Peanut Butta Jelly Time

I'm not quite sure what to do with the food here in Denmark. I go to the store and after staring at a package for a few minutes, sometimes referencing my pocket Danish guide, about half the time I can figure out what exactly I am looking at. I buy a bunch of stuff that has no rhyme or reason -- and even this chaos takes 10 times longer than any trip to the store in the USA.

I get home and try to make the purchased food into something I am used to -- often that means some perversion of a taco or a pizza. Sometimes Rachel will offer some advice from what she has seen the people at work eat -- I will get into the phenomenon of smørrebrød (open-face Danish sandwiches) later -- but for the most part we are just guessing.


But then... I was walking alone through the grocery, a new one, my first time there. I was in the frozen food section near the frozen kartofler and across from the meals of frikadeller. Something stood out -- illuminated as if by divine fate. It was magical. How could something called "Cowboy Toast" not end up in my shopping basket?


In just 10 minutes under a hot grill, these little plastic-wrapped, frost-encrusted sandwiches go from rock-hard and pale white to sprøde and golden-brown... but still frozen in the middle. Five more impatient minutes later, you get this:


The result is a simple toasted sandwich, stuffed with what is apparently a low-grade meat patty that is covered with onions (I think) and what might be cheese or perhaps a Special Sauce. What shocked me though, was the amazing similarity to a big, square, over-toasted White Castle burger. I'll let you decide if that is a good thing or not.

Skål!







EPILOGUE: I spent some time using the Google translation tool to decipher the back of the box from the Cowboy Toast. The dish is comprised of four components: the toasted bread (43%), beef patty (30%), fried onions (16%), and dressing (ah ha -- it is special sauce!) That beef patty is some seriously compromised meat, with added wheat derivatives, beef fat, and various starches and extracts. Each sandwich has about 20 grams of fat and 400 calories. Mmmmm.... tasty!