Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large pot for the pork, 6 litre
• •Second large pot for blanching kale
• •Heavy-bottomed pot for the stew, 4 litre
• •Large chef's knife
• •Fine grater for nutmeg
• •Whisk

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the pork

   Place the salted pork in a large pot and cover with cold water. Add the bay leaf, peppercorns, and halved onion. Bring the pot slowly to a gentle simmer. Never a rolling boil. A hard boil toughens salted pork and drives the flavor out into the water instead of keeping it in the meat. Simmer gently for about an hour, or until a skewer slides into the thickest part with no resistance. Turn off the heat and leave the pork in its liquid to stay warm while you make the stew.

   Save the cooking liquid. You'll use some of it in the sauce, and the rest is the best base imaginable for pea soup the next day.
2. 2

   Blanch the kale

   Bring a large pot of salted water to a hard boil. Strip the kale leaves from their tough stems and drop the leaves into the water. Blanch for four minutes. The leaves should soften and turn a deeper, brighter green. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and plunge them straight into a bowl of cold water. This stops the cooking and locks the color. Grey kale is kale that kept cooking when it shouldn't have.

3. 3

   Chop the kale fine

   Drain the blanched kale and squeeze it hard with your hands to get rid of as much water as you can. Wet kale will make the stew loose and watery, and no amount of flour will save it later. Gather the squeezed kale into a tight bundle on a cutting board and chop it as finely as you can, almost to a paste. This is where the name comes from. Long kale, chopped long and fine, is what gives gronlangkaal its texture.

   A big chef's knife and a rocking motion does this faster than a food processor, and keeps the texture more interesting. The processor turns it into mush.
4. 4

   Build the roux

   Melt the butter in a heavy pot over medium heat. When it stops foaming, add the flour all at once and whisk it into the butter until you have a smooth paste. Cook this, stirring constantly, for two or three minutes. You want the raw flour smell to go and the roux to turn the color of pale straw. Any darker and the sauce will taste of toast. Any paler and the flour will still taste raw in the finished stew.

5. 5

   Loosen with liquid

   Whisk in the milk a little at a time, making sure each addition is smooth before you add the next. Lumps form when cold liquid meets hot roux too fast, so take your time. Once the milk is in, add the cream and the pork cooking liquid. Bring everything to a gentle simmer, whisking, until the sauce thickens to the consistency of soft custard. This takes about five minutes.

6. 6

   Fold in the kale

   Tip the chopped kale into the sauce and stir it through. The stew will look very thick at first. That's right. As the kale warms through and releases a little of its own moisture, it will loosen into the creamy, unified stew you're after. Turn the heat down low and let it cook gently for ten minutes, stirring now and then so the bottom doesn't catch. This slow finish is where the flavors marry.

   If the stew feels too thick at the end, loosen it with a splash more cream or pork liquid. If it feels too loose, simmer a minute longer. You'll know when it's right when a spoon drawn through the pot leaves a clean trail for a second before it closes.
7. 7

   Season the stew

   Grate in fresh nutmeg generously. Nutmeg is the spice that belongs to gronlangkaal, and it should be tasted, not hinted at. Add sugar if you like, a Jutland touch some families keep and others have dropped. Season with salt and white pepper. Taste, adjust, taste again. The pork will bring its own salt to the plate, so go carefully with the seasoning here.

8. 8

   Boil the potatoes

   While the stew finishes, boil the peeled potatoes in salted water until a knife slides through them easily, about fifteen minutes depending on size. Drain and keep them warm. Small waxy potatoes are what you want. Floury potatoes break apart and go gluey next to the creamy kale.

9. 9

   Slice and serve

   Lift the pork from its warm liquid and slice it thickly, about a centimetre per slice. Spoon a generous heap of gronlangkaal onto each warm plate. Lay two or three slices of pork beside it. Add the boiled potatoes and a spoon of strong Danish mustard on the rim of the plate. Serve at once, while everything is warm, and say tak for mad before the first bite.

Chef Tips

• •Wait for kale that has seen frost. Supermarket kale in September is fine, but kale picked after the first cold snap in November or December is sweeter and deeper, and the stew you make from it tastes like a completely different dish.
• •Hamburgerryg (lightly smoked, salted pork loin) is the most common choice today, but saltet flaesk (salted pork belly) is the older version and richer in flavor. If you can find either at a good butcher, choose by the day you're cooking. Pork belly for a long leisurely meal, pork loin for something lighter.
• •Gronlangkaal is better the next day. The flavors settle and the texture firms up into something even more satisfying. If you're cooking for Christmas, make it the day before and reheat it gently with a splash more cream.
• •Serve with a dark Danish beer or a small glass of aquavit. Red wine fights the cream and the nutmeg. Beer and aquavit lean into the dish instead.

Advance Preparation

• •The stew can be made a full day ahead and kept covered in the fridge. Reheat gently over low heat, stirring, and loosen with a splash more milk or cream if it has thickened overnight.
• •The pork can be cooked the day before as well. Let it cool in its cooking liquid so it stays moist, then lift it out and slice cold. Warm the slices through in a little of the reserved liquid just before serving.
• •Kale can be blanched, squeezed, and chopped a day in advance. Keep it covered in the fridge and fold it into the sauce when you're ready.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 520g)