danish sandwiches

i've been meaning to share what the sandwiches that go into sabin's lunch box look like. of course, you can encounter sandwiches in denmark that look like you know them to look--with bread, something in the middle and another piece of bread on top. but, most sandwiches in denmark are open-faced. it's called smørrebrød, which literally translates as buttered bread.

this is a batch i made for lunch eaten out in the garden one day. the farthest ones are skinkesalat--ham salad. the two reddish-colored ones with a dollop of mayo on them are makrel i tomat--mackerel fish that comes in a can in tomato sauce (it's delicious). the lone white one at the back had two circles of goat cheese w/salt & pepper (that was for me, nobody else around here likes goat cheese). the ones with crispy fried onions on top (a bit like those french's kind you put on a green bean casserole at thanksgiving, only smaller pieces) are leverpostej, which is arguably the danish national pålæg. pålæg is anything that you put on bread--it can be anything from paté (which is what leverpostej is--a pork liver-based paté) to salami to ham to chicken to dried fruit concoctions (kind of like fruit-leathers in sandwich-size) to chocolate. yes, you can buy chocolate in thin pieces that are specially made for eating on bread--we'll send you some when we send early back to you.

as you can see above, i generally serve some veggies--tomato, cucumber, carrots, corn--on the side and that particular day, i had used the juicer and made up an orange-carrot-apple juice to go with our lunch.

the bread the sandwiches are placed on is a delicious, dark rye bread that has a lots of body. danes know how to do good bread. and it's healthy too. there is a whole set of unwritten rules about what kind of topping goes on which bread, but i'll save that for another day.

on a more normal everyday basis, sabin has one of each of these sandwiches in her lunch box:

that's a good hard sausage called spegepølse (would we call it summer sausage?) on the left and again leverpostej with a drizzle of mayo (ours comes in a squeeze bottle) and some of those ristetløg (crispy onions) on top. those are favorites. i generally give her four sandwiches of this size--one of each of these, sometimes one with the chocolate, sometimes mackerel, sometimes tuna, chicken or just cheese. we have a tupperware in the fridge where we keep all of the pålæg and i try to buy a good variety so her lunches don't get too boring, because although it's possible for her to buy lunch at school, they changed the provider around christmas and she doesn't like the new one, so we never order the school lunch. most kids bring their own lunch from home. they eat in their own classroom and we order milk for her on a semester-basis, so she gets a little half-pint of milk with her lunch every day.

one last picture. it's not really of a lunch box lunch, but sabin wanted me to share it. it's a brunch she got one day at a cafe down by the harbor and she thought you'd like to see it.

honeyed walnuts, brie, a crepe-style pancake (that's the one that's sticking up in the center), bacon & scrambled eggs, plus a bowl of yogurt with museli. sabin wanted me to let you know she ate it all! as you can see, she drank a coke with it. it was more lunch time than breakfast, so we decided that was ok.

and that's how our lunches go on this side of the pond. :-)