[DANSK] Fjordrejer

So this is one of the hard-core Danish delicatessen - there's no way I could escape posting about what is synonymous with Danish spring and summer for me - fjordrejer. It does feel just a tiny bit stupid though, seeing unless you come here, you're probably never going to have it. Then again, it might convince you to come here!

They come like this - you ALWAYS buy them alive and kicking (and they will jump out of the bowl if it's not deep enough!)


Then you boil them in a large pot of water, to which you've added salt, sugar, maybe some stalks of dill. Bring the water to the boil, add the shrimps, and let the water come back to the boil. Turn of the heat and drain. Then you have:



As the (Swedish) kitchen chef at my job proclaimed the other day: only Danes would be daft enough to feel they should do the tedious task of peeling these little buggers when they're this size, instead of waiting until they grow a bit bigger. Small they are:


That's a size AA battery, measuring about 5 cm. I think. Yes, small. Foolish Danes!

The thing is, it's not that bad peeling them when you know what's ahead of you, food-wise. And you know, with a cold glass of riesling on one side and your Stepmom (or other good company!) in front of you, peeling away like you are, it makes for quite an enjoyful event.

And it's ALL in the technique. Long fingernails will make things a little easier, but it's actually not that hard:

Release the back shield -


- release it all the way -



- when you peel it of, grab the head on the way -



- voila! -

- Gently squeeze the tail -





Hey PRESTO! (Uh-oh - isn't there some tv chef that uses that expression??)

You can serve them just straight up on a nice piece of white bread with butter

- add mayo, maybe a squeeze of lemon if you feel so inclined. Some people would call that sacrilege - "The taste is so delicate, you shouldn't mask it with mayo or any other thing!" Well, as my Stepmom use to say, if that's the way you like it, why on earth shouldn't you eat them like that, even though other people think it's weird? (Suppose that goes for all kinds of eating!) Always, but always, freshly ground black pepper though. And you know, if you are as lucky as we were, you'll have an aunt and an uncle that just returned from Samsø, carrying with them 3 kilos of freshly dug white asparagus and you could choose to eat the fjordrejer with those, like in the first picture. But I know, not all people can be that lucky... ;-)