Smørrebrød is a classic Danish dish, essentially an open faced fish sandwich. The spicy romelaude is a wonderful accent to the mild fish underneath.
It’s time for another round of Secret Recipe Club, and this time I am kind of letting loose. It has been a few months since you have seen a Secret Recipe Club post on here, mainly because I realized December was a busy month and with all of my personal plans, plus things I wanted to have on my blog, there wasn’t enough time to devote to another persons blog to make a good SRC post. And that’s what I want to talk about today. Good SRC posts.
Secret Recipe Club is a really neat idea for food bloggers, an opportunity to branch out and discover someone new and new recipes. You are assigned a blog to go look around, pick one recipe from it, and post that recipe on a certain day at a certain time. It has grown to four large groups and a has a lot of fun bloggers participating. I think the idea of being assigned another blog should be considered a challenge to yourself.
I have never cooked Danish food, but when I was given Gitte’s blog, My Danish Kitchen, I immediately got excited. Sure, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by a new cuisine and pick a simple recipe off of someone else’s blog that you know is accomplished. But what’s the point? I guess if I wanted to run an easy blog, everyone one of my posts could be right off the back of the Betty Crocker box too, but that’s not what I feel my food blog is about. I started digging through Gitte’s collection of classic Danish recipes, reading about their origins, traditions and ever doing a little wikipedia searching on the side – because that’s what I feel a good SRC post should entail – actually getting to know the other blogger.
Gitte moved to America with her husband and raised a family, learning to cook without her family nearby, admittedly making mistakes along the way. I can’t imagine what learning to cook would be like in a country that wasn’t my home – especially in our American markets packed with all sorts of random ingredients and boxed foods for so long and such little ‘real’ or ‘organic’ options. She persevered and embraced cooking rather then giving up, so I thought it would be a disservice to her blog to try anything less then a classic Danish recipe.
I see this a lot though with SRC members – a blogger will pick the most recent post, obviously rushing to have something up in time. I think that is down right rude to the person you were assigned to. You couldn’t make time in a month to sit down and flip through their blog? Then don’t be in the club. Unless the latest post was the most delicious looking thing ever, and it scratches your plans, just take a few minutes to look around.
If your recipes don’t have basic instructions, temperatures, times, measurements – you are not doing anyone any favors. Sure a lot of cooking is a dash of this and a pinch of that, but if you want me to recreate something from your site, I need a little something to base a recipe off of. If you don’t have the time to sit and catalog your recipes in a way that makes them easy to find or searched, I’m probably not coming back. If you really are a food blogger, you can make time for the little things that make your site a value to its readers.
I realize that SRC posts may get a boost in traffic to your blog on a specific day, and that can be desirable, but if you want me to comment make it worth my while. Don’t just post a picture with a link back to someone’s site saying it was tasty. Don’t leave comments on my site telling me to come see your post. I probably already did, or will, and if I don’t have a comment, I’m not leaving one, but I certainly wouldn’t walk into your kitchen and tell you to come check out mine without having a real conversation with you. “Yummy, come see my post!” does not count as a real conversation. If anything, it just gets you marked as spam on this page.
I feel that Secret Recipe Club is a great opportunity for bloggers on all levels. Let’s not water it down so that it’s not fun any more. If you don’t have the time to give one post out of the month 100%, then I really don’t feel you should be joining clubs.
I do not want my SRC rant to take away from the blog I was assigned this month, and is no way directed at that blog, just at some of the SRC drama I’ve noticed in the last few months.
There were a lot of beautiful recipes that had my taste buds curious. The classic Danish pastry, Wienerbrød would have pleased my boyfriend, but I wanted something a bit more savory.
I have just recently discovered a love for fish sandwiches, and with Lent right around the corner, I thought this Smørrebrød was a fitting meal.
“Smørrebrød (originally smør og brød; Danish for “butter and bread”) usually consists of a piece of buttered rye bread, a dense, dark brown bread. Pålæg (literally “on-lay”), the topping, then among others can refer to commercial or homemade cold cuts, pieces of meat or fish, cheese or spreads. This daily practice is the base on which the art of the famous Danish open sandwich, smørrebrød is created: A slice or two of pålæg is placed on the buttered bread, and then pyntet (decorated) with the right accompaniments, to create a tasty and visually appealing food item.” Wikipedia
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Smørrebrød {Open Face Fish Sandwich}
from My Danish Kitchen
Ingredients:
For the Remoulade:
- 1/2 cup sweet relish
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1 1/2 teaspoons yellow mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon sugar
For the Fish:
- 3 tbs vegetable oil
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1 teas water
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- salt and pepper
- 2 lbs fresh bass or flounder, cut into even fillets
- Rye bread, sliced thin
- lettuce
- Dill and radishes, for garnish
- lemon wedges
Preparation:
For the remoulade:
Drain the relish with a cheesecloth or in several heavy duty paper towels.
In a small bowl, combine dried relish, mayo, mustard, and sugar in a bowl and mix to combine; cover and refrigerate a few hours to let the flavors come together.
For the fish sandwich:
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
While the skillet is heating, pat fish dry with paper towels. Organize two bowls near your stove top, and on plate lined with paper towels so that you have your work area as efficient as possible. Place egg and water in one of the bowls, whisk to combine. Place bread crumbs, salt and pepper in the other; mix to combine.
Dip the fillets in the egg and then coat with bread crumbs. Place in skillet and cook 3-5 minutes per side depending on thickness, until golden brown. Remove from skillet and lay on your plate lined with paper towels to absorb any excess oil.
Meanwhile, toast the bread.
Serve open face style on toasted bread with lettuce and top with remoulade, radishes, fresh dill, and a lemon wedge.
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Come see…I’m kidding! Sounds like a lot of drama around it, but glad you’re able to focus on what’s important – the food. This is a great dish – love fish, and don’t get around to making Danish food a lot.
I was really tempted to fill this up with linkies… I’m just not that cruel – well, I am.. just not with food. Thank you for pointing me to My Danish Kitchen – I’ve been looking for a decent Danish blog for a while, only to be inundated with pickle herring or posts that i can’t read… Can you get me some more info on the SRC?… on to the post… I used to eat these all the time in Vancouver they are the perfect light sandwich
Hey Toby, check out their site: It really is a fun group 🙂
Great SRC choice, this looks so delicious! Such a gorgeous presentation too! 🙂
I love Smorrebrod! Having grown up in Germany, I’ve traveled to Denmark and Sweden a bit and always enjoyed the food there 🙂
I’m loving this secret recipe club idea! That is so cool!! And this sandwich is to-die-for! Now the only thing left for me to find out is how you made those crazy “o”s 🙂
I agree with you that it’s upsetting when members who have literally more than a month to pick, make and blog about one recipe don’t do their assigned blog justice. The idea behind SRC is that you don’t know who you might get, but that you MAY need to step outside of your comfort zone and find something new. i had hoped that’s what others would get out of it too. But that’s what makes this an interesting world. We aren’t all the same and we can only hope that we ourselves are doing the right thing. You definitely did your assigned blog justice. The dish is beautiful. Thanks for being a part of SRC for as long as you were 🙂
Love that you went outside your comfort zone with Danish food. This sandwich looks super tasty. Glad to be part of SRC group C with you!!
I agree with much of what you said re: SRC. I think it’s important to spend some time reading your assigned blog. Even if their style of cooking isn’t what you’re used to, part of the fun/challenge is to pick something and make it work for you! This is a lovely sandwich…pinning, because I need ideas for Lenten Friday dinners…
Ok now I have a craving….
Yummy sandwich! I am not a huge fish person, but this looks so pretty I actually want to eat it!
Great sound off on SRC too! I mean seriously, we are all grown adults!
How exciting (and daunting—or I would have been). You picked a great recipe. Beautiful looking sandwich (and I am not even a fish person!)
Nice presentation, it looks great! I hope you liked it as well 🙂
wow she has really great recipes, this sandwich looks fantastic, you were very brave to make it since I’m a bit scared about making a fish sandwich
This fish sandwich looks so good! I’ve never really made Danish food either. You did a beautiful job (as always) with the presentation of the dish. It’s hard to style meat, but I love the way you put the sauce and garnishes on top. Colorful and gorgeous!
The Secret Recipe Club sounds fun! I love taking on challenges like that to make something totally new and outside my comfort zone (I actually talked about that a little in my post today about macarons). I’m going to go look into the SRC right now…
oh that looks really good, fresh and healthy. I can see this becoming very popular in my house 🙂
Hi Kita! I’ve read many SRC posts from different blogs (I’m not participating though) and I understand your frustration. At the same time I admire your great ethics toward the work you do and your respect toward the group. Hope SRC will be maintained as a good quality club as I enjoy reading posts about it.
Now this sandwich looks fabulous! I never thought of eating breaded fish on the sandwich! Remoulade sounds good too. I can already imagine how delicious it is…. 🙂
Rant away… I always appreciate a good rant. I’ve been frustrated a few times with the lack of effort people put into their posts. At the end of the day, I don’t know what else to do except NOT do what frustrates me about others. On another note, I’m sort of a sucker for ‘open face’ sandwiches. Weird, right? I don’t know, I just love them! This looks delish!
your post is absolutely refreshing. i’ve been part of SRC for a few months now and i feel like i work really hard to make my SRC assignment worthwhile for the person whose recipe I’m making. it’s frustrating and sad when not everyone does the same thing. i agree with Amanda that we’re all different and we should be. But we should also haul ass and make a kick-awesome post for the person we’re paired with. anyhow, you’ve already said it all. Well said.
Ps. fish sandwich looks great.
As another member of the SRC (also in group C – and in fact, also Danish :-)) I can only agree with you, and respect your “rant”.
I think you did a really great job with an unfamiliar cuisine, and it got me thinking about how to handle the next assignment. Even though I always try to find some information about my blogging buddy and getting to “know” her (haven’t had a him yet!), I may not have looked as much into the recipes as I could. (But I have to say, sometimes it has been hard to find older recipes without having to go through everything, because some people don’t use a “time-line”, where you can look for specific dates or seasons).
Thanks for stirring things up a bit!
Looks beautiful and sounds wonderful! Great choice!
I’m sorry to hear about SRC drama. Hopefully people will get the message from this post. Sometimes people just care about getting traffic and nothing else. It’s sad.
On a positive note, your sandwich looks fabulous! I love open-faced sandwiches. Love it!!!!! It’s half the amount of carbs or more filling-to-bread ratio. And you are a genius to add the remoulade. Well done!
I know what you mean about SRC posts. I love the boost in traffic but I would love to have some great, throughtful comments instead. I think that things will get better when people realize it is more than traffic.
This sandwich sounds great. 🙂