Stegt Flæsk
The Danish National Dish ”Stegt Flæsk med persillesovs” – or Fried Pork Belly with parsley sauce – is a genuine old rural dish that is orientated from the rustic Danish country kitchen from around the middle of the 1700s.
Ingredients
1000 g Pork belly in slices (unsalted)
1 kg Potatoes (new)
50 g Danish Butter
4 tablespoons Wheat flour
4 dl Milk, 3.5%
1 dl Whipping Cream
1-2 dl Chopped fresh parsley
Prepare the Pork Belly
Cut the pork belly in 5-6 mm thick slices then dry the slices on kitchen roll towel for a while. Season the slices with salt and pepper before frying.
Potatoes and Parsley
Start peeling the potatoes. Put them in a pot – and cover them with cold water. Boil the potatoes for 15-20 minutes. You can leave the skin on if you prefer. Especially “new” potatoes of the season with very thin tender – white skin. Chop the parsley into pieces. Some parsley for the sauce and some for decoration.
The Parsley Sauce
Make a butter ball of butter and flour and stir continuously while melting in the sauce pot and until the mixture is turned into a consistent mass. Ad little milk and stir. Repeat until the sauce has the consistency that you favour. Not to thick and not to light. Do not boil the sauce. You will end up having prepared a kind of white “béchamel sauce”. Add the whipping cream and taste the sauce. Put nutmeg in if preferred. Then add all the chopped parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper while stirring. Let the sauce simmer for 5-10 minutes so the ingredients are stirred and mixed together while sucking up flavour.
Fry the pork belly
Fry the pork belly slices for almost 2 minutes on each side on a hot pan with moderate heat until they seam crispy and with a golden surface. Dry them again on kitchen roll towel where some of the fat can drain – and keep the fried pork belly slices warm in an oven until serving.
Oven or Grill
One can also put the pork belly in the heated 200° oven and fry for 20 minutes while turning the slices after half the roasting time. In the summertime it is quicker to grill the pork belly slices on a well heated charcoal grill.
Serving the National Dish
Put the lukewarm potatoes on a warm plate – arrange the fried pork belly strips then pour the warm temperate parsley sauce over the potatoes. Sprinkle some fresh chopped parsley over the dish and serve.
Original recipe found here:
http://www.copenhagenet.dk/CPH-Map/CPH-Recipes-Stegt-Flaesk.asp
Marty Made It 