Greenland Passage

Smørrebrød is simply buttered bread. But the Danes, not usually a people given to excess (except for weekend alcohol consumption) don't leave it at that. Instead, they create works of art you can eat. The toppings can be meat, fish, vegetable, whatever you like. Here it's herring from Bornholm, a Danish island closer to the Swedish, German and Polish coasts than Copenhagen. This version was served to me at Promenaden, one of the fancier eateries at Tivoli Gardens, operated by the local Nimb restaurant group. The bread must be the dense Danish rye found everywhere. Dark in color, tasted on its own or with just butter the bread is sour to the point of tartness, especially when sliced, baked to dry it out and served like a bagel chip with beer. But the bread finds its natural habitat topped with a generous smear of butter, and the fixings. The protein can be any form of meat or seafood imaginable, but some vegetable crunch, whether in the form of a little bit of onion or the ...

For lunch before erev Yom Kippur I sinned by eating this sandwich. As noted earlier the Danes love porcine products and here is the ribbensteg sandwich: thick slices of fresh pork belly roasted then pan fried, topped with a mayo dressing, some pickle slices and cabbage. In restaurants the meat would be served with boiled potatoes. This sandwich (crispy, fatty meaty deliciousness) came from the same shop that supplied my rullepølse.

My introduction to Danish culture began 30 years ago with r ullepølse , when Retta Johnson, Jean Sue's step-mom, served it to me at lunch. I was smitten. Hygge may be comforting, but nothing matches the cured meaty goodness of this cold cut. Retta served it to me in her Racine, Wisconsin, home, a community which once claimed to be the home of more Danes than any city in the world save Copenhagen. I doubt the veracity of that boosterism, but certainly Danish heritage is strong in that Lake Michigan city. Rullepølse is meat and tied tightly with seasonings, wet cured, simmered, then pressed into its traditional vaguely rectangular form. In Racine it is usually made from lamb breast, although one butcher in town uses pork which, it turns out, is much more traditional in the homeland where pigs reign. The pork version is what I purchased during my visit to Torvehallerne, Copenhagen's food hall with about 60 merchants, mostly serving lunch but plenty to bring home in the ...