Flæskesteg Sandwich

Easy to transport and handy to eat, the sandwich has become the ideal vehicle for extending holiday leftovers and combating the back-to-work blues. In the United States, Thanksgiving provides the opportunity to layer roast turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and gravy between slices of sourdough. Meanwhile, in Denmark, that innovation occurs around Christmas with the flæskesteg sandwich (also known as the flæskestegssandwich).

The sandwich is, unsurprisingly, based on the popular Christmastime meat known as flæskesteg, a roast pork cooked in such a manner that its top layer of fat bubbles and crisps up, forming a salty, crackling crust. To make the signature sandwich, vendors slice the roast and layer it atop a remoulade-coated burgerboller (a hamburger-type bun), along with a colorful combo of cooked red cabbage and pickled cucumbers.

Danes have found many ways to eat variations on the flæskesteg sandwich throughout the year, changing up ingredients and adding the likes of sliced apples or cheese. But the principle elements remain the same: Moist pork, crispy cracklings, creamy sauce, and sour sides providing a pile of winter-warming wonder fit for any season.