The journey of making Danish rugbrod

It is the epitome of Danish cuisine: rugbrod, or rye bread. A tradition centuries old, this hearty, seedy, sourdough-based bread is a staple like a loaf of Wonderbread in an American home. While you may think that you have tried rye bread before, it is probably nothing like what I have been consuming daily for the past 7 months. Rye bread is not white bread with brown flecks of rye flour that you get in your diner breakfast or pastrami sandwich. Danish rye bread is dense, extremely moist, and so filling that you will not be hungry for hours, which of course was the original intention. There is nothing like Danish rye bread in the States, so obviously I had to learn how to make it before returning home in May.

My family generally buys their bread from the local bakery called Emmery's, a beautiful store selling endless breads, baked goods, and some specialty food items. It is more convenient, and after buying all the ingredients needed for a loaf of bread, economically speaking buying from the bakery can make more sense. However, many Danes still make their own bread every week, and many of them are my age. I have friends living at Kollegiums (essentially dorms for University students) who watch their Danish floormates bake breads constantly. Inspired by their need to always have fresh, homemade bread, I talked my host mother into teaching me how to bake my own.

Sourdough, the base of Danish rugbrod, is a fickle and tricky substance. I do not bake bread very often, but when I do, it is always a yeast based dough. Sourdough is much more complicated. It consists of a "starter culture", which is a culture of yeast and lactic acid bacteria. It is kept alive by adding it to flour and water. Every time a new loaf of bread is made, some of the dough is taken out and is used as the "starter" for the next loaf. As long as bread is made about once a week, the sourdough will stay indefinitely. Like a red wine, the sour dough only gets better with age, so it is not uncommon to see one that has been in a family for generations. The starter we used was my host mom's grandmother's! Now that is old!

Making rugbrod from scratch is a long, 2 day process. It is not necessarily difficult, it is just time consuming. Starting the night before, the starter is combined with flour, water, salt, and perhaps a few other flavors of choice, such as honey. In our recipe, we used mostly rye flour with a bit of wheat flour. After combining these ingredients, the bread is left to rise for at least 12 hours, or overnight.

The next day is a free-for-all in terms of ingredients. Besides the addition of whole rye kernels and water, nearly any grain, seed, or flavoring can be added based on personal preference. One time, my host mom and I added poppy and sunflower seeds. Another time, we decided to add extra flavoring with a porter beer and pure maple syrup. Adding something a little sugary is always nice to not only balance the fermented flavor of the sourdough, but to also help keep the yeast in the starter alive for the next loaf. The important thing to remember is to add enough water so that the dough is a thick, but moist paste. To put it plainly, it should look like cement. Once everything your heart desires is added, the bread is then kneaded, or with modern technology, kneaded in the stand-mixer, for the next half hour. The longer the bread is kneaded, the less dense it becomes.

danish is so funny - this is the bag for rye kernels

mixing everything together!

sour dough preserved for the next loaf!

rye kernels!

rye flour

When the kneading is completed, some of the dough is extracted, put in a jar, and heavily covered with salt to keep for the next batch of bread. The rest of the heavy dough is poured into pans, and pricked all over to invite air into the dense mixture. Then it has to proof (or rise again) in a turned off oven, for at least 4-5 hours. See what I mean about an all day process?

Of course every recipe is different, but my host mom likes to bake the breads for 1 1/2 hours at 175 C (about 375F) and then turn off the oven, and continue to bake the breads for an additional 45 minutes. Unlike yeast breads, rye bread should not be eaten straight out of the oven, as it is so moist on the inside it is difficult to slice. The best thing to do is to wait until the following morning to use for breakfast, sandwiches, or an afternoon snack (as all good Danes do). However, I have been known to cheat the waiting rule, as a luke-warm slice of rugbrod is absolutely delicious slathered with a particularly large pat of butter.

Because the starter dough is a sample of the the entire bread dough, that means that every loaf in every family or bakery tastes a little different. Even within a family, each loaf can taste different depending on what was added to the previous loaf of bread. Rugbrod is personal. Not only does it have a general history as a bread to fill your belly, but its taste also gives a little individual history to every family or individual that makes it. Your rugbrod tastes different from your neighbor's rugbrod because of the way your family before you baked it. If that is not passing down a recipe from one generation to the next, I do not know what is.

When I return to the States, my host mom has promised to send me home with a jar of her family's starter. I am so touched, I feel as though I will be receiving a family heirloom. I am glad that I can bring a little bit of my new family back with me across the Atlantic. Now the question remains - will I be able to bake and eat a large loaf of bread every week? If my fellow Smithies try some Danish rugbrod, I do not think it will be a problem!

a delicious sandwich the next day!

the finished product

Introducing Danes to Fish Tacos

When my host mom asked me what I wanted to eat for dinner on my 21st birthday - I could only think of one thing: fish tacos. My favorite summer dish at home, I had recently been feeling fish deprived and was in the mood for something light and fun to brighten the dreary and cold days of February in Copenhagen.

Of course, tacos are a relatively new idea in Denmark. They are still trying to figure out the concept of the beef taco, so one made with fish was completely foreign territory. So alas, I made my own birthday meal, but it was totally worth it and delicious, and I got everyone (including my three young host brothers) to eat and enjoy fish in a way that they had never considered before.

My host mom does not make fish. She says it is because she is not good at it, and because they only way she knew how to make it was the traditional Danish way - in a cream sauce or parsley sauce with rice or potatoes. This seemed so weird to me, because when I think of fish, while it can be served breadcrumbed and buttered, most of the time it is something prepared simply with light flavors such as citrus and fresh herbs. Even after being here 7 months, there are still so many things about Denmark that continues to surprise and fascinate me.

I told my host mom that fish tacos go well with just about any fish, so I asked her just to buy what looked the best. She came home with a few kilos of the most beautiful fresh tuna I have ever seen. This confused me even further, as she claimed the fishmonger was right down the street from our house, and it was actually significantly cheaper than buying meat from the butcher. With fish this good, why would you not make it more often?

I prepared the fish with a simple red cabbage slaw, an avocado and tomato salsa, and top the seared tuna with an orange and lime vinaigrette with lots of coriander (cilantro). Stuffed inside your choice of flour tortilla or corn taco shell - my taco-deprived friends and I could not have been happier.

However my host family was at first pretty skeptical. One of my host brothers walked in as I was slicing cabbage and said in a very negative voice 'it smells like the ocean in here', before promptly walking out again. When I was searing the tuna for just a minute on each side, my host mom looked as though I might be trying to give them all food poisoning. My host father, who is always on alcohol duty, asked if a Chianti Classico was the appropriate drink to have with a fish taco. I could not help but laugh before I explained that fish tacos were all about the beer or margaritas - as is anything that is wrapped in a tortilla. But I also assured him that the delicious champagne he bought for my 21st would be a very proper aperitif.

The skepticism ended when tacos were individually assembled and all 12 of us took our first bites. That perfect silence, where only the sound of chewing and clinking of forks can be heard - I call it the 'happy food silence' - completely fell over the room. For the first time, my entire family abandoned all utensils (that they use for even a cheeseburger) and dug in with gusto. As I finished my first taco, I realized that I would have to act quickly to get my hands on more tuna, as the few kilos my host mom had bought were almost gone. They literally just evaporated.

As a result, my family made me promise if they brought fish home once a week, I would prepare it. I have absolutely no qualms with that. I had been missing fish so much since being here, but I never bought it because I assumed my host family did not like it. On the contrary, they LOVE it, but like many ingredients, they just had to experience it in a new way. I am glad that even after living with my host family for so long, I could still teach them something new about American culture and California's fantastic fish tacos.

Hungry? Let's Fry Something!

The creek at Glengoyne Whisky Distillery

The lovely people of Scotland are good at making two things: drunk food, and hangover food. How do I know this? Having just turned 21 the night before leaving for Edinburgh and Glasgow. . .how do you think?

Of course, there has to be a reason for this - Scotland has a rich culture dating back thousands of years. I learned this reason when my class visited the Glengoyne Scotch Whisky Distillery for a tour and liquid debriefing. Glengoyne is located in the lowlands of Scotland near Stirling - essentially "Braveheart" land. It is one of the few distilleries left in Scotland that is still owned and operated by Scots, as most have been bought by other countries including Japan and the US. So we felt as though we were getting the real deal.

Even if you do not like Scotch Whisky, (most of our class made faces of complete disgust when they tried it) you have to respect the process. A tradition that is centuries old, Scotch is made with three simple ingredients: barley, yeast, and water. A single malt Scotch, or the expensive stuff, is made exactly how it sounds: with one type of malted barley. Our guides stressed that it should be served by itself, or perhaps with a splash of water. Since it is an oily drink, water can help to bring out the intricacies of flavor in the spirit. The cheaper blended whiskeys are often times only 40% barley, and up to 60% of other grains. That is what you use for your whisky and coke, my friends.

The barley is traditionally dried out for a few days on the floor of a large store house. Because it is so labor intensive and production has grown, Glengoyne now gets their dried barley delivered to them. The barley is then ground and combined with yeast and water and churned in these huge vats. Water is an extremely important part to making whiskey, as it takes 100 liters of water just to make 1 bottle. The mixture is then left to ferment in large wood containers. Taking a peek into the barrels we could see huge bubbles foaming off the liquid. Our guide warned us not to breath in too deeply while standing over the vats, as the CO2 coming off of it is so strong that it could knock you out!What is then essentially beer is taken away to a copper distiller. They use copper because it is a good heat conductor. The liquid is then heated, and since alcohol boils before water, the steam from the alcohol leaves the liquid and goes up a tube to another compartment. It is there that it returns to a liquid state, and becomes much higher in alcohol content. Scotch whisky makers do the distilling process twice, where as Irish whiskeys and bourbons tend to distill 3 times, thus having a higher alcohol content. Scotch is only distilled twice because the makers believe that too much alcohol takes away from the flavor.

After reaching the appropriate alcohol percentage, the Scotch is stored in oak barrels for a period of at least 10 years, although 20 is preferable. The barrels at Glengoyne all had a previous use as storage for Spanish sherry, so the Scotch, a clear liquid when it goes into the barrel, emerges a golden color as it soaks in the residual alcohol and the color from the wood. The longer it sits, the deeper the color gets. When it is ready, the liquid is bottled and is ready to be enjoyed by the masses.

And it IS enjoyed. Along with beer, the Scots love their alcohol as dictated by the dozens of whisky shops that line the streets of Glasgow and especially Edinburgh. Go into one of the many pubs and you can expect to see a long menu of different types of Scotch. Chat up some of the friendly locals, have a few drinks, and a few hours and whiskys later, you will realize that it is time for something to eat.

Which leads me to the food of Scotland. While several international places, especially Indian, have opened recently, dinner hours end relatively early in Scotland. I personally think it is because restaurants know that they cannot compete with the traditional Scottish meal after one too many whiskeys. That meal is at your corner fry shop, where you can have anything your heart desires - as long as it is deep fried.

wedding photo? enjoying a fried mars bar

it totally needed to be fried longer, but still gooey and good, if that's your type of thing!

Fish, chips, pizza, mars bars, burgers, oreos, I am not kidding when I say 'anything your heart desires'. Whether you prefer sweet or savory for your "fourth meal", the Scots have got you covered. While in theory it is completely appalling and gross sounding, and most joints are not of stellar quality, when you have been drinking a bit too much there is nothing better than sinking your teeth into the fattiest substance you can get your hands on. It helps ease the potential morning hang over as well.

fry shop fish and chips. we had the real deal at a restaurant in glasgow, and it was much more delicious

If you happen to wake up the next morning feeling not quite 100%, no worries, the Scots have a cure for that too. It is called the full Scottish breakfast. Fried eggs, bacon, pork sausage, blood sausage, hash browns, baked beans, tomatoes, and maybe a bit of bread on the side - it is the perfect breakfast to revive your body and get you ready for the day, whether it is work, errands, or perhaps a psychology seminar. . .

And of course, as a food blogger, I could not leave Scotland without trying the infamous haggis. If you do not know what haggis is, one of my favorite quotes from the movie "Armageddon" explains it perfectly: "hearts, lungs, and liver. You stuff that into a sheep's stomach, and then you boil it. That'll put some hair on your ass". Seeing it on the breakfast buffet among the various meats, I decided to give it a go. Don't get too excited - it tasted like a frozen brand of breakfast sausage.

So now here is some food for thought (pun intended): Just what exactly is in your favorite brand of breakfast sausage?