From Field to Food

I thought maybe this post would be a good time to take a (mostly) break from all of the cultural sites and sounds of Denmark, and explore a little more in depth the tasty side of life.  Well... that's not entirely true.  For this to be even remotely relevant, I have to give a back story, which I am quite sure will spiral into an in-depth Danish exploration.  Oh well, enjoy it while it lasts.

My Sustainable by Design class at the Frilandsmuseet.  On the left, in red/pink shirt is our very attractive Danish professor, Christian, who led use through the zoo of buildings.

I hate to say it, but this is coming pretty late, because the story begins on August 29th (aka, 2 weeks ago), when I went on a mandatory field trip (called a 'field study', and they are very fond of them at DIS.  Good and bad.  Good because it means we get some context and actual experience with what we are learning in class.  Bad because they can schedule them for any time- weekend, Wednesday- our day of rest- or any other time in the week) to the 'Frilandsmuseet', known in English as the Open Air Museum.  The best description I have heard of it is a VERY big zoo (like 200 football fields) for buildings- let me be more specific: senile old buildings.  The kind that act a little funny in front of your friends when they come over to visit, and still manages to think that you are your aunt Suzie who looked like you 40 years ago, but now lives in Nigeria with her husband and three children.  Just kidding.  But really, they are REALLY, REALLY old.  Most of them date from 200 to 400 years ago, and considering that they are vernacular buildings (that is, a building made for necessity, not design), mostly houses, and many have thatch roofs and stone walls, it is pretty remarkable that they are still around.

One of the VERY old buildings of the Museum- this is from inside the stable... which the animals shared with the humans!

You see, the founder of Tivoli (yes the amusement park), Georg Carstensen, thought it would be a good idea to preserve the history, culture, and building traditions of Denmark for future generations.  In 1901, he opened the Frilandsmuseet, which contained original structures from all over Denmark, it's territories, and former lands.  This means that Western Sweden and Northern Germany are also highly represented in the buildings of the museum.  And, most amazingly, they have been shipped, often piece by piece to remain their original integrity, to the site.  To explain what a task this is, many of the buildings have loose, round stone foundations, which were numbered so they could be perfectly placed when they got to their new homes.  Some of the roofs are also incredibly ornate (such as the 'smurf house' from one of the many nearby islands, who's roof is made of a dense dried and woven seaweed thatch), and some of the structures are very, very large.  Being vernacular buildings, they also typically were built to respond specifically to their site (a tract home does nothing for a farmer in the middle of nowhere who is trying to keep his family dry and warm), and so the museum has actually recreated many of the conditions of the buildings, such as hills, marshlands, and rivers, so it is clear how the buildings actually functioned.

The seaweed thatched 'Smurf' House!

 But, this is getting off-topic.  Like I said, the museum was also intended to preserve the cultural traditions of the region.  It does this by being a 'living museum', much like you would find on the East Coast at many of the important historical sites- with people dressing in costumes and acting as if they were from that time period.  Except not that kitschy.  Why?  Well, because these people aren't just going through the motions of living that life.  They actually ARE living that life.  I got the distinct impression that many of them live on site.  And there, they farm (vegetables, grains, and animals for meat and dairy), sew, weave, and make traditional foods.  I got to try some bread that was baked in an earth oven!  YUM.  Plus, I think these people must have very specific skills to be able to work at the museum doing this.  I saw an old woman sitting alone in the courtyard of one of the buildings with a spin making wool yarn.  I don't think many people even know how to do that anymore.

The cute little old lady making yarn!

Aside from all that, the museum has a very special food/architecture surprise: working mills!  There are two windmills on site, one in the Danish tradition, and one in the Dutch style, as well as a water mill (which, again, think of the work required to make it usable on a new site!).  The day we were visiting, it turned out that the water mill was in use, meaning that they were actually grinding grain (rye in this case) on it.  When you stepped inside, it was dusty with flour, and people in adorable white uniforms were performing the duties of mill-people. 

The men in the white uniforms at work!

 They had to do the grinding in loads, so when we first went inside everything was quiet (dusty, but quiet).  Then, all of the sudden, the beautiful, polished, hardwood cogs above our heads started to spin (sending even more flour all over us), and a sifting table began to shake.  After a while, a man came up with a HUGE bag of flour, and they filled paper sacks and gave them to us FOR FREE!  Yes, I got a FREE bag of FRESHLY GROUND rye flour.  How cultural is that?  And, bonus: it was like taking fresh copies off of a copier.  Still warm!

The spinning cogs of the mill.

The rest of the museum, I dare say, was pretty boring.  After 5 hours of walking around looking at 200 year old buildings, everything starts to look the same.  I even stopped taking pictures at some point.  But, in spite of the boredom that eventually took over, I had a good time.  And came home with a pretty awesome souvenir.  Now all I had to do was find something to do with it.  Now, I could have made bread.  As you know, if you have read the older posts, rye bread is practically a religion here (in fact, given the fact that only about 5% of the 95% Lutheran population are actually practicing Christians, and they are that passionate, maybe it is their real religion).  And, I even got a recipe for "Ullas gode rugbrød" (Ulla's good rye bread).  But, it required yeast, which takes a long time, and also translating all of the directions and ingredients.  SO... I went searching for something more exotic.  And found... wait for it... cookies.  Yes, rye cookies.  I promised Inga and Henning that I would cook them an American meal, and apparently, cookies are really American.  Shelley's Danish roommate told her that she had never made cookies before, only bought them premade (like, in a box) or 'fresh' from a cafe.  Sad day.  So, to accompany the chicken-fried-steak and mashed potatoes that I cooked up, and went with rye chocolate chip cookies.  In spite of a few calculation mix-ups, not all of the proper ingredients, and the fact that it was, originally, a vegan recipe, I was pleasantly surprised.  Anyone who would like to give rye a chance, here it is (with some personal side notes from me):


3/4 c freshly milled rye flour
3/4 spelt flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
8 tbsp (1 stick) salted butter (this was originally a vegan butter substitute- ew)
1 c dark brown sugar
1 ripe banana (I used the banana, but I would most certainly go with 1 large egg next time.)
1 tsp vanilla extract (that doesn't exist as far as I've seen in Denmark.  We had vanilla sugar instead)
chocolate chips (again, not something you can get here. We bought Smarties, like European M&M's)
*Also, I added a tad-bit of milk to make up for lost liquid from the vanilla extract.


Preheat oven to 350 F. (175 C)

Line baking sheet with parchment.

Combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium sized bowl, set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the sugar and butter on low speed until just blended, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, mixing until just combined. Stir in vanilla (and milk).

Add dry ingredients, and mix on low speed until flour is barely combined. Stir in Smarties.

Form dough into balls, place on baking sheet 2 inches apart.

Cookies: Pre-Bake.

 Bake for 13-15 minutes, until the cookies have spread and cracked, the tops are dry and have browned a bit. Cool on baking sheet.

The finished product.

And then, of course, enjoy with a glass of milk (or if you're Danish, coffee... which I find to be a really funny mixture) while watching the evening Nyheder (news... and note specifically the verb I chose: watching.  There is hearing, but no listening to the news.  I have no idea what they are saying... YET)