Danish cuisine originated from the peasant population's own local produce and was enhanced by cooking techniques developed in the late 19th century and the wider availability of goods during and after the Industrial Revolution. Open sandwiches, known as smørrebrød, which in their basic form are the usual fare for lunch, can be considered a national speciality when prepared and garnished with a variety of ingredients. Hot meals are typically prepared with meat or fish. Substantial meat and fish dishes includes flæskesteg (roast pork with crackling) and kogt torsk (poached cod) with mustard sauce and trimmings. Ground meats (pork, veal or beef) became widespread during the industrial revolution and traditional dishes that are still popular include frikadeller (meat balls), karbonader (breaded pork patties) and medisterpølse (fried sausage). Denmark is known for its Carlsberg and Tuborg beers and for its akvavit and bitters, but amongst the Danes themselves imported wine has gained steadily in popularity since the 1960s.
Cooking in Denmark has always been inspired by foreign and continental practises and the use of imported tropical spices like cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg and black pepper can be traced to the Danish cuisine of the Middle Ages and some even to the Vikings.
Since the early 2000s, some Danish chefs have developed the new Danish cuisine, an way of cooking based on high-quality local produce. This new philosophy and cuisine has attracted the attention of, and been celebrated by, the international gourmet community. It has contributed with a considerable number of highly acclaimed restaurants in Copenhagen and the province, with some of them awarded Michelin stars.
History
Danish cooking is rooted in the peasant dishes served across the country before the Industrial Revolution in 1860. It was based on the need to make use of natural products available on or near the family farm. As a result, a variety of brassicas, bread, fish, pork, and later potatoes, were eaten everywhere. Families had their own storage of long-lasting dry products, rye for making bread, barley for beer, dried peas for soup, and smoked or salted pork."La cuisine danoise" , Ambassade du Danemark Luxembourg. Retrieved 6 December 2011. Industrialization brought an increase in the consumption of fresh meat and vegetables, but rye bread and potatoes continued to be staples."Histoire de la gastronomie danoise", Le Danemark, ses produits et sa gastronomie, Sirha, 22-26 janvier 2011, Eurexpo Lyon". Retrieved 6 December 2011. With the arrival of dairy cooperatives in the second half of the 19th century, milk also gained favor, although all kinds of dairy products have been consumed in lesser quantities for millennia. The introduction of wood-burning stoves and meat grinders contributed to a range of new dishes including frikadeller (meat balls), medisterpølse (fried ground meat sausage), hakkebøf (meat patties of beef), karbonaderAlso known as krebinetter. See (breaded pork meat patties), meat loafs, roast pork, poached cod, and stegt rødspætte (breaded plaice). Desserts of stewed fruits or berries such as rødgrød date from the same period, as do a large variety of cakes and cookies.
Over the centuries, sausage, which was not only economical but could be kept for long periods, was together with rye bread behind the development of smørrebrød. By the end of the 18th century, there were several different kinds of sausage but the preparation of cold meat products developed rapidly in the 1840s when the French butcher Francois Louis Beauvais opened a business in Copenhagen. In the 1880s, Oskar Davidsen opened a restaurant specializing in smørrebrød with a long list of open sandwiches. Leverpostej (liver pâté) became available in grocery shops at the end of the 19th century but it was some time before its price was comparable with that of cold cuts. Around the same time, the one-hour lunch break which had allowed people to enjoy a hot midday meal was shortened to 30 minutes, encouraging them to take a few pieces of smørrebrød to work in a lunch box. In the 1920s and 1930s, tomatoes and cucumbers were added as a topping to the cold cuts. In the 1940s, Henry Stryhn popularized leverpostej by making deliveries around Copenhagen on his bicycle.Bettina Buhl, "Pålæg – fladt eller højtbelagt – en historisk køkkenvandring", Dansk Landbrugsmuseum. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
In the 1960s and 1970s, with the availability of deep frozen goods, the concept of fast food arrived together with an interest in Mediterranean dishes as Danes travelled more widely. By the 1990s, ingredients were being imported from the south while new products were farmed at home, providing a basis for a developing interest in gourmet dishes. Much of the inspiration came from France, as Danish chefs went on television explaining how to prepare dishes such as canard à l'orange or authentic sauce Béarnaise. A younger generation of chefs soon started to travel abroad themselves, learning how to adapt the expertise of French and Spanish chefs to the use of local ingredients as a basis for creating beautifully presented, finely flavored Nordic dishes. As a result, in recent years Danish chefs have helped to put Denmark on the world gastronomic map, with several Michelin-starred restaurants in Copenhagen and the provinces.
New Danish cuisine
Danish cuisine has also taken advantage of the possibilities inherent in traditional recipes, building on the use of local products and techniques that have not been fully exploited. Local products such as rapeseed, oats, cheeses and older varieties of fruits are being rediscovered and prepared in new ways both by restaurants and at home, as interest in locally sourced organic foods continues to grow. The Nordic Council's agricultural and food ministers have supported these developments in the form of a manifesto designed to encourage the use of natural products from the Nordic countries in the food production industry, while promoting the "purity, freshness, simplicity and ethics" associated with the region's cuisine."Denmark Special" , Food & design, #9 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
In 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014 the Copenhagen restaurant Noma (short for nordisk mad – Nordic food) was named the world's best restaurant by the magazine Restaurant."Noma" , The S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
In 2012, the Danish chef and food activist Claus Meyer had his own show about Nordic cuisine on BBC Lifestyle."New Scandinavian Cooking" , BBC Lifestyle. Retrieved 12 December 2011. His recent book Almanak contains 365 new cuisine recipes, one for each day of the year.Meyer, Claus: Almanak, Copenhagen, Lindhardt og Ringhof, 2010, 694 p. Extent 694 s.
Main meals
Most Danes have three regular meals a day, usually consisting of a cold breakfast with coffee or tea, a cold lunch at work and a hot dinner at home with the family. Some also have a snack in the middle of the afternoon or in the late evening. Meat, especially pork, is by far the most common ingredient of hot meals. It is usually accompanied by potatoes and sometimes by another vegetable such as carrots or lettuce. Most hot meals consist of only one course: starters are fairly rare but desserts such as ice cream or fruit are a little more frequent. Beer and wine are fairly common drinks at mealtimes but so are soft drinks, plain water and, to a lesser extent, milk and coffee.Unni Kjærnes (ed.), "Eating Patterns: A Day in the Lives of Nordic Peoples", National Institute for Consumer Research, Lysaker, Norway, 2001, p. 13 et seq. Retrieved 6 December 2011. Many families follow the old traditions. Mothers and fathers cook together and teach their children how to cook. Meals form an important part of family life, allowing for socializing and contributing to the sense of the wellbeing and coziness known as hygge., @llo' Expat Denmark. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
Breakfast
The basic Danish breakfast consists of coffee, or tea, and rye bread, white bread, or rolls with cheese or jam. Bread at breakfast time most often comes in the form of a white loaf known as franskbrød (French bread), a baguette, or a variety of white or brown rolls (boller, birkes, rundstykker, håndværkere) or croissants."Dagligt Brød" , Møllebageriet.dk. Retrieved 7 December 2011. The bread is usually buttered and topped with soft or creamy cheese, sausage, pâté, cured cold meat or jam. On festive gatherings or when time permits, as on Sundays, for example, a variety of bread rolls can be included as well as wienerbrød (Vienna bread), as Danish pastry is known in Denmark. Fruit juice, mostly orange or apple, and sometimes a bitter such as Gammel Dansk, may also be served, especially when breakfast is served to guests or on special occasions and celebrations like birthdays and anniversaries.Else-Marie Boyhus and Claus Meyer, "Breakfast" , Denmark.dk. Retrieved 5 December 2011. In Danish hotels, soft-boiled eggs and cold meats are usually served for breakfast, too."Les repas" , VisitDanmark.fr. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
On weekdays, various cereals, such as corn flakes, muesli or rolled oats, are often served for breakfast with just cold milk and sugar. Soured milk products are popular, too, and are served either plain or with cereals or fruit. The typical local soured milk product of ymer is topped with ymerdrys, a mixture of dried grated rye bread and brown sugar. Porridges such as oatmeal and a traditional local porridge called øllebrød are also popular on work days. Øllebrød, a thin porridge cooked with bits of rye bread, hvidtøl, water, and sugar, and served with milk or sometimes whipped cream, is gaining in popularity as reflected on the breakfast menus of many cafés.
Lunch
Rather than eating at home, most Danes have a quick lunch at work or school either in the cafeteria, if there is one, or more often in the form of a packed lunch or madpakke prepared before they leave home. Lunch is usually a cold meal consisting of a few simply prepared pieces of smørrebrød (often referred to as håndmad, i.e. hand-food) with slices of cold meat, sliced sausage or hard-boiled egg. Leverpostej, a liver pâté prepared from pig's liver and lard, is also frequently used as a spread."Danish lunch" , Denmark.dk. Retrieved 5 December 2011.
Dinner For the average family, dinner is the one meal of the day where everyone can be gathered, due to the pressures of the modern life where both parents are likely to work, and the children are in school or pre-school institutions. Dinner usually consists of just one main course, often a meat dish with potatoes and a vegetable or salad. Starters are seldom served at home. If there is a dessert, it is likely to be ice cream or a fruit dish. Much more substantial dinners are served on weekends, special occasions or when guests have been invited.
Confusingly, the evening meal is sometimes called middag (midday) because hot meals were formerly served in the middle of the day. The variety of evening meals has developed as a result of the increasing availability of foods from supermarkets as well as the development and growth of the local food industry. As a result of American influence, there is now considerable interest in barbecues, salad buffets and ready-to-serve dishes. Italian-inspired preparations, including pizza and pasta, have also become common options. Meat is very popular, pork ranking as the most frequently served. Cuts are often prepared in the frying pan and accompanied by gravy and potatoes.Else-Marie Boyhus and Claus Meyer, "Dinner" , Denmark.dk. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
Open sandwiches