Smørrebrød

What it is

Smørrebrød is the name given to the open-faced sandwich that forms the backbone of Danish lunch culture. It is not a quick snack or a casual toast, but a structured meal built on a thick slice of dense, sour rye bread known as rugbrød. The bread is spread generously with butter before being topped with an array of carefully arranged ingredients, from pickled herring and roast pork to hand-peeled shrimp and liver pâté.

The word is simply smør og brød, butter and bread, which undersells it considerably. Each one is built rather than assembled, the toppings laid in order and the garnish placed rather than scattered, and two or three of them make a full lunch. Open sandwiches exist everywhere; what Denmark has added is a set of rules.

How it began

The origins of smørrebrød lie in the working lunches of 19th-century Denmark. It started as the madpakke, or packed lunch, carried by labourers, shopkeepers and office workers to their places of work. The dense rye bread was chosen for its durability; it stayed fresh longer than white bread and did not crumble easily when carried in a bag. Workers would top the buttered slice with whatever they had available: cheese, cold cuts, or pickled vegetables.

Towards the end of the 19th century it moved from the lunchbox to the restaurant. Copenhagen lunch houses began listing open sandwiches as a frokost service, and the lists grew — long printed menus of named combinations, each one assembled to a fixed specification. The packed lunch had become a trade.

The rules of the table

The first rule is that it is not picked up. A knife and fork, cut as one goes — the toppings are wet and heavy and a handheld attempt ends badly, which is the practical reason behind what looks like formality.

The second is the order. A full frokost begins with herring, sharp and salty and eaten while the palate is clean; then the other fish; then the meat, the pork and the liver pâté; then cheese at the end. A kitchen will serve the plates in that sequence whatever order they were listed in.

What goes into it

The foundation of every smørrebrød is a thick slice of dark rye bread, which provides a sturdy base for the toppings. The spread is usually butter (under some toppings, lard), laid on thickly to create a moisture barrier between the bread and the topping. The variety of toppings defines the character of the dish:

• Pickled herring in various marinades, such as mustard, onion, or dill vinegar.
• Roast pork with red cabbage, usually finished with pickled cucumber and sometimes a slice of orange.
• Breaded plaice, a white fish fried and topped with lemon slices and remoulade.
• Hand-peeled shrimp, usually arranged with a dollop of mayonnaise or a light dressing.
• Liver pâté (leverpostej), served warm or cold, usually under bacon and sautéed mushrooms.
• Dyrlægens natmad, the "vet's midnight snack," a combination of liver pâté, salt beef, raw onion and aspic.

The garnishes are fixed rather than decorative: pickled cucumber, raw onion rings, dill, a twist of lemon on the fish, depending on what is underneath. Their job is acid against fat, and a plate that arrives without them is incomplete.

How it is eaten

A proper frokost is long and not hurried: one plate at a time, in sequence, with a long gap for talking in the middle of it.

The drinks are part of the structure. The herring course comes with akvavit, the cold caraway spirit, in a small glass, and a lager alongside it; the beer carries on through the meat. Two or three plates and a beer is the everyday version, and nobody insists on the full run at lunch on a Tuesday.

Curious facts

• The butter barrier. The layer of butter between the rye bread and the topping is not merely for flavour; it prevents the moist ingredients from making the bread soggy too quickly, a practical necessity for the heavy toppings used.
• Herring comes first. Fish before meat and meat before cheese, so the sharpest thing arrives while the palate is clean.
• The vet's snack. The dish known as dyrlægens natmad is usually traced to Oskar Davidsen's smørrebrød restaurant in Copenhagen, where a veterinarian is said to have ordered the same combination every evening.
• Rye bread density. Danish rye bread is distinct for its high percentage of whole grain rye and long fermentation process, giving it a dark colour, dense texture and slightly sour taste that white bread cannot replicate.
• The regions do their own. Bornholm builds its versions on its smoked herring and North Jutland on Skagen shrimp — the same form with whatever the local boats land.

Where to try it

A frokost restaurant — the word on the door is the signal — serves little else and will have a long list. Copenhagen has the greatest concentration of them, and the older ones keep the full sequence and a waiter who will steer an uncertain order.

Outside the capital the form follows the catch. On Bornholm the plates are built on the island's smoked herring; in North Jutland, on Skagen shrimp peeled that morning. A seaside kro, the Danish roadside inn, will serve three or four standard versions rather than thirty, which is the honest everyday version of the thing.