Danish Hash
A Danish leftovers dish of crisp-fried potato cubes, pork roast and onions, topped with a fried egg and served with pickled beets.
The onions are sautéed first and set aside, giving the cold potato cubes room to form a crust; the pork roast is then warmed through, and the fried eggs are cooked alongside at the very end. The crucial difference lies in browning the potatoes in a single layer rather than letting them steam.
Ingredients
The biksemad
- 1.2 kg potatoes, boiled the day before and completely cooled
- 600 g pork roast, cold, preferably leftovers from a roast
- 2 onions, large
- 75 g butter
- salt
- pepper, freshly ground
To serve
- 4 eggs
- 20 g butter
- 1 jar pickled beets
How to make it
- Cut the boiled, cold potatoes into cubes about one and a half centimeters. Keep the cubes evenly sized so they finish cooking at the same time. The potatoes need to be fridge-cold, or they will crumble under the knife.
- Cut the cold pork roast into cubes the same size as the potato cubes, and cut any crackling into narrow strips so it can crisp up in the pan.
- Peel the onions and cut them into cubes slightly smaller than the potato cubes, so they distribute evenly through the dish.
- Melt 25 g of the butter in a large pan over medium heat and sauté the onions for 6-8 minutes, until soft and golden-brown at the edges. Transfer them to a bowl and set aside. They would burn during the potatoes' long cooking time.Chef's tip Onions need a moderate pan to sweat out water before their sugars colour — listen for a quiet sizzle, not a sharp crackle. Push the heat and the edges char bitter before the centre turns soft.
- Turn the heat up to high, add the rest of the butter to the pan and spread the potato cubes out in a single layer. Fry them for 12-14 minutes, turning only every couple of minutes, until they have a crisp, golden-brown crust all the way around. If the cubes are piled up, they will steam instead of browning, so use the largest pan you have. ⏱ 10 min–15 minChef's tip Leave the cubes untouched for two to three minutes at a time. The crust needs uninterrupted contact with the pan to form, and constant stirring knocks it loose before it sets.
- Fold the sautéed onions, meat cubes and any crackling strips in among the potatoes and continue cooking for 4-6 minutes, until the meat is heated all the way through and has taken on color at the edges. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. The pork roast is already salted, so taste before adding more salt.Chef's tip Fold gently and late — the meat is already cooked and only needs warming through, and long frying dries the lean cubes out. Crackling strips crisp within a couple of minutes in the hot butter.
- Pour the pickled beets into a strainer and let the brine drain off completely so it doesn't color the potatoes. Then transfer the beets to a small bowl.
- Fry the eggs in the remaining 20 g of butter in another pan over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, until the whites are fully set and the edges are crisp, while the yolks are still soft.
- Divide the crisp-fried biksemad among four flat plates and place a fried egg on top of each portion. Set the bowl of beets in the middle of the table. At the table, everyone pokes a hole in the yolk so it runs down among the potatoes, and helps themselves to beets on the side.
