Fiskefrikadeller paa Rugbrod

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Food processor or sharp chef's knife
• •Mixing bowl
• •Box grater
• •Heavy frying pan, 28cm
• •Mandoline for the cucumber (optional)
• •Serrated knife for the rugbrod

Instructions

1. 1

   Dress the cucumber

   Lay the paper-thin cucumber slices in a shallow bowl. Stir the vinegar together with the sugar and a small pinch of salt until the sugar dissolves, and pour it over the cucumber. Press the slices down gently so they sit in the liquid and leave them to steep while you make the frikadeller. Fifteen minutes is enough. The vinegar softens the cucumber without turning it limp, and the sugar rounds the sharpness into something cool and bright that will cut through the richness of the fried fish.

   Slice the cucumber on a mandoline if you have one. The slices need to be almost translucent, the kind of thin that drapes rather than sits. Thick slices stay watery and dilute the dressing.
2. 2

   Mince the cod

   Check the cod carefully for any pin bones the fishmonger missed, then cut the fillet into rough chunks. Pulse it in a food processor in short bursts until it looks like a coarse mince, not a paste. You want texture, small pieces you can still see. If you go too far the frikadeller turn rubbery, and there is no way back from that. If you don't have a processor, chop the fish finely by hand with a sharp knife. It takes five minutes and the result is arguably better.

3. 3

   Build the mixture

   Tip the minced cod into a mixing bowl. Add the grated onion, the egg, the flour, the milk, the chopped dill, the lemon zest, the salt, and a good twist of white pepper. Mix it all together with a wooden spoon until it comes together as a soft, loose mass. Then add the sparkling water last and fold it in gently. The bubbles are the whole point. They create tiny air pockets that survive the frying and give the finished frikadeller a lightness that still water cannot match. This is something Danish cooks learn by watching rather than reading, and now you have read it anyway.

   Grate the onion on the fine side of a box grater, straight into the bowl with its juice. Grated onion disappears into the mixture. Chopped onion leaves bitter little pockets that never cook through.
4. 4

   Rest the mixture

   Cover the bowl and put it in the fridge for twenty minutes. The rest is not optional. It gives the flour and egg time to do their quiet work of binding the mixture together, and it is the difference between frikadeller that hold their shape in the pan and frikadeller that collapse and weep. Use the twenty minutes to slice the rugbrod and set the plates out.

5. 5

   Shape the frikadeller

   Wet your hands with cold water to stop the mixture sticking. Scoop up a generous tablespoon at a time and shape each one into a small oval patty, a little flatter than a round meatball. You should get eight. Flat is right, not round. The flatter shape gives you more crisp surface, and the crisp surface is where the flavor concentrates.

6. 6

   Fry in butter and oil

   Heat the butter and oil together in a heavy frying pan over medium heat. Butter alone burns before the centers cook through. Oil alone tastes of nothing. Together they give you the golden crust and the nutty richness that make these taste the way they should. When the butter stops foaming and the smell turns warm and hazelnut, lay the frikadeller in the pan with room between each one. Crowding steams them. Fry for about three minutes on the first side until deep golden, then flip and give them another three minutes on the second. Press the top gently with a finger. When it springs back rather than sinking, they are cooked through. You'll know when it's right.

   If the butter goes too dark before the fish is ready, turn the heat down and wipe the pan with kitchen paper between batches. Dark butter turns bitter and it will bring the frikadeller down with it.
7. 7

   Assemble the smorrebrod

   Spread each slice of rugbrod with a thin, even layer of remoulade, going right to the edges. Lay two warm fiskefrikadeller on top of each slice, slightly off centre so the dark bread frames them. Lift a small heap of the pickled cucumber from its liquid, shake off the excess, and drape it beside the fish. Scatter the capers, finish with fresh dill fronds, and serve at once with a lemon wedge. Eat it with a knife and fork, never picked up. That is the rule, and the layered architecture is the whole point of the dish. Tak for mad.

Chef Tips

• •Buy the freshest cod you can. If the fish at the counter looks tired or smells of anything stronger than clean seawater, make something else. A mediocre fish cake is not worth the butter it's fried in. Haddock, hake, or pollock all work in place of cod, and a mixture of white fish is perfectly traditional.
• •Danish remoulade is the yellow, gently sweet kind with finely chopped vegetables through it. If you can find a Danish brand at a specialty shop, buy it. If you cannot, stir a teaspoon of mild curry powder, a tablespoon of finely chopped cornichons, and a few capers into good mayonnaise, and you will be close enough.
• •The best drink alongside this is a cold pilsner. An aquavit is the traditional second glass if the meal is leaning toward lunch. Neither is required. Water is honest too.
• •Leftover fiskefrikadeller are excellent cold the next day, straight from the fridge onto rugbrod with a smear of remoulade. Many Danish cooks make a double batch on purpose, because the second lunch is almost the point.

Advance Preparation

• •The cucumber salad can be made up to a day ahead and kept covered in the fridge. The flavor settles overnight.
• •The fish mixture can be mixed and rested in the fridge for up to four hours before shaping and frying. Any longer and the texture starts to slacken.
• •Fry the frikadeller just before serving for the best crust, though cold leftovers on rugbrod the next day are their own quiet reward.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 250g)