~444 cal · 14g protein · 51g carbs · 21g fat (estimated, per serving)
🍽️
Three open rye sandwiches topped with egg, potato, and beet
🇩🇰 Zealand (Copenhagen)
Smørrebrød has rules: dense rye, butter to the edges, toppings layered tall, and a strict eating order — herring first if present, always with knife and fork. Copenhagen lunch counters have elevated it from workers’ lunch to national art form.
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Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
Ingredients
Serves 3 —
•
6 Danish rye bread (rugbrød), thin slices
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4 tbsp good butter, softened
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3 eggs, boiled jammy
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4 small potatoes, boiled and sliced
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2 beets, roasted or pickled, sliced
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1/2 + a squeeze apple, thin slices + lemon
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1/3 cup crème fraîche or thick yogurt
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a small forest chives + dill + cress
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for topping tomato, capers, crispy onions
Instructions
1
Butter every slice of rye completely to the edges — tætsmurt, the Danes call it; it waterproofs the bread.
2
Build #1: egg slices shingled with tomato, capers, and cress.
3
Build #2: potato slices, a ribbon of crème fraîche, chives, and crispy onions.
4
Build #3: beets with apple, a little yogurt, and dill.
5
Serve with knife and fork, tallest topping proudest. One per plate at a time — this is architecture, not a stack.
Copenhagen lunch-counter tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers — know your destination
📍
Zealand (Copenhagen). Copenhagen lunch counters stacked with open sandwiches.
🗺️
Denmark. Where an open sandwich is taken very, very seriously.
🌍
Europe. Village recipes guarded for generations.
The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.
👩🍳
Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker
Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →
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