The Copenhagen Report

Episode #49 of MyDenmarkTV.com is up...this one we shot in Fælledparken initially, but then had to add in some additional green-screening when thanks to some microphone problems we had during the shoot - but in end everything worked out, as we still ended up with loads of good 'film' from Fælledparken on May 1. We also took some time to answer a bunch of viewer questions in the last part of the episode.

Episode #49 - MyDenmarkTV.com from MyDenmarkTV on Vimeo.

Ready...set...PEEL!

Springtime in Copenhagen often brings with it a change in diet. As the trees and flowers blossom and bloom, those often talked-about new potatoes begin to arrive, barbeques are fired up for the first time in several months, and so on and so forth.

The other day I had an amusing discussion while eating what I was told was a springtime dish worthy of the season at hand - fresh shrimp. The instructions for eating were simple and non-negotiable - take a piece of rugbrod (extremely dark and heavy bread Danes typically love), spread with margarine, then pile it with little shrimps you have painstakingly peeled yourself. Salt and pepper was also permitted.

What wasn't permitted was lemon, which to me seemed like an obvious addition to bring out the flavour. 'No, no, no!', I was admonished. Because what matters is the taste of fresh shrimp. I pointed out that adding lemon was really no different then adding salt and pepper, but this was to no avail.

This provoked me to suggest that though Danish cuisine has it's high points - and I would argue has certainly improved in recent years, at least in my understanding of how it was in decades past, and knowing what is now available in supermarkets that simply wasn't a short few years back - the Italians and Spanish really have nothing to fear, because Danes will probably never quite 'get it' as they do.


the aftermath...

See, this is what happens when you have week after week of sunny and warm weather in a country known more for it's cold, (often rainy) cloudy days. You stop blogging and find yourself out and about and enjoying the real world - with many friends who are doing just the same. Ahhh, it's been nice. But I know I will return to blogging.

Sunshine. Shades. Outdoor cafes. Blankets. Gloves. Winter parkas. Hmmm, it must be Springtime...in Copenhagen. A moment in time captured Saturday afternoon in front of Illum on the main walking street, Stoget (that is Støget, to be perfectly correct).

The fickle weather of Denmark means that one never really knows from day to day, month to month, and - in the case of spring crops like strawberries - one year to the next, just how things are going to be. Enough sun in the spring will lead to a bumper crop of sweet strawberries ready for harvesting in early June. Not enough sun (all too often in this cloudy country) will leave them a bit sour and behind schedule.

This spring, with the strawberry season upon us thanks to all the sunny warm weather, there is nothing to worry about. The strawberries are sweet and there is no shortable of them. And they're being harvested even earlier than usual this year - the season has been going strong for about 3 weeks now.

Hence all the delicious strawberry tarts for sale these days (and even tastier homemade ones, like this one...).

excitement in a box (for some)...

The annual food event that makes arguably the biggest and loudest (marketing) splash around the world each year would be the arrival of Beaujolais Nouveau wine from France each year, I would suggest.

It's pretty tasty wine, even if few wine enthusiasts would rate Beaujolais wine as the best that's out there (though myself, I do quite like it).

Well, quietly Denmark also has it's own annual food traditions. One that never goes by unremarked upon is the arrival of the first New Danish Potatos ('Ny Danske Kartofler') each year.

They're small, they're more or less round, and they look like basically any other small round potato out there - and they're rather expensive if you want to be one of the first to buy some each year. But it's a prestige thing for some local restaurants to get ahold of them as soon as they begin to appear.

This year the first batch of New Potatoes was sold for 1000 kroner (125 Euro) for a kilogram (link in Danish). Yes, you read that right. Not the cheapest bowl of soup, those would make...

More affordable is a trip down to the local market (for example, nearby Norreport station in Copenhagen), where this week a small box of new potatoes (slightly more than a kilogram) will set you back a more modest 50 kroner (8 Euro). Somewhat more costly than the average box of (non-Danish) new potatoes in the supermarket, given those will go for 8-15 kroner (1 or 2 Euro). But buying those won't win you any bragging rights.

So it's something to think about if you're having guests over for dinner...especially if they happen to be potato aficionados.