Christmas is around the corner and with it comes one of the most long-awaited Danish traditions of the year; the festive Julefrokost! A classic Danish ‘julefrokost’ is an absolute must during Christmas time as it’s gather your favourite people around a table with lots of lovely food.
We spoke to Jaqueline Skött, co-founder of the Danish eatery Snaps & Rye, to find out more.
1. What is ‘Julefrokost’?
A Julefrokost is an essential part of Danish culture. Every December in Denmark groups of people – colleagues, members of clubs, friends etc. will get together for an annual Julefrokost – Christmas Lunch.
The ‘lunch’ can be either at lunch or dinner time and will involve a lot of Christmas food, singing Danish Christmas songs and drinking Akvavit and Christmas beer. For dessert Risalamande, a rice pudding for Christmas will always be served with a whole almond hidden inside – the one who gets the almond wins a prize.
2. If I wanted to host a “Julefrokost’ – what foods and drinks would be essential?
Vital ingredients for a Julefrokost are herrings, salmon, rye bread, roast pork with all the trimmings and Risalamande – Danish rice pudding with cherry sauce. And of course no Julefrokost is complete without Danish Snaps and Julebryg a limited edition Danish Beer.
3. Where do you recommend shopping for (Danish) ingredients?
Waitrose now do a good line in Scandi foods with herrings and gravadlax available. You can also pick up some food at SNAPS + RYE – along with Akvavit and Christmas beer too (see link below) . Or why not pop over to Copenhagen for a long weekend in December, and pick up ingredients for your own Julefrokost whilst you are there!
4. What is your favourite delicacy for ‘julefrokost’ and can you share the recipe with us?
My favourite part of Julefrokost has to be the roast pork and crackling – I can never get enough of it! My husband’s recipe is of course the best! See it here.
Also, Snaps & Rye will be serving a traditional Danish Julefrokost every lunch time in December. The amazingly tasty Danish Christmas lunch is served as a 3 course menu for £25 per person.
You’ll find Snaps & Rye Danish Eatery and Takeaway in 93 Golborne Road, W10 5NL West London.
They also do catering for private parties. Find out more by visiting their website, snapsandrye.com
This looks fantastic! Thanks for sharing! Could we have the recipe for the rice pudding and cherry sauce as well please?! Thank you 🙂
Oh… this has made me so hungry for Danish christmas food -unfortunately I still have 20 days till I go home!