Curious Food

Remoulade

Of course, I've heard of the condiment remoulade (pronounced here "Hrem-you-LAYLE"), but I must mention this one first because, I was told by a Dane, "Everyone here is very proud of it." Proud of a condiment? OK. I had to try it.

Remoulade tastes like a mix of mayo and relish, kind of like sweet pickles and cream.  It's meant to go with fish, and I have tried it on that, as well as on a veggie burger.  It's hard to imagine that this is the secret to Danish happiness (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66yKjSIe81Q), but hey, if that's their story, I'm not going to argue.


Pålægschokolade

This is Danish nutella, only instead of hazelnuts it is just pure chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. It comes as wafer-thin pieces of milk or dark chocolate in perfect rectangular portions to put on half a slice of dark rye toast.  I had read about this traditional Danish treat online a few days ago, and so I got a warm smile from a grocery store staff member who overheard me telling the children, "Let's put the nutella back and get these chocolate planks instead. We're in Denmark, so we'll eat chocolate the Danish way."

Koldskål med Kammerjunkere

We were introduced to this traditional summertime treat by my new friend Kathy (an American married to a Dane) and her family. Incidentally,  Kathy and I "met" through an "Internationals in Aarhus" Facebook group; isn't social media wonderful!  In any case, she told me that this can only be found in stores in the summer time, and that people here consider it a complete dinner.  It consists of a buttermilk "soup," slightly sweetened with vanilla and citrus flavors, to which Nilla-wafer like cookies ("kammerjunkere")  are added.  And it is indeed quite refreshing!  Better still, don't you just love that word, "Kammerjunkere"?  It sounds so much more menacing than the thing it actually represents. It could be convincingly used as part of a sound tonguelashing, I think: "Why, you low down kammerjunkere!" Or as a way of showing off in a foreign language, "Oh, that is so yesterday. So kammerjunkere." So when we DO eat koldskål med kammerjunkere for dinner, I feel inordinately decadent (it's sort of like eating Cookie Crisp cereal for dinner), and I get to say the word in its proper context, to boot.