Biksemad – Thrown Together Food

Lately, I have been trying my hand at Danish cuisine. Why? Well this summer I will be going to visit my other home in Copenhagen for the very first time. You see I imported myself a hubby from Denmark and I have been wanting to give him a little taste of home. Also, to practice cooking Danish food so I can (hopefully)  impress our friends and family in Demark.

He has been a good sport in teaching me the ways of the Dane, including not laughing too hard when I try to speak Danish with my American accent. Except when I mispronounce words (some of them sound almost the same!) like somehow “pillow” was coming out of my mouth as “f*cking”.  We made a series of funny phrases a while back called Dare to Danish.  Head on over if you want to learn to speak some Danish.  Be warned that these lessons will probably get you some weird looks… or more likely a kick in the butt.

In the meantime, I’m going to teach you a little Danish here today.
The word Bikse loosely translated means “to throw together”
The word Mad means “food”
Put them together and you have Biksemad (pronounced Bic-sa-mel) which means “thrown together food”

Every time we cook a roast, especially a pork roast, Biksemad comes up as a possibility to deal with the leftovers.  In Denmark, Biksemad traditionally is all the leftovers bits from a roast dinner: Meat, Potatoes, Carrots, Onion, Gravy… etc. all thrown together and topped with a fried egg.  Typically sweet pickled beets are served on the side along with a little ketchup.

Last night we had a lovely pork roast, baby white potatoes and onions with a chanterelle mushroom gravy.   I thought I would give Rasmus a little taste of home with my own take on Biksemad.  I used our leftovers, put them into individual serving dishes, cracked an egg over the top, baked it and topped it with fresh herbs and a little Tuong Ot Toi (Vietnamese Garlic Chili Sauce… yes yes I know it’s not very Danish but it’s sooo good and besides this is my own spin on Viking leftovers)  This isn’t so much a recipe as it is a process of well… throwing things together.

Biksemad

• 4 to 5 cups of Left-overs, roughly chopped to bite sized pieces (any Roast Meat & Vegetables)
• 1/2 to 1 cup of Left-over Gravy
• 4 Eggs
• 2 Teaspoons of Tuong Ot Toi – Vietnamese Garlic Chili Sauce
• 4 sprigs of Fresh Herbs, any will do I used Rosemary

Preheat oven to 350°. Start out by warming up the left over meat & veg in a skillet on the stove top or int he *gasp* microwave until warm to the touch.
You can make this in one casserole pan or by using individual serving dishes, just give them a swipe with some olive oil to prevent it from sticking.
Now toss the leftover Gravy with the warmed up leftover roasted bits of Meat & Veg until everything is evenly coated.  Pour it into the baking dish. Crack your eggs over the top and place it in the oven for about 12-15 minutes to set the egg white.  You should be left with a lovely runny yolk.
Take out of the oven and top each egg yolk with a 1/2 teaspoon of Tuong Ot Toi and finish it with a garnish of fresh herbs.

You can certainly sub the Tuong Ot Toi with Tabasco or Ketchup if you wish.

The mix of the rich yolk breaking down and coating all the rest of the ingredients adds a luxurious decadence to this dish.  The tangy heat from the chili sauce just elevates the flavor and bring the whole thing alive.  Really truly great comfort food, brought to you by your local Viking-wife.