THEME: NORDIC THE RENAISSANCE OF THE OPEN . BECH-POULSEN/ AAMANNS BECH-POULSEN/

LAES C : OTO PH

In recent years, the open sandwich has regained its popularity. Here it is seen with eggs and .

22 FOCUS | October 2012 THEME: NORDIC FOOD

In recent years, Danish chefs . have gained fame worldwide by reinterpreting the popular AMILLA STEPHAN/POLFOTO

Nordic kitchen with fresh, C : local ingredients. Restaurants OTO PH o"ering herring, roast pork and open are now popping up all over the world – even though it is an “acquired taste”.

By Markus Bernsen

This autumn, it is the smartest meal in Manhattan, but for several hundred years it was only farmers who ate open sandwiches. It was absolutely uncool to sink one’s teeth into an open sandwich of topped with roast pork and red cabbage, smoked herrings and egg Open sandwich with herring at Aamanns restaurant in . or one of many other combinations of cheap Danish ingredients. For farmers, open sandwiches were practical; the combination of granary bread and leftover meat from yesterday’s choices on an order card, and a culture dinner was very filling, and the thick slice emerged around this food, which existed At the turn of the of rye bread at the base functioned as a nowhere else in the world. At the turn of plate, so that the meal could be brought the century, the famed Danish restaurant century, the famed out into the field and eaten with one’s owner Oskar Davidsen had 177 di"erent fingers. Some farmers were lucky enough choices on his open sandwich order card. Danish restaurant to get a piece of bread with , lard, owner Oskar onion and jelly for dessert. And the VENTURING OVERSEAS luckiest poured a drop of rum over the Davidsen had 177 sandwich before they ate it. The popularity of the open sandwich In the 1880s, open sandwiches also declined in the 1970s when foreign di!erent choices on became popular among Denmark’s food became interesting. , bourgeoisie and a regular item on the and later sushi began to oust his open sandwich menus of inns and pubs in the cities. In open sandwiches as fast, hand-held Tivoli amusement park in Copenhagen, meals. Danes never forgot the many order card. restaurants started serving “luxury open combinations of meat and vegetables sandwiches”, a taller and more extrava- and the correct way of serving them, gant version of the traditional farmer’s but the younger generation associated . them with something old-fashioned that Classic Danish open sandwiches such belonged to their grandparents’ era. as pariserbøf (minced beef patty, fried In recent years however, it has egg, onion, capers and pickled beetroot regained its popularity. The traditional, on rye bread) and stjerneskud (two types authentic kitchen has returned to the of fish fillet, breaded and steamed, whole of , and the open sandwich with shrimps, and slices has seen a renaissance. The trend gained on white bread) originate from Tivoli. momentum when Danish gourmet chefs Guests marked their open sandwich started rediscovering the Nordic kitchen

FOCUS DENMARK | October 2012 23 THEME: NORDIC FOOD X. CANPI DENNIS LEHMANN/S OTO: PH

Danish chef Adam Aamann has been part of reinventing open sandwiches. Here he is seen in his kitchen in Copenhagen with his daughter.

at restaurants such as Geranium and city’s citizens have a huge choice of res- Nordic food is Noma, which for the last three years has taurants with every imaginable cuisine been judged the world’s best. from every corner of the world. Can they becoming known as Now the time has come for the Nor- really be persuaded to eat Danish open dic kitchen to venture overseas. In Sep- sandwiches? healthy, clean and tember 2012, Danish chef Adam Aamann “I am often asked that question,” opened Aamanns Copenhagen restaurant says Adam Aamann. “Many Danes do environmentally in the middle of Manhattan. With two not believe that Americans will eat friendly. It is un- restaurants in Copenhagen, Aamann has rye bread, but I just say: Where was been part of reinventing open sandwich- the pizza in the US before the 1960s? spoilt, authentic es by using fresh, local ingredients and Where was sushi before the 1980s? We combining them in new ways. meet many Americans who visit Den- nature on a plate. The core of Adam Aamann’s kitchen mark and love our open sandwiches. is the same as it was in the Danish You can say that it is our only inde- kitchen a hundred years ago: marinated pendent contribution to international herring, delicate shellfish, herbs and root gastronomy. That is actually something vegetables – fresh, sharp tastes of sea and very unique.” soil. Many believe there is a good reason why Danish food has never spread far beyond the country’s borders: herring, THE RISE OF NEW NORDIC aquavit and the open sandwich are what Danes have started to realise the are called “an acquired taste”, something country’s new position in gastronomy. you have to grow up with to appreciate. They can see that foreign tourists are Opening a restaurant in New York is visiting Copenhagen exclusively for the not the easiest undertaking because the food. Previously, Scandinavia had no

24 FOCUS DENMARK | October 2012