When I was a kid we celebrated Christmas on Jule Aften (Christmas Eve), a tradition my parents carried with us from Denmark to the 3 countries I was assembled in. In this post I'll share some of the Christmas traditions we brought with us including how to make Danish Christmas tree decorations, my grandmothers recipe for æbleskiver and a kick-ass drink that will keep you warm and get you in the Christmas spirit!

My first memories of Christmas are from Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Spruce or pine trees don’t grow in the tropics, so our Christmas tree looked a little tattered. We decorated it with lit candles, tinsel, danish flags, baubles and homemade woven “julehjerter” (Christmas hearts). The hearts are generally filled with Danish treats but it was hard to find them in Rhodesia, not just because of the sanctions, but there just wasn't a very substantial Danish expat community to drive demand for Danish food and goods. That changed when we emigrated to Calgary, Canada. There was pretty good sized Danish expat community and the julehjerter were now filled with chocolate covered marzipan, unshelled hazelnuts or walnuts, cookies or other tasty treats.

After moving to Canada, we continued to burn live candles for a few years, but my folks discovered colored electric Christmas tree lights and the candles were soon replaced, I think the fire hazard had more to do with it than the fancy colors. The julehjerter remained unchanged though.

Making julehjerter was a tradition leading up to Jule Aften that would always get us in the Christmas spirit. My parents would get out the glanspapir (glossy paper), and we would get to tracing out the designs, before cutting pieces and weaving them together. The first julehjerte was green and white and was woven by none other than Hans Christian Andersen (in Danish he's simply known as H.C. Andersen) author of Little Mermaid, The Emporors New Clothes, The Snow Queen (basis for Frozen), The Ugly Duckling and 152 other children's stories. The original julehjerte can still be viewed in his home (now a museum) in Odense, Denmark.

My dad read me a lot of Danish childrens stories growing up. He would trace his his finger across the page as he read so I could see the words as he spoke them. That's how I learned to read Danish, I never attended Danish school, I was 9 months old when we emigrated. Many of H.C. Andersen's stories had a moral, one example is his Christmas story The Fir Tree.

The tradition became an annual event that included my parent’s friends and their families. The grown ups would drink jule gløgg, a warm and spiced wine drink, the kids would drink hot chocolate and we would all eat æbleskiver while making the julehjerter. Mom would make a few templates for the kids to use and we would continue cutting and weaving for hours. By the time we were done, the adults were tipsy and we were all stuffed with æbleskiver.

Here are a few more templates if you're inspired to make more intricate julehjerter.

The word gløgg is from the old Swedish glödgad, meaning burned. That is a drink in which most if not all of the alcohol has evaporated. My parents, Inger and Kai’s version, was meant for those of us who love to party as they did. Their recipe adds back a considerable % of alcohol with a generous pour of Danish Akvavit and they didn’t boil the gløgg to ensure as little alcohol as possible evaporates. My parents are awesome!  Here, for the first time is Inger and Kai’s finest party enducing gløgg recipe. :

Inger & Kai’s Julegløgg
1 bottle Red wine
2 Cinnamon sticks
10 Cloves
100g (1/2 a cup) Raisins 
100g (1/2 a cup) Chopped almonds
Lemon peel (no white) sliced thin
1 dl (1/2 a cup) Sugar 
1-2  dl (1/2-1 cup) Akvavit (aka snaps)
 
Warm wine and spices, covered at a low temperature. When warm, add sugar and lemon peel and stir until sugar disolves. Add 1-2 dl snaps (my personal favorite is Alborg Jublæums Akvavit) to make it stronger to taste. If you can’t find akvavit, substitute dark rum or brandy
 
Serve warm and Enjoy!

Making æbleskiver is a bit of an art, First of all you need a special cast iron pan. Arne Æbleskive can help you choose the pan that's right for you. Then there's the challenge of making them, learn from an expert how to make them perfectly round, we've never made them this perfect! We
eat them with powdered sugar and raspberry jam.

This is my maternal grandmother, Else (pronounced El-seh) æbleskive recipe that she noted in her personal recipe book on August 17, 1946. This is a word for word translation of her recipe.

500g (2 cups) flour, 8.3 dl (3.5 cups) milk or sour whipping cream, a little teaspoon salt, one lemon peel finely shredded, whisk all ingredients, then stir in 5 egg yolks and one teaspoon baking soda and then finally add the 5 egg whites. The dough should not be too thin. Approx. 55/æbleskiver. Note from Mike: you want about the same consistency as pancake mix.

Glædlig Jul og Godt Nytår!

Last week we made Pineywoods Heritage Beef flank steak for the first time. Flank is a popular cut for making fajitas, its not the most tender cut, but it's got great flavor. To tenderize, flank needs to marinade for up to 12 hours. Sue made her marinade and it tasted so good we decided to use it for BBQ sauce too. We ate it on short ribs an it was amazing!

Yep, that's one of the ingredients. Here are the rest of the recipe:
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• 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce (we pronounce it "wusster sauce", a remnant from living in the UK for 8 years. That's how they pronounce it, too many syllables, Brits are a bit lazy or is it efficient?)
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tblsp brown sugar
• 1 two oz can of anchovies, less one that Sue ate
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 medium onion, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
• 1 jalapeño, no ribs or seeds

 
Combine Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, anchovies, garlic, mustard, tomato paste, and olive oil in a blender and blend until smooth, creamy, and emulsified. Transfer sauce to a mason jar and stir in onions and store in the fridge until you're ready to marinade or smother your ribs in  BBQ sauce!

Recipe was inspired by Serious Eats

There is a lot of experimentation in the Ozark Akerz farmhouse kitchen. Sue, being what Mike considers a culinary alchemist, doesn’t always follow or write down a recipe. Well, she finally (and reluctantly) chose to cramp her style and wrote down her recipe for liver pâté.  We’re often asked by Pineywoods Heritage Beef customers what they can do with the liver, apart from the age-old standby, liver and onions. We can now share this easy to make and delicious recipe with you.

their friends about Danish cuisine. Danish liver pâté, called “leverpostej” (pronounced liver-posteye) was always a big favorite. Sue has learned to love it and has put her own spin on it with this liver pâté recipe. Mike says it rivals the best leverpostej that butchers make in Denmark. Danes eat leverpostej almost daily. An open-faced sandwich with a liberal spread, garnished with a pickle, bacon, pickled beets, fried mushrooms, mustard or a generous pinch of coarse salt, the list is endless!

One favorite at Danish dinner parties is “Dyrlægens natmad” (pronounced dewa-layenz nat-meh). A direct translation to English is “The Veterinarians Midnight Snack”. It was first introduced in 1920 at Oskar Davidsen, a restaurant in Copenhagen that specialized in open-faced sandwiches.

after midnight at parties in Denmark and meant to help sober folks up before they catch the last train home. The open-faced sandwich has 5 layers:A slice of dark rye bread, bacon grease (in place of butter), leverpostej, salted beef tongue and “sky”. Sky has no English equivalent but is best described as gelatinized beef broth. Mike likes to top it off with onion. Tasty!
 
We recently took samples of our Pineywoods Heritage Beef to a meeting we had with the Chef de Cuisine at a restaurant. At the last minute Sue decided to make some of her liver pâté to take as well for him to sample as well. As soon as Sue brought out the sample, the chef got a spoon to try it. By the time we finished the meeting 20 minutes later, he had eaten a third of it and told Sue that it was "really delicious". We sent him the recipe the next day.

However you decide to eat your leverpostej, we know you will love the flavor of Sue’s first recipe. Hopefully we will see more of her recipes in the future.

Pineywoods Beef Liver Pâté with Bacon, Rosemary, & Thyme

* 6-8 thick pieces organic nitrate free uncured applewood smoked bacon
* 1 small organic sweet onion, chopped
* 4 cloves organic garlic, minced
* 1 pound wild-foraged Pineywoods Heritage Beef liver
* 2 tablespoons fresh organic rosemary, minced
* 2 tablespoons fresh organic thyme, minced
* ½ teaspoon sea salt

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Cook the bacon until crisp, remove from pan and set aside to cool.
2. Add the onion and garlic to the bacon grease and cook for 1 minute on medium-low. Top with liver and sprinkle with herbs. Cook slowly, turning several times, until the liver is no longer pink in the center. Optional: keep a small amount of the raw onion aside & add in Step 3 for some crunch.
3. Cool slightly. Place all ingredients into a food processor, including bacon grease from the pan, sea salt, and optional raw onion. Process to your preferred consistency, I prefer it smooth.
4. Enjoy warm, fresh from the food processor by itself or on your favorite bread or cracker. Experiment with toppings – one of my favorites is bread & butter pickles. Refrigerate leftover pâté and eat cold or reheat, as desired.

Inspired by: https://autoimmunewellness.com/bacon-beef-liver-pate-with-rosemary-and-thyme/