Danish Christmas Plate with Roast Pork, Red Cabbage and Mint Yogurt

About This Recipe

Flaeskesteg, crisp-skinned roast pork, and rodkal, sweet-and-sour braised red cabbage, are the backbone of a Danish Christmas dinner, usually rounded out with caramelized potatoes and brown gravy. Mint yogurt isn't part of that tradition, but it works as a modern, lighter counterpoint that cuts through the richness of the crackling and gravy the way a spoonful of pickled cucumber or cranberry sauce traditionally would on a Danish holiday table. Getting genuinely crisp crackling depends on drying the pork skin thoroughly and scoring it in tight parallel lines before rubbing with coarse salt, so the fat renders out and the skin puffs and shatters rather than turning leathery. The red cabbage is braised low and slow with apple, vinegar and a little sugar until deeply glossy and dark red-purple, a process that can't be rushed if you want the sweet-sour balance to fully develop. Served together with a cool mint yogurt on the side, it becomes a holiday plate that respects the classic Danish centerpiece while offering a fresher way to eat it.

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 2.5 kgpork belly or pork loin roast(skin on, scored)
• 2 tbspcoarse sea salt
• 1red cabbage(shredded, about 1kg)
• 1apple(peeled and grated)
• 3 tbspred wine vinegar
• 3 tbspbrown sugar
• 2 tbspbutter
• 0.5 cupredcurrant jelly
• 1 cupplain Greek yogurt
• 3 tbspfresh mint(finely chopped)
• 1 tsplemon zest
• 800 gsmall potatoes(boiled and peeled)
• 3 tbspsugar(for caramelizing potatoes)

Instructions

1. 1

   Prep and score the pork

   Pat the pork skin completely dry, score in tight parallel lines through the fat but not into the meat, and rub coarse salt deep into the scores. Leave uncovered in the fridge 2 hours or overnight.

2. 2

   Roast the pork

   Roast at 220C (430F) for 30 minutes to blister the skin, then reduce to 160C (320F) and roast 1.5-2 hours until internal temperature reaches 68C. Rest 15 minutes before carving.

3. 3

   Braise the red cabbage

   While the pork roasts, melt butter in a pot, add cabbage, grated apple, vinegar and brown sugar. Cover and simmer 1 hour over low heat, stirring occasionally, until deeply glossy and tender.

4. 4

   Sweeten the cabbage

   Stir in the redcurrant jelly in the last 10 minutes of cooking and taste, adjusting vinegar or sugar until sweet-sour and balanced.

5. 5

   Make the mint yogurt

   Stir mint and lemon zest into the yogurt with a pinch of salt. Chill until serving.

6. 6

   Caramelize the potatoes

   Melt sugar in a dry skillet until amber, add a knob of butter, then toss in the boiled potatoes until glazed and golden.

7. 7

   Carve and plate

   Slice the pork through the crackling into thick pieces. Serve with the red cabbage, caramelized potatoes and a generous dollop of mint yogurt on the side.

Variations

• •

  Classic Danish plating: swap the mint yogurt for a spoonful of pickled cucumber or plain brown gravy.

• •

  Faster version: use a smaller pork loin roast and shorten the roasting time, checking internal temperature closely.

• •

  Herb swap: use dill instead of mint in the yogurt sauce for a more traditionally Danish flavor.

Storage

Refrigerate leftover pork, cabbage and yogurt sauce separately for up to 4 days. Reheat pork gently under a low broiler to recrisp the skin; the cabbage reheats well on the stovetop with a splash of water.

Frequently Asked Questions