A traditional, Danish open-faced sandwich layered with salmon pate, cream cheese, cucumber, greens and has an egg on it. This healthy and easy recipe makes a perfect Summer lunch. This is the best, open-faced sandwich I have eaten so far, I hope you like it too!
This smørrebrød recipe is adapted from Scandinavian Comfort Food by Trine Hahnemann. I don’t have the type of Danish rye bread that is traditional to smørrebrød nor the smoked herring her recipe calls for but I do have canned salmon and a quick, easy recipe for salmon pate so I problem solved. Cooking is like that. I think I will put rugbrød, the traditional Danish rye bread on my to-learn-list of all good things. Let me know if you have a recipe:)
This recipe is easily scalable if you are going to feed a lot of people and can easily be assembled for single servings. The pate is simple and has only a few ingredients and rest of the layers are easy. Just some fresh veggies and a fried or poached egg on top. If you are wondering how to eat smørrebrød, it’s with a fork and knife. You can try to pick it up but I would wear a bib if you do, like one with a lobster on it!
As for how to pronounce smørrebrød, the best I could come up with is smorabrote. I’m gonna have to reach out to the audience here for some help on this. Leave a comment if you have a better enunciation of smørrebrød.
Open-faced sandwiches have been around since the middle ages, not a recent invention by far. In England and France, sliced bread was used as plates and stuff was piled on. The word smørrebrød was first mentioned 200 hundred years later by the Danish playwright Ludwig Holberg, when describing what the gentry ate. It is the un-official national dish of Denmark. I understand you get exposed to it even before leaving the airport when you arrive.
More smørrebrød toppings
roast beef + horseradish + pickles + fried onions
roast beef + remoulade
pork + pickles + red onion slices
liver pate + red beets
pickled herring + cream cheese + cucumber
smoked or cured salmon + cream cheese + pickles + red onion slice
brie + pear + bacon
blue cheese + apple + bacon
any mild cheese + pickled beets
peanut butter + jelly (JK)
pork + swiss + remoulade + olives
charcuterie + cheese + olives + olive oil + red wine vinegar
anything you love + anything you love + topped with anything you love
Leave a comment below if you have your own favorite variations. God Appetit!
A traditional open-faced Danish sandwich with salmon, cream cheese, cucumber, greens and egg.
Ingredients
- 4 large slices of rye bread or 8 small slices
- 1 salmon pate recipe
- 4 oz cream cheese, I prefer whipped for easier spreading
- 1/2 cucumber, sliced
- greens of your choice, such as arugula, spring lettuce mix, spinach, chard
- 4 eggs, poached or fried over easy
- chives and black pepper for garnish
Instructions
- Toast the bread in a toaster or skillet.
- Layer the sandwich as follows; cream cheese, pate, cucumber, greens, egg, garnish.
- Serve with a knife and fork.
- Note this recipe can be scaled up to feed more people. The bread can be substituted for any bread per your preference but traditionally is served with a dense sourdough rye called rugbrod.
