THE national dish; Stegt Flæsk – Roast Pork Slices with parsley sauce

Danes have many national dishes, however, five years ago, in a national competition, stegt flæsk, was voted THE national dish. Find here the winning recipe and try it out yourself.

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By Bente D. Knudsen

Amongst a range of Danish dishes submitted in the competition Danskernes Mad, Danes were invited to vote for their preferred national dish. Out of a total of 24 submitted dishes, Stegt Flæsk won with 27,893 votes.

Find below the winning recipe submitted by the Danish chef Ninna Bundgaard Christensen.

What you need for 4 people:

1 kg small peeled potatoes

½ tsp. salt

16 slices of lightly salted pork (sprinkle the pork lightly with salt several hours before cooking)

Parsley sauce

25g butter

2.5 tsp. all-purpose/plain flour

300 ml fat free or low fat milk

100-200 ml water from cooking the potatoes

200ml finely chopped parsley (a large bunch, however some think there cannot be too much parsley in the parsley sauce)

A pinch of salt

Glazed fennel and endive with lemon

1 bulb of fennel, washed and cut into quarters

2 bunches of endives, washed and cut into quarters

Juice of one lemon

Fresh thyme, finely chopped

Pinch of salt

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C, using the fan forced setting if possible.

Boil the potatoes in salted water. When the water is boiling, reduce the heat to low and allow the potatoes to simmer until done.

Roast pork slices

Pat the roast pork slices dry and place them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Put in the middle of the warm oven. Check often and turn the slices a couple of times to ensure even cooking.

When the roast pork slices are crispy and brown, take the tray out of the oven and lay the slices, in a single layer, on paper towel, to drain any extra fat.

Glazed fennel and endives with lemon

Braise the fennel and endive in a pan over medium heat. Add most of the lemon juice and a small piece of butter.

Turn the heat down and cover the pan with a loosely fit lid. Let endives and fennel soften for 15-20 minutes on low heat. Season with finely chopped thyme, salt and lemon before serving.

The glazed vegetables go very well with the pork slices and add a fresh and bitter note.

Parsley sauce

Melt the butter in a small, heavy based saucepan. Add the flour and mix well with a whisk to remove all lumps. Allow the flour and butter to cook, over low heat until warmed through.

Now for the tricky part. Add about a ½ cup of milk to the butter and flour mixture at a time. Whisk thoroughly during addition and make sure that the milk is absorbed by the flour and heated through before adding more milk, otherwise there will be lumps in the sauce.

When all the milk has been mixed in, add a little of the potato water until the desired consistency is achieved.

Season the sauce with salt and stir in the chopped parsley. Let the sauce bubble a little gently for 1-2 minutes before serving.

Serve the sauce with the boiled potatoes, crispy roast pork slices and glazed vegetables.