Smørrebrød Dansk Leverpostej Sandwich. Two delicious Danish Open Face Liverwurst Sandwiches.

There are many other countries that make similar open face sandwiches such as in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Germany! There are different liverwurst recipes using specific ingredients such as onion or bacon.  Liverwurst recipes are known by it's own region with in a country.  The Danish liverwurst has a specific flavor not found in other countries.  If you are unable to get the Danish liverwurst, feel free to try other type of delicious liverwursts too.  There are many other great liverwursts to try.

Two delicious Danish Leverpostej Open Face Sandwiches

  

In Denmark, everyone eats liverwurst and it is called leverpostej.  It is the Danes favorite spread. Leverpostej is found in all of the Danish grocery stores, butcher shops, restaurants and homes.  It is very easy to get leverpostej because of it's popularity.

Leverpostej dates back to the late 1800's in Denmark. The leverpostej sandwich developed over the years from a plain sandwich with just one topping to an elaborate Smørrebrød creation.  The versatile spread can be served warm, cold, sliced or spread on bread. However most leverpostej sandwiches are made with rye bread. A traditional leverpostej has assorted toppings and in Danish it is called pålæg. What is great with a leverpostej sandwich is you can create your own personalized sandwich by adding your favorite topping such as pickled beets, crispy fried onions, mushrooms, cucumbers.  We have included our YouTube video of how we made two different kinds of leverpostej open face sandwiches.


Our first leverpostej open face sandwich is the most typical combination using bacon and fried mushrooms. Before making this Leverpostej sandwich you will need to do a little pålæg prepping.  

First Step is to make Bacon and Fried Mushroons
A traditional way to make the pålæg is to fry the bacon then fry the mushrooms in the bacon fat. Frying bacon requires time and attention but will melt the enough fat to use for the mushrooms. (Plus, nothing smells better than frying bacon in a pan in the kitchen.) 

Ingredients:
*bacon
*chopped mushrooms (either fresh or canned is fine)

Kitchen Tools:
*flat frying pan (preferably cast iron pan)
*papertowel to soak the grease
*a tool to flip the bacon such as a fork

Start with a flat frying pan.  Place enough bacon in the pan to fill it up, but not so much so that it overlaps. If it overlaps there will be sections of the bacon that isn't cooked.  Once your bacon has reached a level of crispiness that is to your liking, offload it onto paper towels to soak up some of the remaining grease  Then, add chopped mushrooms quickly in the bacon fat to fry the mushrooms. Don't over cook it.  You just want to fry these quickly. Once ready remove the mushrooms from the pan.

Second Step is to make the Danish Open Face Leverpostej Sandwich
The Open Face Leverpostej Sandwich is very easy to make.  We either have this open face sandwich either for lunch, diner or part of a larger smørrebrød. 

Ingredients:
* 1 piece of rye bread
* European style butter
* 2 or 3 slices of liverwurst (leverpostej)
* 1 or 2 pieces of crispy bacon
* 1 or 2 tablespoons of fried mushrooms
* 1 or 2 slices of pickles

Upclose photo of the Leverpostej with Fried Mushrooms & Bacon

Now we are ready to make the leverpostej sandwich. Before adding a topping (pålæg), smear the rye bread with a spreadable butter.  Add two to three slices of leverpostej across the rye bread. On one half of the bread add a crispy bacon.  On the other side of the bread add fried mushrooms and slices of pickles.

This sandwich has to be eaten with a knife and fork too. The drink of choice is a good Danish beer! If you are having a formal smorrebrod, we usually serve the open face sandwich on a Royal Copenhagen plate.  

Below is a YouTube video on how to make both Leverpostej Sandwiches.

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Smorrebrod Trivia: Did you know that in Danish pickled beets is syltede rødbeder?


Second Sandwich Leverpostej Sandwich with apples, prune and beets.

This sandwich you will need to do a little pålæg prepping.  First, you will need to poach an apple in sugar water.

Ingredients
* 1 medium Pink Lady, Golden Delicious, or Braeburn apples, peeled, cored
* 1 cup water
* 1/4 cup of sugar 
* 1 prune 

Kitchen Tools

* large heavy sauce pan 

* measuring cup

 
Combine sugar and water in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Add peeled apple; reduce heat to low and simmer, occasionally rotating the apple, until tender when pierced with a sharp knife, 25–30 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the apple to a plate and set aside. Then, add a prune in the center of the cooled off apple.

Ingredients
* 1 piece of rye bread
* European style or spreadable butter
* 2 or 3 slices of liverwurst (leverpostej)
* 1 poached apple with prune
* 3 or 4 slices of pickled beets

Now, you are ready to make your sandwich. Before adding a topping (pålæg), smear the rye bread with butter.  Lay over the rye bread two to three slices of leverpostej. On one side of the bread add the poached apple with a prune. On the other side of the bread add 3 to 4 slices of pickled beets.  It is that easy! Now you are ready to eat!

Danish Open Face Leverpostej Sandwich with Poached Apple and Beets

If you need to make a quick sandwich, it is very common to only have a single topping. Leverpostej with pickled beets is very common on.  Many times in a rush we just open a can of beets and use several slices of beets on our sandwich.

Scandinavian ways to spell liverwurst: 

• Danish - leverpostej
• Icelandic - lifrarkæfa
• Norwegian -  lifrarkæfa
• Swedish - leverpastej
• Finnish -  maksapasteija

We hope you enjoyed both our recipe and video on how to make the Smørrebrød Danish Open Face Leverpostej sandwich!  If you like the video, please be sure to subscribe to our YouTube Channel Scandinavian Today.  Our channel has videos including

*how to make Danish Christmas rice pudding with cherry sauce dessert recipe (Risalamande med kirsebærsauce)
*how to make Swedish Glogg for Christmas & cold evenings! (glögg or mulled wine recipe) 
*how to make aeblskiver (æbleskiver)
*how to make Danish Christmas Klejner
*how to make easy Danish cucumber salad (arguksalat)
*how to make Danish sugar browned potatoes (brunede kartofler)
*how to make Danish red cabbage (rødkaal)
These recipes are perfect for the holiday season. Please let us know what you think! Glædelig Jul and Merry Christmas♥ !

Our Scandinavian recipes including Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish are on http://scandinavtoday.blogspot.com/

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