Dyrlægens Natmad - takes time, but it's worth it!

Dyrlægens Natmad, along with Sol Over Gudhjem, is one of the very few named Danish open-faced sandwiches. The name translates to Veterinarian’s Night Snack, which always struck me as odd as a child, since the sandwich contains a lot of meat and I assumed that the name was implying that the veterinarian was eating his former patients!

The sandwich is sinfully delicious, made from paté, rich meat aspic (called sky in Danish), and a kind of corned beef (called saltkød - I make it from silverside veal). Frankly, because of the meaty ingredients, I always thought it would have made more sense to refer to the sandwich as the Vegetarian’s Nightmare. Anyway, it’s eaten on buttered Danish rye bread, or better yet, rendered bacon fat, and it’s super delicious - like nothing else in this world. Trust me.   

Grocery shopping in Denmark is different! (Images from Super Best and Nemlig)

If you live in Denmark, the ingredients for this sandwich are readily available in the supermarket, but if you live in North America, like I do, you’ll just have to make the ingredients yourself. And this will require some planning and coordination, since pretty much each and every darn element of this sandwich takes time and plenty of manual labour. 

Tycho Brahe and his nose...

As such, the Danish Degree of Difficulty for Dyrlægens Natmad is a Tycho Brahe Hard – not impossibly hard, just a lot of painstakingly detailed work – much like the accurate astronomical measurements carried about throughout the lifetime of Tycho Brahe, the notable Danish Astronomer of the late 1500s. 

The observations and precision work carried out by Brahe (1546-1601) ultimately contributed to Kepler’s Laws of planetary motion – one of the most revolutionary scientific discoveries of the time. You may not have known this, but Johannes Kepler was, in fact, assistant to Tycho Brahe, and thus had access to all of Brahe's astronomical measurements. Kepler used this data in figuring our the planetary motion, but who cares about Kepler? Let's just say that, thanks to Tycho Brahe, we know that our solar system is more than a giant celestial mobile hanging from some heavenly bedroom ceiling.

So what does this have to do with Smørrebrød? Nothing. But it is interesting and could – if greatly embellished with loads of artist license and maybe even a few outright falsehoods - allow me to concoct a plausible reason for how this week’s open-faced sandwich came to be tagged with an “official” name. So here is my version of the story...

The Round Tower

In the early 1600s, astronomy was really hot, thanks in part to the earlier work of Tycho Brahe. Apparently a sucker for a good fad, King Christian IV (1577-1648) commissioned the building of an astronomical observatory called Rundtårnen (or the Round Tower, which today is one of Copenhagen's most famous landmarks). Offering wonderfully unobstructed views over Copenhagen, the Round Tower was built with a 210 m long spiral ramp which climbed up the inside of the tour towards the observatory. This ramp was built as it was the King’s wish to be transported to the top of the Round Tower by horse carriage. It’s good to be the king! (By the way, if you want to learn more about King Christian IV, check out his Facebook page here)

The King’s horses were kept in a stable at the top of the Round Tower. Next to this stable there lived a veterinarian whose job it was to tend to the horses’ medical needs – should there be any. It was a lonely job, as royal visits to the observatory were few and far between. Anyway, rumour has it that the veterinarian often enjoyed his midnight snack by himself while looking out over the city of Copenhagen. His favourite midnight snack? You got it – paté, sky, saltkød on buttered rugbrød.
 Anyway, you get the picture...

The Round Tower's 210m spiral ramp - perfect for horses carrying kings

Actually, there does seem to be a generally accepted reason for the sandwich’s name – if you speak Danish, or know how to use Google Translate, you can read it here... ). Personally, I like my version of the “truth” better.

Copenhagen as viewed from the Round Tower

One last thing about Tycho Brahe from the “strange but true” file. Apparently, he lost his nose in a sword duel (It's all fun and games until somebody loses a nose!). In order to cover his injury, he wore a fake nose made of silver and gold making him the first bling’ed out astronomer. Pretty cool, eh? If you want to read more about Tycho Brahe’s nose, check this out... 

Making Dyrlægens Natmad

Step-by-step...

Now lets get down to the business of making this week's open-faced sandwich. First of all, you need dense Danish rye bread. You can find the recipe here.




Next, you want to cover it with either butter or rendered bacon fat (I like my bacon fat cooked with a bit of apple and thyme). 




Then, liberally spread a few tablespoons of Danish leverpostej (liver paté). You can find the leverpostej recipe here. If you were to stop at this point, you'd have a very tasty sandwich. But we're far from finished. 




Next comes a few thin slices of saltkød. Saltkød is basically like corned beef. Made from veal, you should use the silverside cut, which comes from the cattle hindquarter and explains the meat's characteristic multi-colour shimmer. 

Sliced saltkød - tender and meaty!

If you want to make saltkød, you first salt the meat to cure it, then you cook it in a flavoured broth to spice it. It takes about a day and a half to make - but most of the time is due to the curing process. You'll probably need to explain exactly what cut of meat you need to a butcher. Use this web page as a guide. It worked for me. The recipe for saltkød is below.

Sky - like precious gems in a spoon!

Still building vertically, you top the other meats with a few shiny cubes of sky, basically meat aspic. Making aspic from scratch (in other words without the addition of gelatine) takes more than a little while, in fact it takes an eternity. It involves slowly simmering meat, bones, and vegetables in water until it's all reduced to a very small amount of deeply brown liquid. You then strain it all, throw away the solid parts, and chill the rest until the aspic is set. What's that? Your aspic's not firm enough? You can always reheat it and continue the reducing process if you find that the aspic is not "tight" enough. In all, the entire process can take anywhere from 5-7 hours. So patience is needed - but homemade aspic tastes so good - the meaty richness just melts in your mouth and it adds so much character to Dyrlægens Natmad. You can find a recipe for sky at the bottom of this post.

Dyrlægens Natmad:
Wash it down with a beer!

Finally, crown the majestic smørrebrød by adding a few rings of crunchy red onions plus a small bunch of cress of radish sprouts. Then you are finally ready to savour the most Danish of open-faced sandwiches.



About Saltkød

Normally when making cured meats like saltkød or corned beef, the meat is first brined in a spiced salt solution for at least a week prior to cooking. I find that you can expedite the process by simply giving the meat a good salt rub the day before you are planning on cooking it - this helps to draw out the moisture and salts the meat. It may not be exactly the same, but since I'm not planning on bringing my saltkød on any month-long seafaring expeditions, I'm less concerned with the preservation properties, and more into how it tastes. This recipe works.     

Salted silverside veal shank

Ingredients for Saltkød

• 1 kg silverside veal shank (boned)
• 3 tbsp coarse salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1 parsnip, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 small celery root, peeled and chopped
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/4 tsp whole all-spice
• 1/4 tsp whole peppercorn
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 bunch parley
• 2 sprigs of thyme

Cooking saltkød - Get rid of the scum!

Instructions for making saltkød

1. Combine the salt and sugar, and rub it in to the veal, coating everywhere. Place the veal in a plastic bag and let sit in refrigerator for 24 hours.
2. Place the cured veal in large casserole.
3. Add the vegetables and spices and cover with water.
4. Heat until boiling and then reduce heat and simmer for about 45 minutes. Periodically, skim the foam that forms on top. 
5. Remove from heat, and allow the meat to cool thoroughly sitting in the broth.
6. Slice thinly and enjoy with Dyrlaegens Natmad!

About Sky

Instructions for making sky

1) Begin by placing the bones, meat and onion on a baking sheet, and then broil it under a hot broiler for about 5 minutes per side. This browns the meat and ultimately adds a richer flavour to the aspic.

Roasted meat and bones gives flavour and body!

2) Add the oil to a large pot and quickly sweat the vegetables over medium-high heat.

3) Add the wine, tomato paste and spices and simmer a few minutes.

4) Add the meat, bones, and onion to the pot and cover with water (about 3 litres).

Simmer for hours - you'll need patience.

5) Heat until just boiling and then reduce the heat and simmer. Make sure you do not disturb the ingredients in the pot for about 5 hours. You will need to periodically skim the foam off the top of the broth (this foam, if not removed, will end up affecting the taste and appearance of your stock).

6) When the liquid is sufficiently reduced, strain in a fine mesh sieve and discard meat and vegetables.

7) You should have 500ml or less. If you don't, return the liquid to a small pot and keep reducing slowly.

8) Once you've finished reducing the stock, add salt to taste, pour the liquid into a small clean container and allow it to cool completely in the refrigerator until the aspic is firmly set.

9) Enjoy atop a Dyrlægens Natmad or with a sharp Danish cheese like Samsø. Don't forget the fork and knife!

Ingredients

Sky is meat aspic. It takes time to make. If you want to cheat and make something quickly, just add some gelatine to beef broth. But don't tell your guests. They won't be excited by your ingenuity.

Ingredients for sky

• 1 kg beef bones
• 1 pork shank
• 300g beef cubes
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
• 1 parsnip, peeled and chopped
• 1 onion
• 1/2 bunch of parsley
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 cup of red wine
• a bit of olive oil
• Water
• Salt to taste

Pickled beets

Pickled red beets are a typical Danish smørrebrød topping (pålæg) that goes especially well with liver paté, as well as medisterpølse, and probably a few other open-faced sandwiches. You can often find decent pickled beets for sale in the grocery store, but if you are like me, and you like to grow your own beets in your garden, pickling beets yourself will allow you to get a tangier flavour that is spiced exactly to your liking. Furthermore, your pickled beets will almost surely be less mushy than the store bought variety (unless you like them that way - I don't).

Red beets with liver paté smørrebrød

Making pickled beets is a pretty messy, but easy, way of spending the afternoon. One warning! Watch out with the beet liquid - it can stain the heck out of anything it touches: your cutting boards, clothing, the family pet and, of course, your hands. After a day of pickling beets, your fingers will most likely look like they've been used to murder somebody. But not to worry, the stains on your hands and cutting board will wash away eventually! (I am not sure about clothing, but I would not want to try it to find out).

If you are shopping for groceries in Denmark, make sure you visit the main Magasin department store on Kongens Nytorv. In the basement, you will find a most excellent supermarket. Here you can purchase all sorts of ready-made smørrebrød pålæg, including a line of products by Danish chef Claus Meyer. His pickled beets are especially good...check them out here.  

Magasin, a great place to buy pålæg and so much more!

Here is the recipe for pickled beets that I use after harvesting my own beets in the autumn...yum!


Ingredients for 3x500ml jars

• 3 mason jars, clean
• 2kg beets, scrubbed clean, but not peeled
• 1 tbsp salt
• Pickling liquid, see below

Instructions

1. Add salt to water and bring to a boil in a large pot. 
2. Add the beets and cook until just tender (about 45 minutes depending on the size of the beets).
3. Drain the beets and allow to cool until you can handle them.
4. Peel the beets and then slice to the desired thickness (using a mandolin makes this go really fast, but you can use a knife).
5. Fill the jars with sliced beets, add then pour in pickling liquid to cover the beets.
6. Close jars and process in boiling water until sealed. 
7. Allow the beets to sit in a cool, dark environment for at least 2 weeks before using (better yet, one month, but I find it hard to wait).

Pickling Liquid Ingredients

• 1 liter vinegar
• 450 grams sugar
• 3 tbsp coarse salt
• 2 star anis, whole
• 2 gloves garlic, peeled
• 4 Bay leaves
• 8 cloves
• 20 whole All-spice seeds
• 15 black peppercorns
•  2 tsp Dill seed
• 1 tbsp thyme

Instructions

1. Note that you can adjust the various spices to your liking, but make sure to keep the proportions of vinegar, sugar and salt the same.
2. Combine all ingredients and simmer on medium heat until sugar and salt is completely dissolved.
3. Pour into mason jars with sliced beets while hot. Make sure to distribute the spices evenly into each jar.

This week's post will teach you how to make your own homemade Danish liver paté, called leverpostej, and provide you with a few examples of how to create very traditional smørrebrød using leverpostej and assorted toppings (pålæg). Here is one common example:

Simply good - leverpostej and pickled red beets

Meat Grinder - Not by Georg Jensen

Leverpostej is not particularly hard to make, but it does require a bit of special equipment, namely a meat grinder, and ideally a food processor (or a blender). Therefore, the Danish Degree of Difficulty for leverpostej is Georg Jensen Medium.  Georg Jensen was a Danish silversmith born in 1866 in Rådvad, Denmark. A proponent of the Art Nouveau style, Georg Jensen's works were defined by simple organic beauty, and while, to my knowledge, he never made leverpostej, if he had, it would have undoubtedly been very beautiful. Check out Georg Jensen here.

The Royal Café and
Georg Jensen on
Amagertorv in
central Copenhagen 

In fact, if you are in Copenhagen, you can visit the main Georg Jensen flagship store and see the beautiful works of art, silverware and jewellery in person. Located right in the centre of the city, in the heart of the pedestrian walking street called Strøget, Georg Jensen is located right next door to an excellent locale for sampling gourmet Danish smørrebørd - The Royal Café. Check out their website here.

Nestled in between TWO of the most iconic shops in the city (Georg Jensen and the Royal Copenhagen ceramic company), the Royal Café aims to blend Danish smørrebørd flavours with Japanese aesthetics and refers to their small, expensive, but lovely sandwiches as Smushis. It's a bit of a stupid name - I am not surprised that it hasn't taken off internationally with a name like that - but it is a lot easier to pronounce than smørrebørd. And they do taste super good.

Smushis at the Royal Café

See? It is gross.

In order to make leverpostej (and most any other paté), you need to thoroughly combine meat, fat, and flavouring spices into a thick paste which you bake gently in a bain marie. You can use either pork or veal liver, but I prefer the taste when using veal. Veal liver is generally a bit more expensive, but to me it's worth the difference in price. To be honest, making leverpostej is not for the squeamish. Liver itself looks like something out of a horror movie, and putting it through a meat grinder is downright nasty. But, if you live outside of Denmark and want the real thing, there is no other option but to tough it out (even if you live in Denmark, home-made leverpostej is far nicer than the store bought varieties).

There are a number of pålæg combinations that compliment leverpostej nicely, but perhaps the most typical combo is leverpostej with bacon and fried mushrooms. In order to make this smørrebørd, first you fry up a few strips of bacon, then fry sliced mushrooms quickly in the bacon fat. Organize these ingredients on neatly on top of buttered Danish rye bread, and you are ready to enjoy a delicious Danish treat. Sinfully good, the combination of toothsome bread, crispy bacon, earthy mushrooms, and light Danish paté turns any lunch into a luxurious meal that should be savoured with a clean, cold lager.

Leverpostej with bacon and fried mushrooms

If you are looking for a more casual smørrebørd, say a quick lunch and you don't have time for cooking, leverpostej with pickled red beets (syltede rødbeder) on Danish rye bread is simple, quick, and delightful. If you want to pickle your own beets, you can find an easy recipe here. Here's what to do in order to make Danish leverpostej:

Ingredients

Like I said - not pretty

• 400g pork or veal liver, sliced into pieces
• 200g pork fat, chopped
• 2 chicken livers
• 1 tbsp (heaping) wheat flour 
• 1 tsp (heaping) butter
• 200 ml beef broth
• 100 ml milk
• 1 egg
• 1 small white onion, chopped
• 4-5 anchovy filets
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 6 springs thyme
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice

Instructions
1) Using a meat grinder at the finest setting, pass the liver through the meat grinder twice.

2) Grind the pork fat, two times as well.

3) Make a thickening roux to help bind the paté together  - melt the butter over medium heat in a saucepan and add the flour, stirring to combine. Add the broth gradually while stirring and then add the milk. Cook gently over med-low heat while whisking constantly until the "batter" is smooth and thickened. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

4) Meanwhile, in a food processor or blender, process onion, egg, chicken liver and spices, until smooth.

5) Thoroughly combine ground liver, fat, roux, and blended ingredients together.

6) Pour mixture into 4-5 small aluminum baking pans and top each with a Bay leaf.

7) Place small baking pans into a larger one, and fill half way with warm water.
bake in an oven pre-heated to 350F (175C) for 35-40 minutes.

8) Remove cooked leverpostej and allow it to cool somewhat before using.

Leverpostej...ready to eat!

Note: You can also freeze the uncooked paté mixture and then place it right in the over when ready to eat it. In this case, bake for 45-50 minutes instead.