Brunede Kartofler (Danish Caramelized Potatoes)
These little potatoes coated in a sweet caramel sauce are a perfect part of Danish Christmas dinner and make the best complement to the savory and hearty Danish roast pork!
Ingredients
- 1.3 kilograms (3 lbs) small yellow potatoes
- 100 grams (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
- 57 grams (4 tbsp) butter (salted or unsalted is fine)
- 60 ml (1/4 cup) water
- Splash of heavy cream (optional but if your caramel starts to look split, it can help save it!)
Instructions
- Boil potatoes by placing washed potatoes with the skin on in cold water, then placing on the stove over medium/high heat until it begins boiling. You can make a little cross hatch on each potato if you like to make it easier to peel after boiling!
- When the potatoes have come to a boil, boil for 10-15 minutes until tender - you should be able to pierce a potato with a knife easily with little resistance. Drain the potatoes.
- Now comes the most tedious part of this recipe - peeling the potatoes! Let them cool until you can handle them, then carefully peel off the outer layer of the skin using a paring knife, or even a butter knife.
- This will take a long time, try to be patient! The goal is to keep the potatoes as intact as possible.
- Place the peeled potatoes in a container and put in the fridge until cooled.
- When the potatoes have cooled down, place a skillet or large bottomed pot on the stove. Add sugar and water (traditionally you would not add water to the sugar, but we find the inconsistency of our stove means it's very difficult to start with just sugar as it browns unevenly!)
- Heat the mixture over medium heat (you can turn it down too if it gets too hot!) without stirring. If crystals form along the edge of the pan, you can use a brush and some water to dissolve them. If there's any uneven patches, you can gently swirl your pot or pan to help it dissolve.
- When the mixture starts to turn an amber color and the sugar has fully dissolved, add butter. It may foam up, so be careful! At this stage, you can whisk it together.
- If the mixture looks split and greasy, add a splash of heavy cream - this should bring it back together!
- Before adding the potatoes to the caramel, dry them off with a paper towel to get any excess moisture or condensation off of them.
- Add the potatoes and stir to combine. The caramel may get a little runnier when you add the potatoes - this is normal!
- Now you can caramelize the potatoes as much as you like - we tend to just heat our potatoes through and they have a thin coating of the caramel, with extra caramel to drizzle on top - but you can continue cooking to get a darker color on the potatoes! This is up to personal preference!
- Serve the potatoes immediately - best enjoyed with roasted meat and braised cabbage!
