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Frikadeller, red cabbage and cucumber salad
Sometimes, you just want to eat something that gives you that hyggelig feeling of coziness and happiness. For me, when I'm in that kind of mood, a simple smørrebrød of frikadeller and red cabbage is perfect - like Danish comfort food - and it brings back fond memories of childhood Christmas vacations in Denmark.

This particular smørrebrød is one of my own personal favourite ad-libs - the Danish equivalent for rummaging through the fridge late at night when you want to scrounge together something to eat. And it's definitely a classic winter sandwich, perfect after a long day of cross-country skiing. 


Winter comfort food: Rushing home for après ski smørrebrød
The flavours and smells of this smørrebrød are very reminiscent of Danish Christmas cooking - ahhhh, just thinking about it is making me happy! I thought it was pretty funny when one of my friends commented that this sandwich "tastes like something somebody else's mother would have made". (I think she meant it as a compliment) Somehow I knew exactly what she meant - because it tastes nothing like Canadian home cooking - so you only got to eat these kinds of things when invited over to a friend's house for lunch. 


Today's Danish Diet Compass
When coupled with a crisp Danish lager, I tell myself that this frikadeller smørrebrød is part of a healthy diet - it contains all the essential nutrients as defined in my imagined version of the 1950s Five Basic Danish Food Groups as issued by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries (Ministeriet for Fødevarer, Landbrug og Fiskeri). These recommendations would almost certainly have included:

1) Dark Danish Rye Bread
2) Butter (or other savoury spread)
3) Meat or Fish
4) Vegetable Condiment (usually pickled, but fresh onions or sprouts are OK, too)
5) Beer (or akvavit)

If you are interested in today's honest-and-for-real Danish nutrition recommendations, as opposed to my made up ones, check out this link. 

In terms of recipes, there is nothing new in this particular frikadeller smørrebrød that you can't already find among the pages of my blog, but for the record here are the components you need and links to their respective recipes:
As always, enjoy with a fork and knife and wash it down with beer. Skål!
Frikadeller smørrebrød - the perfect way of dispatching those leftovers!
Frikadeller are Danish meatballs and are commonly eaten as part of the evening meal, and served perhaps with boiled potatoes. They are also great placed either warm or cold atop smørrebrød. Flavourful and oh so light, there are as many frikadeller recipes in Denmark as their are households - and these treasured family secrets are passed on from one generation to the next. But, in fact, there is only one true frikadeller recipe - the one recipe to rule them all - and it is guarded deep inside the most secure vault in all of the Kingdom of Denmark.

The recipe itself for frikadeller is written in the original manuscript of THE definitive guide to Danish cuisine - Frøken Jensens Kogebog - handwritten by the venerable lady of the Danish kitchen herself in 1901. It is also said that the original copy of the unabridged handwritten manuscript (not the commonly published concise edition you can still find in stores today) lists and details the twenty-five "official"smørrebrød - if it is not in the original Frøken Jensens Kogbog, then it is not really smørrebrød. And while I have not seen it with my own eyes, the ancient tome purportedly contains an even lengthier list of things one must not combine together when making danish open-faced sandwiches (ham, blue cheese and pickled herring anybody? Frøken Jensen said "Nej!").

Secret location of frikadeller recipe...
While it is a closely guarded national secret, I can reveal to you here that the vault's location is actually in central Copenhagen, deep inside the basement of the beautiful Rosenborg Castle. The vault uses the most advanced anti-theft technology to ensure that Denmark's greatest treasures are kept safe and sound. Not coincidentally, this vault is also home to other precious national treasures, such as the crown jewels of the Danish royal family, which are on display behind thick bulletproof glass out of the reach of tourists and robbers alike. Hundreds of sensors are constantly vigilant for the slightest sign of trouble, and at the slightest whiff of risk, the ultra-secure environment shuts down tighter than Fort Knox - with 8 inch thick steel doors slamming shut in an instant - entrapping anybody caught inside the vault - long before escape is possible.

The frikadeller recipe is a closely guarded secret!
Ok, ok! So none of this is true about the secret location of the frikadeller recipe, the official smørrebrød list, or even the handwritten Frikadeller recipe, but Rosenborg Castle is real, it is highly secure, and it is in Copenhagen. As a child, my imagination was captivated by the seemingly impenetrable safe, and I assumed that it housed secrets even more wonderful than the priceless treasures actually on display - treasures like the secrets of smørrebrød.

Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen
Rosenborg Castle was built in the Dutch Renaissance style in 1606 and was used as a summer residence by King Christian IV as well as other Danish kings. Today, the castle serves as a museum, with many interesting historical artefacts on display including the original crown from the coronation of King Christian IV himself in 1596. Find out more about the Rosenborg Castle museum here.

All this is very interesting, but I am sure that by now you are dying to know how to make frikadeller! So enough of the suspense - here is what you need to know:

Use good meat and grind it yourself
To begin with, frikadeller can be made from different types of ground meat including beef, veal, and pork. I believe the best frikadeller have at least 50% pork, and to ensure the tastiest meat balls, you should use the best possible lean meat you can buy - for instance pork loin, veal cutlets, and so on. This means you'll have to grind the meat yourself (or ask the butcher to do it for you), since typical store ground meats are very high in unnecessary fat. You will find the recipe for frikadeller below.

In terms of using frikadeller for smørrebrød, this is very common in Denmark as a way of using up leftovers from the previous night's dinner, and there are actually a few different accompaniments that you can use - agurkesalat, rødkål, asier and even pickled red beets - all of these sweet and sour toppings compliment the light, savory flavour of meat balls when eaten on top of buttered Danish rye bread.

Variety is the spice of life!
Ingredients for making frikadeller:

Grind pork, veal and onion
together a few times

  • 250 grams of finely ground pork
  • 250 grams of finely ground veal
  • 1 medium onion, ground finely along with the meat
  • 1 large egg
  • 350 ml soda water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 tbsp flour (rye or wheat)
  • a pinch or two of ground all-spice
  • freshly ground pepper to taste
  • Butter for frying
Instructions

1) Combine all the ingredients (except the butter) in a bowl. The mixture should be quite moist and soft.

Frikadeller ingredients - ready to mix!
Mixture too soft to handle
2) Place a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat, and then melt a couple of table spoons of butter in the frying pan. You will be frying the meatballs in batches.

3) Using a pair of spoons, form the meatballs and place them, one-by-one, in the hot frying pan. Don't put too many frikadeller in the pan at once, or they will boil instead of fry! The frikadeller should not be touching.

Form frikadeller with a couple of spoons 
4) Cook the meatballs for about 3 minutes, and then flip gently (I use a couple of knives for this manoeuvre).  

Fried in batches - don't add too many to the pan at once!
5) Cook for 3 minutes more and then remove the frikadeller to a separate platter. Add more butter and then fry another batch.

6) Once you are  ready for smørrebrød, butter a pice of dark Danish rye bread, slather it with Dijon mustard, place a couple of sliced meatballs on the mustard, and then top it with an appropriate pålæg (for instance, agurkesalat or even dill pickles). Make sure you enjoy with a cold lager beer and a fork & knife.