Delicous Copenhagen - Special Edition of Around the Kitchen Table

Hey everyone, I'm Chef Dennis Littley and welcome to a special edition of Around the Kitchen Table where we are, well, one of us is, coming live from Copenhagen. So Susan, oh, I'm so envious. You're in a beautiful city with great food and you must be loving life.

I really am, but let me tell you, by the end of this show, Chef Dennis Littley. Your eyes will have been opened. You will just see the nirvana of what you had no idea Scandinavian cooking really is. I promise you. So get ready for a treat. Put on your seatbelt and we're gonna have a good time.

So it sounds like a wonderful way to spend this afternoon. And you're right, I really don't know much about Scandinavian cooking, and I hate to tell you that my only real experience with it, and shame on me, was at Disney World at Norway. And the only thing I got from that was never eat brown cheese.

Well, let me tell you, I thought you were going to say Swedish meatballs at IKEA.

Oh no, no. Although I was just in IKEA the other day, so—

Okay, so that deepens your knowledge a little bit if you went anywhere near the café.

I was. I walked by it. It was busy. Well, let me pop up. We got some great comments here for you. Let me just pop them up real quick. Carmen Mandish is saying she was in Copenhagen about a month ago. It's great to return so soon. The event photos look great. Oh my God, do they ever.

Yeah, and I have a slideshow for you too, and it's a real foodie slideshow, so lots of treats to come.

I'm looking forward to it. Aslan Blore says she likes the sound of study and dissect the open-faced sandwiches.

We will, and Chef, this is where I want your input on how we can sort of Americanize them, which we can, and so we'll be talking about that.

Well, that sounds like a good way to do it. We have a new comment tracker, and even though it looks the same, it's not.

Yeah, I know, I know. But you know what, I would like to start by taking you around the apartment that I'm in.

Please do. Let's see where you're staying.

Yeah, so I rented this apartment. I like to rent an apartment. I have— first of all, let me just start out by saying that this is a very, very personal show for me, a very personal place. My parents are from Copenhagen they left Copenhagen after they were married. So the— and they were the only ones to do so. So the entirety of my family is here, and I've come here throughout my life. So it truly is a second home. And so I've grown up with the food, with the traditions, and it's, it's just a big part of really who I am. And we see that in my work as well. So And I love my family, but for a long time now I can't sleep on the futons anymore. I can't sleep on the futons, so what we've done is we've rented apartments. And I like to rent a different apartment every time because the architecture is killer here and the style and the design is killer here. Chef Dennis, we have— I just saw a comment from Karen Nielsen. Now she has a very large YouTube channel on Scandinavian cooking.

Wow.

And has a Google profile called Scandinavian Today, among I think a couple of other. Karen, please Please put your links in the comments because you are— I would like to say you are the man for about Scandinavian cooking, but you are the woman. And, and, you know, you, you instruct so well for these classic Scandinavian dishes. So she's in the house and I'm thrilled.

Well, that's great. Yeah, we'd love to have her on sometime too if she ever wants to join us.

Yeah, I know. I just didn't know if we could do this logistically this time around. So we will. I— yeah, we should do it. Definitely.

I don't know if you can go— if you've seen it, Carmen Mandich just posted a picture and it looks just amazing.

No, no, I don't want to click off.

Oh, that's okay. But anyway, we're running well now. So if you— yeah, one question too. You said you don't want to sleep on futons. Is that just because all the spare bedrooms are futons, or does everyone sleep on futons there?

Oh, no, no, no, it's, it's often spare bedrooms. The homes are very small and typically, and sometimes they will double as a second living area.

Okay.

So it's a little, you know, I really like to have a real bed when I come.

Everybody else sleeps on regular beds though.

Oh yes, oh yes, yes. So let me take you for a little walk around the apartment and I'll see Okay, so first I'm going to go out to the terrace. We have a terrace here. Let's see. And you can see the rooftops.

How nice.

Here is the view. We have some old, very old architecture. And lots of, you know, those red old rooftops.

And so are we talking 5 hours or 6 hours difference?

6.

6, okay.

6 hours. So now I will take you into the apartment, and this is the sort of a kind of a little sofa area here with a beautiful table and kind of a country but modern sort of design. And what I want to do is give you the full depth of the apartment, and that is— let's see—

oh, I love it.

Yeah, yeah, this is— yeah, we have fresh flowers. We have— so now let's walk down.

Is that a hula hoop?

You know what, I was wondering the same thing. I was wondering the same thing. So we're walking down here and here's a little vignette. It's a little, a little dark here. It's just starting to be dusk. Let me see here. I'm so sorry, I'm trying to find the right angle, but I do want to show you. It's just a little A little vignette here, and then we have, yeah, here's the typical sort of windows we have. This is the 5th floor, the top floor. So we have the, if you can see, let me point it down this way. I don't know, can you see the slanted? You can see the roof is slanted? Yeah, yeah.

I love those windows, the way they're cut out in that.

Oh, they're ridiculous. Here is the kitchen.

How sweet.

And this first tall door is the refrigerator, which is completely built in. So that's the refrigerator, and I'm going to save the best for last.

I know, I see you passing over the food. I caught little glimpses of it.

Over the food.

Here is—

then there's an entrance to the bedroom way back there. And the door—

is that a 1-bedroom or 2-bedroom?

It's a 1-bedroom.

That's a big apartment for a 1-bedroom.

Yeah, it is. And here's another window, and you can see it's just getting to be dusk, and it's actually after 9 o'clock here.

Wow.

And oh, let me show you the floors. I have to show you the floors. The floors are stunning. They are wide plank oak and they're just beautiful. Now this table is great too. Take a look at this table.

I know, I was getting a glimpse of that wood finish. It's beautiful.

It's beautiful. Now let's go a little bit closer. And I'll show you what we have. Take a look, Chef Dennis Littley. Oops, I'm so sorry. I just want to get the right—

Okay. Oh, wow.

So we have a little bit of a feast for you here. And we have some breads. Can you see those?

Yep. Yep.

And we even have some Danish— how about some Danish pastries?

Danish pastries from the home of the real deal.

This is not what you get in your deli. Not what you get in your deli. So What I want to do is, you know, Chef, let me tell you, let me tell everyone, our viewers. I'm gonna take a seat now.

Okay.

I wanted to do this show about open sandwiches because it's funny, it's, there's, I mean, we just don't do that here and they are so easy. They're creative, they're colorful. And, you know, I did a platter for an event. I never do them. I grew up with them and I never do them. Finally, one day I said, you know what, I'm going to do it. And I just kind of did my own thing and just kind of did some layers and then put a bunch of watercress on top of a few. They looked so— I mean, there was such a big reaction from people and it took nothing to put them together. Have you ever considered— have you ever considered doing those?

No, I honestly, I never thought of it. Because in the States, when you think open-faced sandwiches, right away you're thinking roast beef or roast pork, or, you know, something like that, or turkey. We never really think of open-faced in those terms. But that's an excellent idea. Now let me ask you a question. If you go into like a deli kind of place or a bar, is that the kind of sandwiches they'll have served out? Are they buffet, or are they made to order? Order? Or how would we get them?

Yeah, well, they're not really made to order. They, they have a long history, actually goes back to the 1800s. And they used to serve them in taverns, and then people used to make them. But yeah, you— they, they just wrap them up carefully, you buy them. It's not a deli type of place. I guess it is, but it's, it's more of a fresh Yeah, I guess it's a deli type of place. It doesn't look—

it looks similar to a deli, but it's not one of our kind of deli, but I mean, you're that kind.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Panini sandwich place, or— but I'm thinking, almost thinking like in terms of tapas too, like that, you know, because I know in the— long ago, tapas, some of them were made because the little plates used to sit on top of the drinks. And you know, I could see the sandwiches almost doing the same thing if they were on some kind of sturdy flatbread.

Well, yeah, but actually they're in a window case and so you just point to the ones you want and then they wrap them up. So yes, absolutely right. That's what they do. They have, you know, they're good and you have to have beer with them. You just do.

Is the beer cold there or is it warm?

Oh no, it's cold. It's always cold. Yeah. And there's all kinds of beer here too, but that's a staple. So would you like me to go through each one?

Yes.

Okay, so the first one, and I'm not sure what kind of fish this is, unfortunately. It's probably some kind of white fish, but very common to have a fish. Let's see.

Maybe if you hold— okay, or you can just hold the plate up if you want.

Yep. So here's one. I'm sorry, I moved it a little bit. And what we have is we have a piece of fried fish, but underneath we have a piece of bread. And typically it's some sort of multigrain or dark bread. Then let's see, what do we have? Then it's some kind— oh yes, it's some kind of relish on top, which is— yes, I'm kind of— almost like a tartar sauce, probably.

It would be kind of like our kind of remoulade, maybe just a little different, a little fancy. I see capers there.

Yes.

And is that dill?

That's still—

okay. Yeah, that's— that's— look, you know, and I would have never thought they would have served a fried fish sandwich like that. I'm thinking smoked fish. And— but that, that would be right up my alley there. I would love that.

And yeah, and so when you think that's room temperature, so that's perfectly normal, perfectly fine, that's room temperature. And you know, it's so— it looks— it's designed beautifully, it's designed. And you do that with your dishes too. You, at the end, you do flourishes and, you know, kind of little designs, whether it's with sauces or garnishes. This is the same thing.

It's got to have that eye appeal, especially if it's in a window and you're picking it out. I love that they're room temperature. I mean, I think the only time that you would run into trouble is if you got it cold, because then it wouldn't be as flavorful once it gets cold. As long as the flavors are anywhere from warm to room temperature, they're still going to be very good.

I think you're right. Yes, I think you're right. Yep. So now the next one is— this one is Boy, I really should get a little fork and kind of— oh yes, this is a potato one. This is just potato. Now, you know, that's another thing, Chef, because Meatless Monday, you can do vegetable open-faced sandwiches with cucumbers, with tomato, with a little relish of some sort. There's a relish that's very common, it's called remoulade, and it's R-E-M-O-U-L-A-D-E. O-U-L-D-E, something like that.

Yeah, remoulade.

Yes, yes, and in Denmark they pronounce it remoulade.

I wonder if that's where we got it from.

I don't know, maybe one or the other. I don't know. So that's so tasty. And this one, let's take a look at this one.

Hold it up to the camera, Susan. I think you'd be all right if you just hold the plate up.

It has to be—

oh, there you go. Just a little bit higher. That's perfect.

Otherwise I have to go vertical, you know what I mean?

Okay, well, you can do it any way you feel comfortable with, but I think, I think that looks pretty good.

So this— oh, sorry, I took it away.

That's alright, I got it.

Okay, so this is potato and thinly sliced onion. And then we have chives all over. And we have fried onions on top and then chopped red onion.

I see it, beautiful color.

Yeah, and now this is on a, some type of multigrain bread with butter. And quite often that's what you do is you put butter on the—

Well, the Danish butter is so much better too than what we have here in the States, so.

It really, it's terrific. I buy it, you know, Lorpak, you may have seen Lorpak. Yeah, I get that all the time, of course. Now, now I think I'll save the best for last. Here's another one. Pork products are extremely prevalent in Denmark, and so there's a lot of things with pork. You'll see this one is a roast pork pork open-faced sandwich. And maybe I can—

there we go. Just bring it up a little bit higher. Perfect.

Yeah, okay, I don't think I have to hold it.

Oh, good.

So there's a big thick piece of roast pork on that. There is red cabbage. Now red cabbage is a very classic Scandinavian side dish which can be served cold as an accompaniment or hot. We have cucumbers here. Yeah, I think that's cucumbers. I'm not sure if that's cucumbers or pickles.

It looked like a pickle to me. I was going to ask you if it was a different kind of cucumber, but it could be just a natural—

Well, in fact, I tried to get cucumber salad, which is made with sugar and vinegar and other, you know, a few other things, which is very, very classic and very delicious. And I— these, to me, they look like some of those cucumbers, but I could be wrong. Right under the orange there on the end, under the orange is just the pork.

Okay, so the end of the pork. I wasn't sure if it was a mushroom or the end of the pork.

Yeah, no, no, no, that's the end of the pork there, and it's a nice piece of pork. Now I will turn it around because this is— I guess this is probably called fléskastaj because what we have here is the crackling.

Wow.

That's the crackling, which is— I mean, all of my family makes what— this is called fléskastaj and all of my family makes that and it's delicious. Oh my goodness, the time is flying. Okay. Don't worry.

Manny St. Victor has just posted that he needs a bib.

Oh, yeah. See, did I tell you?

I'm going to need a bib, yeah. Don't drool on your computer, Manny.

That's right. Here's another one. This is liverwurst, very common here. Again, another pork product. I mean, we got all kinds of things here. We have cornichons.

Just a little bit higher.

Liverwurst. It looks— this looks like some kind of beet, maybe, in the back. And then we have bacon.

Bacon.

And then of course butter. So imagine the taste sensation.

Oh my God.

I mean, you have sweet, you have sour, you have savory, you have salt. It's an art form.

Oh my God.

It really is.

I'm feeling like Homer Simpson there, rich creamery butter and bacon.

That's right. Now, this is another version of that, and here we have some ham that's rolled, and then we have some— I think this is— I guess this is chopped onion on there, a pickle, and this is some kind of, you know, that gelled beef kind of thing. Yeah. And look at this, it's interesting. It might be a piece of watercress or something.

They're all so pretty. I mean, they really do a nice job with them.

And then I have two more. This is— oh, this is so classic. This is— let me show it to you this way. It's a Danish meatball. I was raised on this. It's called frøkedele. So it can be made in different ways. It's fried, usually sautéed in butter, of course. Of course. And then, you know, they're equally as delicious cold, cold or hot. And so here we have some—

ah!

I knew this was going to happen.

Sorry. It's all right.

That's okay. So we have some kind of potato salad on here. And then— okay, that one's falling apart. And then chives and a little bit of tomato for color. Lots of color. Lots of color.

Great colors, great flavors going on. Gotta love it. Let me pop up a couple comments here. This is Mark Barris. I feel like the sandwiches are going to fall right in my lap. I wish. They just did a little bit, but that's okay. They'll still eat very well. Tour Copenhagen, discover its many colors and flavors from Carmen. Then Alexandra is saying, hmm, I'm thinking Copenhagen isn't exactly a vegan's best friend.

Well, it depends on where you go. It depends on when you go, but yeah, you're right. They're heavy on the pork here, that's for sure.

That and the butter. Even the butter will get them.

Even the butter. But you know what? I'm sure many of our listeners know, have heard about the New Nordic Cuisine, which is all about, you know, local produce, natural, you know, everything is natural, organic, and local, and different, very different. I mean, you know, Noma, the restaurant we've heard of, has been now voted again the best restaurant of the year. So there's a lot happening in Nordic cuisine.

Now, what is the growing season there? When does it stop being cold?

When does it stop being cold? I would say, you know, it's being near the sea, it is quite temperate.

Okay.

My guess would be similar to the Northeast, so April.

So it would be summer growing season then, basically.

Yeah, yeah.

The sea keeps it a little warmer then. It never really gets quite as cold as it would inland.

You're absolutely right. They don't even have much snow.

Not here.

I mean, further up in Sweden and Norway they do, but there's not a lot of snow here. I see that Coach is asking, do we have these recipes for us later. Maybe not these exact ones, but I can certainly get you some recipes.

That'd be great. We can post them for everyone.

Last but not least, it's the famous— if you don't know, it is famous Nordic shrimp.

Huh. Ah.

And it's the little shrimp.

Ah.

It's the little shrimp that is the tastiest shrimp of all.

Are these local shrimp?

These are local shrimp from somewhere in these cold waters.

I love the whole one on top.

Right, right. We have the whole one on top. We have mayonnaise.

Okay.

And that makes it— it's great texture and flavor. We have the lemon, we have dill, and it's just This is so tasty, and this is on a— looks like either a sourdough or a white or a whole wheat sort of baguette, piece of baguette. Yeah, so you know, the idea is that you can be creative, and you know, certainly roast beef cold cuts are a very common sandwich, which was not available for me when I went there, but Chef, you can do roast beef, and then you have, of course, mayonnaise, and then you may have some— what do you think about cornichons?

Oh yeah, cornichons on there. I mean, the thing to think of, I think, if we look at how you've shown us the sandwiches prepared, would be to take your— to start in different steps, and one is your base layer, which would be your bread. So either going with a, like, a pumpernickel or a nice rye or sourdough, or depending upon the different kind of breads, because you want to showcase— when you build a sandwich, you want to showcase it a little. So then— and I'm seeing how they put like a slice, a nice thick slice of meat on them. Okay, there's where some of the differences come in. So getting the deli to cut them a little thicker or thicker in slices if you want to buy them. I mean, you can go and order a quarter pound and tell them to make 2 slices for you, that's all. Lay that down. Then once that's down, think of your dressing. Some of the natural ones like horseradish.

Exactly, horseradish. That's right. A lot there. We see this a lot.

Just like you said, the mayonnaise, or make— take it a little American and make one of these specialty mayonnaises that you always see that we have out, like roasted red pepper mayonnaise, Chipotle mayonnaise. So I mean, it doesn't have to stay Danish, but we want to do them our style, put our little flair on them, go to something like that, or a Dijon— Dijonnaise, or even just a good Dijon mustard or stone ground mustard. And then lastly, think about decorating and go with those like little leaves. Like even if you bought a spring mix and picked through a few different and took one color out and use them for different sandwiches or arugula or baby kale. Then think of your decorations, your onions, and I saw sliced, I saw chopped on the same sandwich. You're staying in the same flavor vein, but you're giving it different textures and different looks. Build that, build it in layers. Again, we're always looking for ways to cut back on bread. Well, perfect way to do it, open-faced.

Yeah, it really is. You know what, I neglected to say This is a knife and fork activity.

Yeah, well, you know, when I was in business dining years ago, they were making— and we would call them knife and fork sandwiches. That was how we referred to them, as knife and fork sandwiches.

You remember the old hot turkey sandwich in school?

Oh, we always get that. I love them. I still love those. I know. Give it to me with all the starch you can, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and bread. Okay, starts me out. But this is, you know, when we think open-faced, this is what we've been raised to think. But this is like— and this would be great for parties. And if you did them on little cocktail breads, they would be a nice appetizer for parties too. So you can go a couple different ways with it.

Yeah, and you can, you can prepare it in the morning and just get a tray and boom, boom, boom, it's assembly line. Yeah, it's assembly line, Chef. And, you know, just gather your— and then as you go, you can say, oh, maybe I want this one on that, and that— just, you know, almost like taco night. You have everything lined up and then you decide what to put on what.

That would be great for different kinds of breads, different kinds of meats and toppings, and then see who can make that and take pictures of it and Instagram them. Your friends. That would be a wonderful kind of a dinner party. After the second drink, it could even get more creative.

That's right. There you go. I know, but no potato chips, please. No, please, Chef.

No potato chips. I don't put potato chips on sandwiches. I'm sorry. I might put them on my ice cream, but not on my sandwiches.

No.

Here, we have another comment here from Carmen. Let me pull it up. Suzanne Sarah, "I love the idea of bringing back a little bit of Copenhagen with me and devouring it, Chef Dennis. I'll see you in Copenhagen soon. Thank you for a wonderful event. It was truly delicious." Well, thank you, Carmen, for stopping by. We love having you.

Yes, absolutely. Always. I always love Carmen's comments.

Mark was asking about side dishes, and we had talked about that briefly. He says, "What do you recommend?" them in for side dishes. I think you could probably go with— what would typical side dishes be there? Let me ask you that first.

Typical is the cucumber salad, which is a little vinegary. It has a light sort of a vinaigrette, a little bit of a— what's the word I want to use? I don't know. Whatever, but it's very classic. Red cabbage that's cold, that's also— you can also use that. Even potato salad. Potato salad is very— potatoes are very, very, very big.

Let's think about customizing them a little bit. We're going to do these here. Let's do some slaws. I don't know if anyone's ever seen the broccoli slaw that's out. You can actually buy this in bags. And make a broccoli slaw. You can do your own cucumber or tomato salad, and like Susan said, potato salad. But it doesn't have to be— give it an American flair, or give it a German flair, or give it whatever kind that you make. But I would stay kind of with those side dishes like you said. I would go with lighter— even tossed salad, even a nice tossed salad. But these make me think about eating lighter. They don't encourage me for those heavy sides. Even like a a couscous or even a lentil salad or something along that line, I think, would be nice, too.

Yeah, and you know, because there's a fair amount of protein, and often we see— one thing I don't have in these, but sliced hard-boiled eggs in combination with the shrimp, in combination with anything and vegetables, is very, very common. You have mayonnaise along with that, and maybe some chives on top of that, maybe even capers. Very, very common in those sandwiches. My point is you only need maybe 1 or 2 to feel—

Oh, yeah. That was a good-sized piece of meat on those, and they are filling. The breads were not flimsy.

Oh, no. Here are the— you know what? Quite honestly, I have no idea what this is.

Oh, it's beautiful though.

I don't know what this is. I don't know if this is—

are those nuts in it, or—

I don't know what it is.

Wow.