Scrumptious Selections: Smorrebrod Sandwiches

They say that you eat with your eyes. In our opinion flavour is actually more important but when food is pretty and delicious, it’s a winning combination. One of the best things about visiting Denmark is enjoying the seemingly endless combinations of smorrebrod. You can eat them for breakfast, lunch or dinner, or breakfast, lunch and dinner. When we visited Copenhagen we made sure to try as many smorrebrod as we could.

What Are Smorrebrod?

Smorrebrod are open sandwiches, the name derives from the Danish smør og brød, which means ’butter and bread’. Originally a food for poor people, Smorrebrod consisted of bread, fat and a topping. Over the years they have become increasingly elegant and indulgent. If you visit Copenhagen you will see many smorrebrod emporia all over the city, which have offerings ranging from the humble to the most extravagant toppings.

The key to a great smorrebrod is the balance of flavours: salt, sour and sweet, with contrasting textures – the chewy softness of the bread, a crispy or smooth topping and crunch of embellishments.

Want To Have A Go At Making Smorrebrod?

Smorrebrod are easy to make and very versatile. Here’s our breakdown guide on how to build a variety of delicious and delightful open sandwiches:

Smorrebrod Essentials:

Brød: The bread. Rugbrød is rye bread, a dense, chewy black bread, that makes the perfect base for an open sandwich. You can buy sliced rye. It has a firm crumb structure to support all the delicious toppings which makes the smorrebrod easy to eat.

Smør: Butter or fat. Danish butter is rich and creamy and indulgent. If you can’t get Danish butter, British butter is fine – just make sure it’s proper butter, don’t use any other nasty spreads. The one exception is for the smorrebrod herring topping – traditionally, lard is the spread used for herring.

Brod (bread) and smor (butter) - the essentials of smorrebrod

Pålæg: The Main Attraction

Each smorrebrod will have a star ingredient – the top topping – placed on the rye, this is called the pålæg, which means ‘placed upon’.

Meat Options

Roast beef, preferably rare and thinly sliced.

Roast pork, thinly sliced, ideally with crispy crackling on the edge.

Meat roll – a bit like a meatloaf or meatball, sliced.

Bacon – fried to be crispy but not overly crispy.

Pate – liver pate is common, spread upon the bread.

roast beef, horseradish and pickle open sandwich

pork with crunchy crackling and red cabbage open sandwich

pickeld herring with onion, caper and dill open sandwich

Fish Options

Pickled herring -sweet, spiced or curried.

Smoked fish such as salmon, mackerel or eel.

Fried fish – a small fillet of fish, breaded and deep fried. Plaice is a popular option.

Prawns/shrimp – cold water prawns are delicate enough

Vegetarian Options

Cheese – a variety of cheeses are used for smorrebrod. Hard and soft cheeses are fine. Brie is a popular choice.

Eggs – eggs are boiled and sliced.

Boiled new potatoes – thinly sliced and placed upon the buttered bread. Double carbs – but who cares?

The Sauces

Remoulade is a popular sauce. It’s a bit like tartare sauce – creamy and tangy. It goes really well with fish and beef.

If you don’t have remoulade, plain mayonnaise is a perfectly good substitute.

An indulgent dollop of sour cream is a great addition to a herring topping.

The Embellishments

Each pålæg will be embellished with vegetables or pickles to enhance the flavour. This is where the focus on finding a great balance of flavours comes in. Don’t forget texture as well – maybe adding a bit of crunch to a soft, creamy topping.

The Flavourful Garnish

The garnish has two functions. It is the flourish that completes the prettiness of the smorrebrod but it also adds loads of flavour. Herbs and spices are key here. Think freshly grated horseradish for some heat or the heady scent of dill.

Sometimes the smorrebrod is presented in kit form and you can build your own. The platter comprised: fried fish fillet with remoulade, herring (to be eaten with the rye spread with lard instead of the usual butter), roast beef with onion, horseradish and remoulade, chicken with mayonnaise, roast pork with cabbage and pickles and brie with radish.

Five days in copenhagen - a platter of ingredients to make smorrebrod

Some Smorrebrod Recipes

We present six really easy smorrebrod recipes. These use ingredients that are easy to find – check out your local deli for great quality. You can easily adapt these for ingredients you have to hand. The great thing about smorrebrod is that you can use your imagination!

Make sure you buy some really good rye bread. If you’re feeling really hardcore you can make your own! But most supermarkets sell rye bread, ready sliced, just waiting to be topped with all those delicious embellishments.

First of all, here’s the remoulade recipe which is used as a tangy, creamy base for many of the smorrebrod.

Remoulade Recipe: 2 tbs mayonnaise, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 1 tsp fresh grated horseradish (use creamed horseradish if you can’t get fresh), 2 tsp chopped capers. Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix together.

Pickled Herring with Dill

Traditionally the bread is ‘buttered’ with lard, but it’s fine to use butter. Add slices of sour pickled herring. Some jars of herring come with little chunks of onion, so add those if you can. Gently dollop some soothing sour cream over this. Top with lovely feathers of dill.

Prawns with Cucumber, Mayo and Dill

Fresh coldwater prawns are ideal for this smorrebrod as they are small and juicy. Butter your bread and place the prawns on top. Alternate slices of cucumber between the prawns. Dollop mayo on top of the prawns. Garnish with dill, the perfect herb to accompany the prawns, and dust with a sprinkle of smoky paprika.

prawn, cucumber, mayo and dill smorrebrod

Roast Beef with Remoulade, Red Onion and Horseradish

You could buy some nice slices of beef (preferably rare) from your local deli or you could use leftovers from a roast dinner. The beef should be sliced thinly. Butter your bread and then smear with the remoulade and maybe a lettuce leaf if you have one. Place the beef slices delicately on top. Thinly slice some red onion and place over the beef. Then grate some fresh fiery horseradish over the smorrebrod.

Meatballs with Pickled Cabbage and Jam

Cook your meatballs and allow to cool. Butter your bread and spread remoulade on top. Thinly slice the meatballs and place on the bread. Add pickled red cabbage and a tiny dollop of damson jam (or something similar like a plum jam) for a touch of sweetness. If you can’t easily get meatballs, you can use sliced sausages. Veggie meatballs and sausages work really well too.

meatball, pickled cabbage and jam smorrebrod

Boiled Potato with Crispy Bacon

Fry some streaky bacon in a pan or air fryer until it is crispy. Cut into small pieces. Boil some baby potatoes (waxy salad potatoes are ideal) until soft. Allow to cool and slice. Place lettuce leaves on the buttered bread, place the cooled potatoes on top then the bacon. Top with leaves of peppery rocket (arugula). For a vegetarian version replace the bacon with boiled egg. (We never recommend fake bacon, aka facon – it’s horrible!)

Boiled Egg (with Crispy Bacon)

Boil a large free-range egg until it is fully cooked. Allow to cool, then remove the shell and slice. Butter the bread and lay some lettuce leaves on top. Dollop some mayo over the lettuce. Place the sliced egg on the salad leaves and top with rocket (arugula). For a cheeky non-veggie version, add some bits of crispy bacon.