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Similar Flæskesteg, Æbleflæsk, Medisterpølse, Brændende kærlighed, Smørrebrød | ||
Stegt fl sk med persillesovs
Stegt flæsk IPA [stɛkt flɛsk] is a dish from Denmark consisting of fried pork belly and generally served with potatoes and a parsley sauce (persillesovs). The dish is sometimes translated as pork strips or crisp fried pork slices. The pork belly or "breast" cut of a pig is used for stegt flæsk and the strips are cut about a 1/4 inch thick.
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In Danish cuisine
Stegt flæsk is the national dish of Denmark and one of the country's most popular foodstuffs and has been described as "a dish of pork fat, and only pork fat, in parsley sauce. Mmmm." An "alternative guide to Denmark" from the British broadcaster BBC described stegt flæsk med persillesovs as fried slices of pork with fat served with parsley sauce and boiled potatoes.
Stegt means fried and flæsk strips of pork belly. It is lightly salted but not smoked. Stegt flæsk is included in The Art of Danish Cooking by Nika Standen Hazelton where it is translated as bacon with parsley sauce and Scandinavian Cooking by Elizabeth Craig. Flæsk is also translated as bacon in older language guides. The main difference is that flæsk will never be sold smoked, and often not salted either. By contrast, anything marketed as 'bacon' in Denmark invariably will be both smoked and salted.
The dish is especially popular at certain times of the year. Stegt flæsk can also be served with apple compote.
Bacon and cuts of pork are also used in other dishes in Denmark. Flæskesteg is roast pork with cracklings, potato, and red cabbage. Flæskeæggekage is a scrambled egg dish with bacon. Leverpostej or liver pate is made up of chopped pig's liver and fat, chopped onions, milk, eggs and flour then baked in the oven and eaten with rye bread. Stegt medister is a thick sausage of minced pig meat and fat, spices and chopped onion, prepared by pan frying. The BBC noted that whilst Danish food is not limited to just pig meat and pastries, "it would be fair to say they feature heavily in the diets of Denmark's citizens." An instructional video for cooking stegt flæsk on a ceramic grill was featured on KamadoTV.
In Danish culture
Jimi and René, a musical duo from Denmark, recorded a song on their Volume Four To Som Os album called "stegt flæsk med persillesovs". Tobias Trier, a Danish singer-songwriter, has also sung about the dish. KiMs, a leading Danish potato chips producer even made a stegt flæsk flavoured potato chip (now discontinued).