Can a Chef Cook THIS Random International Dish? | A-Z Challenge D: DENMARK

It’s challenge time! Chef Ben must spin the wheel and cook a dish from a Mystery country! Today’s country begins with D. Which country will it be? Will they get the dish right?!

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[dennisoestermann]

As a Danish Chef, when you make our frikadeller, you dont use sage, garlic and nutmeg. For 500 grams of fatty mince (traditionally pork & veal but most uses plain pork) you use 100 grams oats, 1-2 chopped onions, 2 eggs, 100 grams of flour, good amount of salt, bit heavy on the pepper and either at least 200 grams whole milk or cream.
Beat the mince with salt, add in onion, eggs, oats, flour and pepper and beat it again. Slowly add in the milk/cream while mixing. When the mixture is combined and very soft, let it rest for at least 20 min, so the flour and oats will suck up all that milky goodness. Now you can fry them in butter and neutral oil until they get a nice browning and are cooked completely through.
You can always substitue oats with breadcrumbs and substitute some of the milk with sparkling water. The sparkling water makes them a bit more "fluffy".

For the sauce, make it darker. We danes loves brown food and not pale foods. A typical brown sauce is just like a thin bechamel made in the pan, with some brown coloring (kulør). And as always good amount of salt and pepper. And we dont cook the frikadeller in the sauce. We are not barbarians :P

The brown potatoes. You did almost right. Use asparagus potatoes. Boil them, peel of the skin and cool. Make a caramel with sugar. Add a healthy amount of butter. Add the potatoes and let them enjoy them self for at least 20 min at low heat, while you stirr a few times. And remember to add a pinch of salt to the caramel to enhance the flavour. The potatoes can easily be in the pan for more than 1 hour. It can't be rushed.

We often eat braised and pickled red cabbage and some pickled veggi (pumpkin, cucumber ect) to cut through the fatty and sometimes sweet foods.

[TheDon]

Another Dane here: Love that you did our country and great effort! Frikadeller are usually fried in butter or margarine and are NOT served in a sauce, like you would with Swedish meatballs. Many sides can accompany frikadeller, a popular option is boiled potatoes and "stuvet hvidkål" (cabbage stewed in bechamel).

[ellen]

As a Dane, I feel like I should say that we do usually have our caramelized potatoes at Christmas as a side dish, along with braised red cabbage. So Ben wasn't far off when he said that it needed something like fermented cabbage on the side to cut through the sweetness! 😅

[sofieudklitsrensen]

As a Dane, I was pretty excited to see what you'd be doing with this episode! Have to be honest though: that's just not frikadeller. It's a type of meat ball, sure, but the reference you showed is off from how Danes define frikadeller. Frikadeller are usually never cooked in sauce but in plenty of butter so they get nice and crispy on the outside. Gravy on the side. Sage is definitely not traditional either, but I'm sure it's tasty, just not exactly Danish ;) I actually find traditional frikadeller rather boring, but I couldn't help but be disappointed in the research for this episode 😅

[Zypressq]

As a Dane i wouldnt reeeeaally say that you made frikadeller, seems very swedish. They are normally with a brown gravy on the side and not cooked in a creamy white sauce. Not so much balls, just cooked crispy on two sides, so a little more flat. The æbleskiver looked good, but too many add ons. But its a very good effort 😁 Thanks for giving it a good go!

[hdhhdfm]

As a Dane I'm a bit confused by the picture you compared the frikadeller with because in my opinion those are Swedish meatballs. Frikadeller are usually oblong and flatter and the sauce is browner and often served on the side. Good job on the candied potatoes and æbleskiver though. I absolutely love this series ❤

[jenschristiantvilum]

Danish home cook here. Love your shows!
I'm sure there's been many suggestions for the recipes in the comments. Especially on the frikadeller, since they are the classic "how mom used to make them"-food in Denmark. But no matter what, you are making them much more complicated (almost fancy) than they are. If you go for the classic, Danish cookbook called "Frøken Jensens Kogebog" ("Miss Jensen's Cookbook") this is the recipe for 4 persons:
Mix 400 g minced pork 1½ tsp. salt.
Mix in 2 tbsp. wheat flour, 1 egg, 1 tbsp. grated onion, and pepper.
Mix in 1½ dl milk and let the mix rest in the fridge for an hour.
Take it out and work it through. If necessary add a bit mor milk.
Shape the frikadeller with a wet spoon and fry them in a frying pan in "golden butter". Use "not to strong" heat, since they need to be cooked through before they brown. They should not be round, but more oval with a flat (browned) top and bottom. They should be flipped and not cooked on all sides
You would normally serve them with pealed, boiled potatoes and stewed cabbage or a Danish brown sauce.
Again, this is a dish that is so different from family to family, but this is the old, base recipe.
They have basically nothing in common with Swedish meat balls and should not be served in a sauce.

The caramelized potatoes are usually served together with pork- or duck-roasts for Christmas or other special occasions. Not with frikadeller which is a standard midweek dish.

The æbleskiver (meaning apple slices) were very good. You would normally do both the egg-separation AND raising agent. Also you would usually make them with buttermilk (which is also used in Danish pancakes btw.). Originally you would put slices of apple or applesauce in the middle, but today people would be surprised (and weirded out) if you did. You eat them by dipping them in jam (or marmalade) or icing sugar (as you did) - or sometimes just normal sugar.
They are largely served at Christmas, and if you go to a Christmas market you are certain to be able to buy them.
They are such a classic that most people don't make them themselves but buy them frozen in the store. And the frozen ones are quite good.

Sorry for the long comment, but I know you guys like to learn stuff.
Again: I love you guys' videos - and Ben: Your info is very useful!

[sandreid]

Frikadeller usually don't go with the browned or caramelized potatoes, but I'll give a pass, since they are both iconic :P
But one is a traditional mid-week meal (Frikadeller), and the two others are for christmas, only (Æbleskiver and Brunede kartofler) :D

Frikadaller are usually much larger than Swedish Meatballs. Swedish meatballs are small and round. While frikadeller are larger, oval, and flat. Usually the flour goes into the mince (That's what the egg is for - You have to cook the minced pork all the way through anyways). You can both use pork, or a pork/veal mixture, traditionally :)
Any sauce is made seperately, too. But all in all, great job! :D

Usually you'd want to go with as small potatoes as possible, makes it easier to caramellise them, and you get more caramel per potato 🤤

[Mimerss]

First off I want to thank you guys for finally cooking some of our food! It's really nice to feel included <3
Secondly, to answer some of your questions; Generally brune kartoffler, is not eaten with frikadeller, as it is actually one of our Christmas dishes - you mentioned wanting something sour with them, and for that we eat 'asier'! Also commonly use repsgelé, and waldorf salat, which is sort of like a fruit salad, but with whipped cream in it :D
The æbleskiver are also mostly a Christmas tradition, and they are eaten whenever you feel like it, i.e, you've got family members over, and serve them as a snack, they are most commonly eaten with jam and powdered sugar on the side, so you dip them in it!
Frikadeller is a staple of any house here, and are very commonly eaten for dinner.
Thanks again, and hope this sheds some light on it all :D <3

[eivind]

This is probably my favourite current series on the channel. Interesting to see both brand new foods, and new takes on food you're already familiar with - especially when we get to compare the final, semi-improvised result to the real deal. I'm not Danish, but I AM a fellow Scandinavian, and I'd never heard of that potato dish before. Well cooked!

[mortenjensen]

Dane here 😊
I've never heard of caramelized potatoes with frikadeller. As someone mentioned earlier, they're a classic side for the Christmas meal, which in my mind, is roast duck, alongside pickled red cabbage and other pickles. Not to forget the country dividing salty crisps :)

They also go great with creamed spinach and ham :)

Great job guys, looked good 👍

[Anna_TravelsByRail]

That spin at the end and how the normals responded to it was absolutely fabulous. 😂

[parasztphone]

It's always nice to see Ebbers using all his knowledge all of his and technical skills in the kitchen, while still remaining enthusiastic after all these years. Great format Guys!

[ToppyTree]

I love how international your audience is. There's always a local in the comments

[clarissagafoor]

Has sortedfood ever considered doing a session in how to cook the types of foods people in the UK find in food banks? We keep hearing that more and more need to use these, and it'd be great to have Ben find ways to make cheap, nutritious tasty dishes with such ingredients.

[ChokyoDK]

As a Dane I feel honored that you cooked some of our food on your show. It's always fun to see your small Country pop up on your favorite cooking channel.

[princessyih]

I usually only have caramelized potatoes on christmas, and always with braised red cabbage.
Æbleskiver is usually a december thing, eaten at any gathering related to Christmas.
Swap the frikadeller for Roast Pork, and it's basically what most of us eat on Christmas Eve (24th).
Love your videos 🥰

[Emmamelk]

So happy to see danish food on the channel. Ben is absolutely right about the fermented cabbage missing. Usually, it would be frikadeller, brunede kartofler, a brown sauce and braised red cabbage as a Keal in the winther, with æbleskiver served with raspberry jam and powdered sugar as a afternoon treat at Christmas time

[BroccoliDwarf]

Lots of things you guys go about the wrong way in this one 😅

First - and by far most importantly - when making "frikadeller" (Danish meatballs), you need to start off working salt into the pork mince (beat it thoroughly for a while - your arm will get tired - or you can use a mixer 😉), until it changes colour and becomes slightly stringy.

You do this to help retain moisture, both in the raw mix and when frying... and if you don't do it, you end up with a much drier and less flavoursome end result.

Only after working the salt in, do you add the other ingredients.

It's a good idea to blend the onion finely (almost like a puree) instead of chopping it, to not get semi-cooked bits of onion in the finished product, and a more even distribution of flavour.

Because of working the salt into the mince earlier, you don't need to use as much flour as a binding agent (and you don't need to coat them in flour before frying)... some even forego using flour altogether, and just use egg only as a binding agent.

You can consider replacing the milk with sparkling water, the CO2 gives you a lighter more spongy end result (good tip for the lactose intolerant), or you can use chicken or pork stock to bulk up on flavour.

You want the mince mixture slightly loose, if you can roll it in your hands like you do in the video, it is much too tight... think the consistency of cooled down slightly stiffened porridge.

Now let the mixture rest at least half an hour in the fridge before frying, to let it firm up a bit and let the flavours blend.

We tend to fry them in an oblong shape, rather than round (like the Swedes), a typical Danish "frikadelle", will roughly have the shape and size of a large chicken egg (most shape them using a tablespoon and the palm of their hand, both slightly wetted with water so it doesn't stick as much).

Also we don't soak "frikadeller" in a sauce, that's a Swedish thing for their "köttbullar". We roast them at medium/high heat in a mixture of oil and frothy butter, to get a dark brown caramelization and a slight crust, while maintaining the soft and juicy inside, and serve sauce/gravy on the side.

Last, but not least... nobody in Denmark serves the caramalised potatos with "frikadeller"... they are for more salty dishes, like roast pork shoulder with crackling... "frikadeller" are usually served with boiled peeled potatoes, pork gravy and something acidic, like either a cold pickled cucumber salad or red cabbage braised in red wine.