Canadian Cuisine,  Danish Cuisine,  The Dishes

Aebleflaesk and Bannock Bread

To come up with a Danish-Canadian fusion dish, I first started doing some research on traditional Danish dishes. After researching, I found many Danish dishes that involved pork and bread in some form. One dish that specifically stood out to me was Aebleflaesk, or Danish apple pork. Aebleflaesk is a dish that includes apples, onions, and pork belly and is traditionally served on top of dark rye bread. I thought it would be great to replace the dark rye bread with some kind of Canadian equivalent. Research brought me to Bannock, a bread eaten by much of the indigenous population in Canada. Bannock became a staple among Canadian indigenous people by means of Scottish fur trappers who came to the Americas. The cooking of Bannock among Canada’s indigenous people shows how many were forced to change their eating habits due to restrictions on food and ingredients by settlers. Because of its importance in Canadian history and the way that it symbolizes the resilience of the Canadian indigenous people, I decided Bannock would be the perfect dish to use in this blend of Danish and Canadian flavors, especially because I wanted this dish to be a twist on Danish smørrebrød, an open sandwich consisting of a piece of bread and different toppings. This is how I came to create this new fusion dish: a version of smørrebrød with Canadian Bannock bread and Danish Aebleflaesk as the topping. To infuse Canadian flavors even more, I added some maple syrup to the mix of apples and onions in the Aebleflaesk. I chose a very traditional route with the Aebleflaesk as the topping of the smørrebrød, but it could be made with many different toppings like pickled herring, eggs, beets, and more!

 

Overall, this dish isn’t a difficult one to make. To make the Aebleflaesk or apple pork, I used pork belly, apples, and onions. The Danish often use pork belly, but if you prefer something less fatty, using a pork roast would be an easy alternative. The Bannock bread is also fairly easy to cook, as it uses only flour, salt, baking powder, oil, and water. The dough is fried in oil for a few minutes, and then it is ready to eat. Give it a try!