
Recipe for veterinarian’s night snack
Recipe for the classic version of dyrlægens natmad.
The recipe is one of the classic Danish open-faced sandwiches and is especially known for being served as part of late-night snacks at community hall parties.
We have the recipe from the book: “Aamann’s smørrebrød“, written by the Danish “smørrebrød king” Adam Aamann-Christensen.
Reportedly, the recipe is named after veterinarian Sigurd Keilgaard, who ate at Oscar Davidsen’s smørrebrød restaurant every evening after attending to the horses in the royal stables and Cirkus Miehe.

Veterinarian's Night Snack
Ingredients
Salted Meat
- 800 gram Veal Tongue
- 1.5 l Water
- 150 gram Salt
- 15 gram Sugar
Cooking salted meat
- 1 pcs. Onion
- 1 small piece Celery
- 3 pcs. Bay Leaf
- 1.5 gram Peppercorns Black
- Parsley Optional: a few parsley stems
Plating
- 8 slices Liver Pâté Good quality
- Gravy To taste
- 1 package Watercress
- 1-2 pcs. Shallots
- 8 slices Rye Bread
Instructions
CURED MEAT
- Tie the tongue tip tightly with cotton string.
- Boil the water for the brine with salt and sugar and then cool it.
- Place the tongue tip in the cooled brine and cure it for 4 days in the refrigerator.
- Then, take the tongue tip out of the brine and place it in a pot.
- Cover it with water and bring it to a boil.
- Skim off impurities with a slotted spoon and then add coarsely chopped vegetables and spices.
- Simmer the tongue tip on very low heat for about 1½ hours until it's fairly tender but not too soft, as it needs to be cut into thin slices.
- Let the cured meat cool in the brine in the refrigerator until the next day.
- Take the cured meat out of the cold brine, wrap it in plastic wrap, and store it in the refrigerator until ready to use.
PRESENTATION
- Take the liver pâté out of the refrigerator 30-40 minutes before use so it won't be ice-cold when served.
- Cut the cured meat into very thin slices with a very sharp knife – calculate 2-3 slices for each open-faced sandwich.
- Cut the aspic into 8 bars or nice cubes.
- Spread a couple of rustic spoonfuls of liver pâté on the rye bread.
- Fold the cured meat and place it on top.
- Then add the aspic and finally plenty of cress and some rings of shallots on top.
