If a Danish child is asked what is for dinner and the answer is frikadeller, the evening has started well. These are the country's everyday meatballs: minced pork, sometimes mixed with veal, beaten with grated onion, egg, milk and a little flour or oats into a soft, light mixture, then shaped with a spoon and the palm of the hand into fat ovals and fried in butter. They come out with a flat side from the pan, a deep brown crust and a juicy, tender middle, and every family is convinced that its own grandmother had the only correct recipe.

Hot from the pan they arrive with boiled potatoes, brown gravy and a bowl of thinly sliced cucumber in sweet vinegar; cold the next day they are sliced onto buttered rye bread, which is why sensible Danes always make too many. Frikadeller are generous, forgiving and very easy to love, and a plate of them will see anyone through a long race afternoon.

Cucumber salad (agurkesalat)

Ingredients

• 1 large English cucumber
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) white wine vinegar or distilled white vinegar
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) water
• 1/3 cup (65 g) sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• a pinch white pepper
• 1 tablespoon fresh dill

Method

1. Wash the cucumber and slice it as thinly as you can, about 1/16 inch (2 mm), with the knife or a mandoline. Use the mandoline guard; fingertips are not part of the recipe.
2. In the small bowl stir the vinegar, water, sugar, salt and pepper until the sugar dissolves. Add the cucumber and dill, press the slices under the liquid, and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

The frikadeller

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb (680 g) ground pork, or half pork and half veal
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 3 tablespoons (25 g) all purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons (15 g) rolled oats
• 1 large egg
• 2/3 cup (160 ml) whole milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 2 tablespoons (30 g) butter
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) neutral vegetable oil

Method

1. Put the meat, grated onion with its juice, salt, pepper and allspice in the large bowl and beat with the wooden spoon, or the mixer on low, for 1 minute until sticky. Beat in the flour, oats and egg.
2. Pour in the milk a little at a time, beating well after each addition, until it is all absorbed. Cover and chill for 30 minutes.
3. Heat the butter and oil in the skillet over medium heat. Dip the tablespoon in the bowl of water, scoop up a heaped spoonful of mixture and press it against your wet palm, turning the spoon to shape a plump oval about 2 1/2 inches (6 cm) long. Slide it into the pan. Repeat, leaving space between them, so you have one batch of 8 or so.
4. Fry for 4 to 5 minutes without moving them, then turn with the spatula and fry for 4 to 5 minutes more. Turn once or twice more as needed, lowering the heat if the butter starts to smoke.
5. Move the cooked frikadeller to the ovenproof dish in a 200°F (95°C) oven and fry the rest of the mixture. Do not wash the skillet; the brown bits make the gravy.

Boiled new potatoes

Ingredients

• 2 lb (900 g) small new potatoes
• 2 teaspoons fine salt
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley

Method

1. While the meat mixture rests, put the potatoes in the saucepan, cover with cold water by 1 inch (2.5 cm), add the salt and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
2. Drain well, return the potatoes to the hot pan with the lid on and leave them off the heat until serving. Sprinkle with parsley.

Brown gravy (brun sovs)

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons (30 g) butter
• 2 tablespoons (16 g) all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) beef or chicken stock
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) heavy cream
• a few drops kulør or gravy browning
• to taste salt and black pepper

Method

1. Pour off all but about 1 tablespoon of fat from the frikadeller skillet. Add the butter and melt it over medium heat, then sprinkle in the flour and whisk for 2 minutes, scraping up the brown bits.
2. Pour in the hot stock a little at a time, whisking constantly so no lumps form. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring often.
3. Stir in the cream and the kulør, a drop at a time, then season with salt and pepper. Pour into a warmed jug. If there are lumps, pour it through a sieve.

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