What are brunede kartofler? Well, literally it means brown potatoes, and they are an essential part of any traditional Danish Christmas meal. Served as a side dish along with plain boiled potatoes, these sweet and sticky little beasts are a fine accompaniment to both our crispy Danish roast pork and duck, along with a bowl of delicous red cabbage. Waxy small salad potatoes are ideal for caramelising in this way. Please feel free to use fresh ones, but on my constant quest to make Christmas as hassle-free as possible, I confess that actually I often use the tinned version (and have been assured by many friends that they also prefer to cheat as well, on the quiet). You may find that you have to cook them in two batches, in which case keep the first crowd of little golden beauties warm in a slow cooker.
Ingredients (serves 6 as side dish)
1kg fresh salad potatoes, such as Charlotte (or tinned, if you are feeling lazy)
50g butter
50g white granulated sugar
- Boil the potatoes for about 15 minutes so you can just about poke a fork into them.
- Leave to cool, before carefully peeling off the skins. Leave them overnight in the fridge if possible, so they can dry out thoroughly. If using tinned, drain them and pat dry with kitchen paper.
- Spread the sugar over the base of a large frying pan (or cast iron skillet if you have one), place over a medium heat and do not stir. As the sugar melts it will form a wonderful golden caramel; I’d err on the side of caution and start off slowly as the caramel can burn quite easily if your stove is super efficient).
- Once the sugar has melted, add the butter to the pan and stir until it foams and forms a syrup. (If you find the mixture separates, it can be rescued with a spoonful of water and a good stir; just be careful as the sugar will be boiling!).
- Carefully tip the potatoes into the pan (the syrup will now be lava-hot) and cook them for 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally until the syrup has coated the potatoes and they have caramelised.
