‘Copenhagen Food’
Chapters in “Copenhagen Food” are organized by neighborhood. Their names, Nyhavn, Gammelholm and Nørrebro, may be a mouthful for English speakers — but the recipes are accessible.
“I created a lot of the recipes so you can get a little dream of what it’s like in Copenhagen,” Hahnemann says. She emphasizes easy-to-find ingredients, and not too many of them. Since the city is surrounded by water, for example, seafood is plentiful. But, she adds, “If you cook at home, you probably don’t have fish stock.”
Tradition reigns in Denmark; herring, aquavit, rye bread, even hot dogs remain essential in the Danish diet. But Hahnemann modernizes the classics, such as Hakkebøf with hasselback potatoes. Chanterelle mushrooms instead of gravy flavor the patties, and the potatoes are roasted, not boiled. Cod with hollandaise is accompanied with sautéed kale and chewy beets.
“I always say, ‘My grandmother would recognize every dish I make, then criticize me for the changes I’ve made,’ ” Hahnemann says.
Salads represent modern Danish cooking, so Hahnemann has included more than a dozen among the 70 recipes in her new book. She stresses fresh ingredients. Though Scandinavian countries are known for their long, dark winters, Hahnemann frames her year in terms of food.
“We really have 10 seasons here in Denmark. Strawberries are available for four weeks, asparagus, six weeks. We grow things month to month, and after the season is over, you don’t see that food anymore.”
“Copenhagen Food” may be a cookbook, but it is a personal one. “It is not a general guide book, it’s my history of my city,” Hahnemann writes in the introduction. “This is the way I live in Copenhagen.”
She shares stories about growing up in Nyhavn, where Hans Christian Andersen wrote some of his fairy tales, and the street dinner party she and her Østerbro neighbors hold each year.
She describes her favorite walks and bicycle rides, and recommends sights to see, places to eat and stores to hit. Photographs infused with gentle Scandinavian light illustrate the city and its residents.
“I’d like people to know that Copenhagen is really easy to visit and to get around,” she says. Hahnemann is also a fan of Houston; she lists the city’s museums, Central Market, The Breakfast Klub and T’afia, Monica Pope’s now closed farm-totable restaurant, as highlights of her most recent trip eight years ago.
“It’s a place I could imagine living,” she says — high praise from someone whose home is regularly named “the happiest country in the world.”
Smørrebrod assembled, the Houstonians follow Hahnemann to a large wooden table below two crystal chandeliers. Though the chef has now been working for 14 hours, she pours wine, opens beers and sits down to discuss Danish food culture for a little longer in a display of what the Danish call “hygge,” a hardto-translate concept of coziness and camaraderie.
The new masters — impressed with their delicious results — start debating where in Houston they can find herring, dense rye and soft fresh cheese worthy of Danish smørrebrod.
The ambassador has done her job. Roberta MacInnis is a writer in Houston. She previously was the Chronicle’s arts editor. Email: food@chron.com.