Denmark

Denmark is an archipelago made up of 406 islands and 7,314 miles of coastline, which is longer than the Great Wall of China. No place in Denmark is more than 30 miles from the sea.

The Danish monarchy is the oldest continuing monarchy in the world and has existed for over 1,000 years. Queen Margarethe II is the current head of state.

Denmark has more than twice the amount of bicycles (4.2 million) than cars (1.8 million). Copenhageners pedal more than 1.13 million km on their bicycles each day.

Salaries in Copenhagen are the third highest in the world – only surpassed by Zurich and Geneva. The UN World Happiness Report has rated Danes as the happiest people on earth two years in a row.

With its palaces and gardens, Copenhagen hosts more visitors than any other Nordic city. The name Lego® is an abbreviation of two Danish words leg godt, meaning “play well.” The company was started in 1932 by Ole Kirk Christiansen. Lego began producing its iconic bricks in 1958. For more than 60 years, over 320 billion Lego bricks have been sold worldwide—nearly 60 bricks for every human on the planet.

The Danes are certified foodies. They are the fifth largest exporter of food in the world, despite their small population. Copenhagen has more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other city in Scandinavia. Some of their traditional dishes include Æblekage, (apple charlotte) , Hakkebøf (ground beef steak), Stegt flæsk med persillesovs (pork slices with potato and bechamel sauce) and Klipfisk (dried cod). I decided to cook Frikadeller (pan fried meatballs) with Danish brown gravy.

I was skiing in France when I cooked this dish for 18 people!! (I quadrupled the volume of ingredients). It was generally well received, although some felt the gravy was a little too vinegary.

Rating overall 7/10

Serves 4 hungry people

Prep time: 45 minutes

Cook time: 15-25 minutes

For the Frikadeller:
275g ground pork
275g ground veal
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 large onion
2 tbsps flour
1 small egg

Chop the onion into fine pieces, and mix meat and onions together.
Add egg and mix again.
Add flour and remaining ingredients.
Form mix into 6-8 balls.
Melt butter in frying pan and cook for 10 min on each side over a medium heat.

(If you are doing this for a large volume of people you can brown the meatballs in the frying pan and then transfer to the oven for about 15 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through)

For the brown gravy:
4 tbsps Danish butter
4 tbsps flour
3 cups beef stock
3 tbsps white vinegar
Salt and pepper
3 tbsps sherry
Colouring to darken the gravy (optional)

Melt butter over low heat in a pot.
Add flour and stir until smooth.
Add half of the meat stock slowly while constantly stirring.
Add the rest of the stock with vinegar and boil slowly, while constantly stirring.
Add salt and pepper.
Add sherry at the very end, just before removing from heat.
Remove from heat, allow gravy to cool for 4-5 minutes while stirring constantly.

I served the dish with buttered tagliatelle.