either recipe) heat pan with about one tablespoon cooking oil in each cup.  When the oil is hot, pour about two tablespoons of batter into each cup (be sure to FILL each cup).  Just as soon as the batter starts to cook around the edges and becomes firm, turn about a quarter turn with a knitting needle.  Keep turning until round balls are formed.  Turn the balls constantly to keep from burning and continue cooking until knitting needle comes out clean after being inserted into centers.
Roll in powdered sugar while still warm and serve immediately with a variety of jams.  Raspberry is the jam of choice in my house.

FRIKADELLER

1 pound ground chuck
1 pound ground pork
1 onion, chopped fine
salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ginger
1 tablespoon potato flour*
1 tablespoon white flour
3 eggs
1/2 pint (or one cup) milk

Grind meats three or four times (or use food processor) until finely minced.  Add eggs, onion, pepper and flours.  Mix in milk and let stand for several hours.  Before frying, put in salt.  Roll into balls a little larger than a golf ball and fry in hot oil or shortening.  Turn often to brown well on all sides.  Remove from pan and place in oven to finish cooking and keep warm.  Make following gravy using frikadeller drippings.
*You can substitute regular all-purpose flour if necessary.

GRAVY
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 cans Franco American canned beef gravy
1 carton sour cream
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup fresh dill, chopped
fresh ground pepper
Fry mushrooms in drippings from frikadeller until tender.  Add canned gravy and sour cream and mix well.  Just prior to serving, stir in parsley and dill, mix and season to taste with pepper. Serve with frikadeller and mashed potatoes.

  For a more festive dinner there’s always the traditional Danish roasted pork, Flæskesteg served with svær (sauce) or gravy.
  This one takes a little cooperation from your butcher, but it’s well worth the effort.  By the way, this is traditionally served with brunede kartoffler (sugar browned potatoes) and rødkål (Danish red cabbage.) The red cabbage is another standard at the Danes’ table and, trust me, buy it already made.  It’s good and a heck of a lot easier.

FLÆSKESTEG MED SVÆR
(roast pork with rind)

4 to 6 pound fresh ham or leg of pork
Coleman’s mustard powder, optional
whole cloves
whole black peppercorns
salt and pepper to taste
boiling water

Score rind on the diagonal about one inch apart.  Turn roast and cut again making one inch diamonds in rind.  (If ordering in advance, ask your butcher to score rind.)  Rub liberally with Coleman’s mustard, if using.  Alternately stud cuts with whole cloves and peppercorns.  Salt and pepper well.  Place flæskesteg on rack in roasting pan and put into a 450 degree oven.  After 30 minutes or when rind has turned white, pour enough boiling water to cover bottom of pan by about one inch, turn oven down to 325 degrees and roast for another two to three hours or until nicely browned but not burned.  Don’t baste meat or rind will not be crisp.  Make a sauce with the pan drippings and more water, thicken it slightly with either cornstarch or flour and adjust seasonings with more salt and pepper if needed.  Serve with sugar browned potatoes (recipe following) and rødkål.

BRUNEDE KARTOFFLER
(sugar browned potatoes)

2 pounds small round potatoes
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt

Wash, peel and boil the potatoes, leaving them whole.  Rinse in cold water and drain well.  Melt sugar in hot pan until lightly browned.  Be careful not to burn.  Add butter and salt, stirring until smooth.  Add potatoes to sugar/butter/salt mixture and shake pan or stir with wooden spoon until all are well coated and nicely browned.

CITRON FROMAGE
(lemon snow)

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 lemons
1 orange
1 envelope gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 pint whipping cream
juice from lemons and orange, above

Dissolve gelatin in the 1/2 cup water.  Separate eggs.  Beat yolks with 1/2 cup sugar until white.  Stir in grated rind of one lemon and all of the juice from both the lemons and the orange.  Add gelatin mix well and refrigerate until mixture begins to set.  Beat egg whites, adding remaining (1/2 cup) sugar gradually, until stiff.  Fold egg whites into lemon mixture and pour into glass bowl.  Return to refrigerator and allow to set until firm.  Decorate with whipped cream before serving. 

Optional garnish:  Drizzle with melted chocolate bits.

Editor’s note:  Elaine Revelle is a free-lance writer who has written a cooking column, The Wooden Spoon, for a variety of local publications since 1971.  She is a fourth generation Californian whose great grandparents came to the Santa Ynez Valley in 1880.  In Wooden Spoon she features traditional and favorite recipes from the Valley’s best cooks as well as historical notes and anecdotes.