Cookbook | Ingredients | Recipes
| Cuisine of Denmark | Breakfast
Øllebrød (Danish for Beer Bread) is a Danish bread porridge, easily made from (dry) rye bread using this very simple recipe.
Øllebrød, together with salmon (and other fish), pork, rye bread, beer and potatoes, was an important nutritional element of traditional Danish cuisine until the 1800s.
A Danish family usually had a big pot on the stove in which they threw leftover bread and beer dregs. This was served as an everyday meal, morning and afternoon. The pot was seldom emptied, so it was a kind of continuous meal.
Ingredients
Procedure
Take some amount of rye bread, preferably without whole grain, and put it to soak in beer for 6–12 hours. Feel free to use whatever beer that is the cheapest, the alcohol is going to vaporise anyway. You can also substitute the beer with water, if you want.
Let it boil slowly for about 1 hour. Add more beer if it's too dry, the consistency should be like that of oatmeal. If you want it sweet you can mix in some sugar or honey or artificial sweetner (for diabetics). For a fresher taste, add a touch of lemon.
Serve with whipped cream if you're introducing this meal to someone who is not Danish.
Alternatively, here is an easy, time saving recipe. In the evening, cut away the crust from the rye bread, cut it into cubes. Put the bread in a pot and cover it with beer (or water) and a lid. Set aside. In the morning, add sweetener if you are using that, then heat it all up. Stir until it steams vigorously, adding water if it gets too dry. Serve with milk, like corn flakes. Makes for a warm, very solid breakfast.