By Marjorie Watkins with Suzanna Leigh
A favorite hot-weather meal inspired by our Danish relatives
When I was a young woman, “Onkle Hans” came to America from Denmark to visit his cousin Lily, my mother-in-law. He always remembered that. When we were coming back from Crete in 1974, we went up to England and took a boat to Denmark to see him.
When we got to the town of Fredericia, we checked into a hotel and called Onkle Hans. We told him we would like to come visit and asked when would be a good time. We already had a hotel, so he didn’t need to worry about that. He said, “Hotel! You aren’t going to stay in a hotel! You are going to stay with me!” His retirement community had a little place for guests, where we stayed.
Onkle Hans was quite an old man by then. His girlfriend, Agnes – well, he called her his girlfriend, but she was more like a caretaker – called at 10 o’clock every evening to tell him, “Hans, it is time for you to go to bed now.” He wanted to show us interesting things in Denmark. After our first day of touring, Agnes called up and said, “Onkle Hans is an old man now. You must not make him tired. I am coming with you to make sure he has a good time and does not get tired.” So, we let her into our little tour.
Agnes took us to a tower, something like a church, with 15 flights of stairs! Agnes made him climb 15 flights of stairs! Onkle Hans did very well, better than we did.
There were brown cows in Denmark. They had huge udders and gave lots and lots of milk, so the Danes are famous for their cheeses. When you opened up Hans’ refrigerator, it really smelled horrible! It was the brown cheese. I couldn’t eat it, but it was a favorite of Onkle Hans. I guess you like what you grow up on.
We went to visit a cousin in another town, Augland. The cousin asked, “Would you like some bread and butter?” Well, we’re not enthusiastic about bread and butter, but we wanted to be polite guests, so we said, “We’d love it!” She and her son’s girlfriend went off to make the bread and butter.
After awhile, she came back from the kitchen and said, “The bread and butter is ready.” The table in the spacious dinning room was covered with all different kinds of salads, cheeses, and other foods! No way could we eat them all. Evidently, she was always prepared to serve a “smørrebrød” banquet for company.
Today I give you an easy to put together lunch, an “Island Epicure – Smørrebrød,” as our Danish relatives called it. It can be composed of leftovers, or of a variety of salads, cheeses, and meats. We like:
Smørrebrød, or “Bread and Butter”
Ingredients
- Pumpernickel bread slices
- Butter
- Lettuce
- Very thin slices of meat
- Slices of tomato
- Pickle slices
- Olives
- Pickled beets
- Slices of cheese
- Hummus
- Mayonnaise
- Horseradish
- Honey or Dijon mustard
Everyone starts with a slice of bread and chooses from the offered ingredients to put together what they want on an open-faced sandwich. Served with a potato salad, this makes a delightful and filling meal.
