Over the past few months, we've covered Danish open-faced sandwiches made from assorted herring and other seafoods, pork, beef, and other tasty victuals, but what might a Dane do with leftover chicken? The answer is simple: Chicken salad (commonly known as
hønsesalat in Danish, which to me evokes the name Hen Salad - isn't that positively sophisticated-sounding when compare to the completely banal chicken salad?).
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| What do Danes do with their hens? |
Hen salad for smørrebørd can be amazingly easy to make if you simply take your dried out leftover roasted chicken and resuscitate it with gobs of mayonnaise and celery, but in the spirit of this blog, we're going to discuss how to make a very tasty and moist chicken salad from scratch - one that deserves to be savoured, sitting down, with fork and knife.
Speaking of sitting down, that makes me think of chairs, which is an amazing coincidence, since this week's hen salad smørrebørd, has a Danish Degree of Difficulty of "Hans Wegner Medium." It is not difficult to make, but it does require some time and preparation. In fact, with any good hen salad, it is more about the simplicity and beauty of the design itself than the difficulty in making it. And when it comes to beautiful design, Hans Wegner should be at the top of any list.
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| Hans Wegner (from Monocle) |
Born in 1914 in Tønder, Denmark, Hans Wegner was an influential Danish designer of the mid-twentieth century, specializing in chairs and other furniture. While he began his cabinet-making apprenticeship at the age of 17, he may very well have honed his instincts as a designer earlier than that in his mother's kitchen by building open-faced sandwiches. In fact, Danish open-faced sandwiches - elegant, beautiful, yet simple - possess many of the same timeless Danish design qualities as the chairs of Hans Wegner.
And since we're on the topic of chairs, did you know that in Denmark, Food/Chair pairings are as important as the Food/Wine pairing in terms of getting the most out of smørrebørd? When it comes to Danish open-faced sandwiches, true smørrebørd aficionados don’t cut corners…in some finer smørrebørd restaurants, the wait staff actually make you stand up while they change the chairs you sit on between courses! (OK, I'll admit it it. That is completely untrue.)
Here are some recommended smørrebørd/Danish chair pairing that will help you more fully enjoy your eating experience. (And introduce you to just a few of the classic Danish chairs that are still very popular in homes, offices and restaurant around Denmark)
Chicken Salad (Hønsalat)– Best eaten when sitting, naturally, in a Wishbone Chair by Hans Wegner.
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| Wishbone Chairs in the Staff Lounge at MoMA in New York. |
Sol Over Gudhjem, Lobster salad, shrimp and other seafood – Best enjoyed with a cold lager while sitting in a Hans Wegner Shell chair.
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| Hans Wegner Shell Chair |
Roast Beef and Remoulade – The natural pairing for this delightful treat is the Ox Chair by Hans Wegner, pictured here in Dr. Evil's 1960s Tropical Island Base.
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| Left: Dr. Evil waiting for his smørrebørd. Right: Ox Chair. |
But enough about chairs for now, let's get back to making our delicious open-faced sandwich. As mentioned previously, making chicken salad is simple. But to do it right, you need to simmer the chicken in a spiced vegetable broth in order to both flavour the meat and keep it from drying out. Once cooked, removed from the carcass, and cooled, you simply combine the chicken meat with a tangy dressing, add a handful of asparagus and mix it all up together, then serve it on buttered Danish rye bread (what else?).
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| Danish "Hen Salad" with Asparagus |
Here is what you need to do in order to make this spring-inspired open-faced sandwich.
Ingredients for cooking the chicken- 2kg Chicken
- 2 small onions, peeled and halved
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped coarsely
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 small celery root, peeled and chopped coarsely
- 1 parsnip, peeled
- 1/2 tsp peppercorns
- 1/2 tsp All-spice seeds
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tbsp salt
- Water
Instructions for preparing the chicken- Place chicken and all other ingredients in a stock pot large enough to hold everything comfortably.
- Add water until the chicken is just covered and set it on high until the water begins to boil.
- Reduce heat to medium and simmer for about 45 minutes.
- After 45 minutes, remove the chicken from the broth and allow to coo1 until you can handle the meat. Remove the meat from the carcass and return it to the broth for another 15 minutes of simmering.
- Once again, remove the chicken from the broth to cool a bit.
- Meanwhile, strain the broth and put aside about 1 cup of liquid to cool. (You can also keep the rest of the broth to use in soups or other recipes).
- Once the meat is cool, use your fingers to break it apart into bite sized chunks, place it in a bowl, pour the reserved broth over the chicken, and allow it to sit in the refrigerator until cool - about 1 hour.
Ingredients for making the Hen Salad- 1 1/2 cups cooked chicken
- 8-10 asparagus spears, peeled and steamed
- 3 tbsp mayonnaise
- 3 tbsp creme fraiche
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 tsp white wine vinegar
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions |
| Yum! |
- Slice the asparagus into pieces 3-4 cm long.
- Thoroughly combine mayo, creme fraiche, dijon, vinegar, and sugar in a bowl. Adjust flavour with salt and pepper as needed.
- Add chicken and asparagus to dressing.
- Stir to combine.
- To serve, place about 1/2 cup of hen salad on a slice of buttered Danish rye bread. Enjoy with fork and knife!
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Ingredients for cooking the chicken
Ingredients for making the Hen Salad
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