Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large pot for simmering, 6 litre
• •Roasting tin
• •Sharp carving knife
• •Heavy saucepan for the sauce
• •Whisk
• •Meat thermometer (optional)

Instructions

1. 1

   Simmer the hamburgerryg

   Place the hamburgerryg in a large pot and cover with cold water. Add the halved onion, bay leaves, and peppercorns. Set it over medium heat and bring to a gentle simmer. The moment you see small bubbles breaking the surface, turn the heat to low. You want the water barely moving, not rolling. A hard boil tightens the outside of the meat before the center has time to cook through, and you end up with dry, grey edges around a still-firm middle. Simmer gently for about one hour, until the meat feels yielding when you press it firmly with a finger but still holds its shape. If you have a meat thermometer, 65°C at the center is what you're looking for.

   Don't salt the water. The hamburgerryg is already cured and smoked. Adding more salt draws moisture from the meat and makes the cooking liquid too salty for the sauce you'll build from it.
2. 2

   Score and apply the glaze

   Lift the pork from the liquid and set it on a board. Strain and reserve the cooking liquid for the sauce. Heat the oven to 220°C. With a sharp knife, score the fat cap in a diamond pattern, making cuts about 2cm apart. Cut through the fat but stop before you reach the meat. This is the step that makes the glaze work. The diamonds create channels where mustard and sugar can grip and caramelize, and without them the glaze slides off the smooth surface and pools in the bottom of the pan. Press a whole clove into each intersection of the diamond cuts. Spread the Dijon mustard evenly across the scored surface, then pat the muscovado sugar over the mustard in a thick, even layer.

   Use the back of a spoon to press the sugar firmly into the mustard. Loose sugar falls off in the oven heat. You want it stuck to the surface so it melts in place and forms that lacquered crust.
3. 3

   Roast until glazed

   Place the hamburgerryg fat side up in a roasting tin and set it on the top shelf of the oven. Roast for twenty to twenty-five minutes, watching carefully in the last few minutes. The sugar should melt and darken to a deep mahogany with a glossy, almost lacquered surface. Some edges will go very dark, nearly black. That's right. That's where the flavor concentrates. If anything starts to blacken too fast, move the tin down a shelf. The scent of caramelizing sugar and smoked pork filling the kitchen is how you know you're close. Remove from the oven and let the meat rest on the board for fifteen minutes before slicing. The rest lets the juices redistribute through the meat. Cut too soon and they run onto the board instead of staying where they belong.

4. 4

   Build the Madeirasauce

   While the pork glazes in the oven, make the sauce. Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and stir constantly for two minutes, until the roux turns a light gold and smells biscuity. Cooking the flour properly here removes the raw, pasty taste that ruins a sauce. Gradually pour in 500ml of the strained cooking liquid, whisking steadily as you go to keep it smooth. Add the Madeira wine and the madkulor or soy sauce. The madkulor gives the sauce its traditional deep brown color, the shade Danish families expect when they see brun sovs on the table. Dark soy sauce does the same job with an extra touch of depth. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for ten to fifteen minutes, stirring now and then, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Season with salt and white pepper. The sauce should be glossy and just thick enough to pool on the plate without running to the edges.

   Dip a spoon in the sauce and draw your finger across the back. If the line holds clean without the sauce running back together, it's ready. If it's too thick, add a splash more cooking liquid. If too thin, simmer a few minutes longer.
5. 5

   Cook the peas and carrots

   Bring a pot of lightly salted water to the boil. Add the diced carrots and cook for five to six minutes, until they're just tender but still have a gentle bite at the center. Add the peas and cook for two minutes more. Drain well. Return the vegetables to the warm pot with the butter and the pinch of sugar. Toss gently until the butter melts and coats everything in a light gloss. The sugar isn't sweetness. It's balance: just enough to bring out the natural flavor of the peas and the sweetness already in the carrots. Season with a little salt.

6. 6

   Slice and serve

   Slice the glazed hamburgerryg into generous pieces, about 1cm thick, using a sharp carving knife. The slices should show a pale, rosy center with the dark, glossy glaze on top and the cloves still pressed into the fat. Arrange the slices on a warm serving platter, overlapping slightly. Pour some of the Madeirasauce around and beneath the meat and serve the rest in a warm sauceboat at the table. Pile the peas and carrots alongside and scatter kartoffelchips over or beside the sliced pork. Bring the platter to the table whole. This is how it arrives at a konfirmation: generous, abundant, the kind of dish that makes a table feel like a celebration. Cooked with love. Tak for mad.

Chef Tips

• •Ask your butcher for a good hamburgerryg with an even fat cap. The fat protects the meat during simmering and carries the glaze in the oven. A trimmed-down loin with no fat is not the same dish, and you'll miss the contrast between the caramelized crust and the soft, smoky meat beneath it.
• •Use a proper Madeira wine, not cooking wine. A medium-dry Verdelho or Malmsey is what you want. You don't need an expensive bottle, but the wine should taste good enough to drink on its own, because you'll taste every corner cut in the finished sauce.
• •Madkulor, Danish browning, is what gives the sauce its deep, dark color. Most Danish households keep a bottle in the cupboard. If you can't find it, dark soy sauce does a similar job: a teaspoon adds color and a quiet depth without pulling the sauce in an unfamiliar direction.
• •Kartoffelchips are traditionally served alongside as a crisp counterpoint to the soft meat and silky sauce. Store-bought are perfectly fine and what most Danish families use at konfirmation. If you want to make your own, slice firm potatoes paper-thin on a mandoline and fry in clean oil at 170°C until golden. Drain on kitchen paper and salt immediately.

Advance Preparation

• •The hamburgerryg can be simmered up to a day ahead. Cool it in its cooking liquid, then refrigerate both separately. Bring the meat to room temperature before scoring, glazing, and roasting. The cold fat actually scores more cleanly than warm.
• •The Madeirasauce can be made a day in advance and reheated gently. It thickens as it cools; thin it with a splash of reserved cooking liquid when reheating and whisk until smooth.
• •Score and glaze the pork just before roasting. The sugar needs to go onto a dry, room-temperature surface to caramelize properly. If the meat is cold and wet from the fridge, the glaze won't set.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 360g)