Danish cuisine

The cuisine of Denmark, like other Scandinavian countries (Sweden and Norway) and northern Europe in general, as in Germany, is made of heavy, rich dishes in fat and carbohydrates. This is due to its agricultural tradition and the cold climate, characterized by stringent and long winters.

Before the country industrialization (about 1860), subsistence agriculture, managed by families, individually, was the main economic activity in Denmark. Imported products were rare, leading to dining habits determined by local products: cereals, dairy products, pork, fish, apples, plums, carrots, potatoes, onions, beer and bread. The Danes consume various salads and cooked vegetables but served cold. Among these, besides those already mentioned, include the cauliflower and sugar beet. They are also appreciated the pickled vegetables such as cucumber, onion, cabbage and beet slices. These are often made and stored at home .



The national dish is smørrebrød (translated literally, bread and butter). Smørrebrød open sandwiches which are mainly eat for lunch and usually consist of fish or cold meat salads and various types on a dark bread typically Danish, called rugbrød.

The hot meal national character may be pork in the oven with auburn potatoes, boiled red cabbage and brown gravy (known as flæskesteg). Are still quite popular the meatballs to the Danish style, known as frikadeller, the hakkebøf , the hamburgerryg kogt  and the flæsk stegt.

The sauces are widely used and can be found, for example, on the menus of outlets typically Danish sausages known as pølsevogn. Medisterpølse and polse rød are examples of Danish sausages. Danish hot dogs can also be supplemented with a preparation onion base called ristede log .

On the island of Bornholm, there is a great tradition of smoked herring consumption.  In the past, when it was not possible to eat all finished herring smoking on the same day, was preparing the next day called Bornholm æggekage, consisting of an omelette with smoked herring.

At Christmas time, Denmark also has its typical sweets such as risengrød a rice pudding with milk, sugar and cinnamon, and butter spread on it to give a Danish touch. It is known as the dish that Santa and his elves eat.

There are also some cookies called pebernødder, consisting of a mixture of cinnamon, nuts and pepper, may be encountered during the Christmas season everywhere, children and adults.
This time, it is also the traditional Aebleskiver, with a mass similar to pancakes. It has, however, a ball form and is consumed with jam and sugar. There are references to this sweet since the sixteenth century.

In addition to the sweets, there are also typical dishes of the Christmas season, such as roast beef flæskesteg  and its acompanhamamento brunede kartofler, consisting of potatoes with caramel and roasted goose Gase steg. The baked goods are often accompanied by a brown sauce known as sovs brun.