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Meals · Skillet & sheet-pan mains

Brændende kærlighed (Danish mashed potatoes with bacon and onions)

37

"Burning love", as the Danes call it: a mountain of buttery mashed potato with a crater of crisp bacon and soft, sweet fried onions spooned on top, and pickled beetroot to cut through it. Most of the bacon fat stays in the pan, so the mash can taste of potato and butter.

Time
50 min (15 prep + 35 cook)
Servings
4
Per serving
611 kcal
Protein
15 g

Ingredients

Mash

Topping

  • 9 oz raw fried bacon, bacon in strips; the fat that renders off is poured away, so the crisp weight is what counts
  • 1 tbsp lard, of the bacon fat, left in the pan
  • 4 large onions, halved and sliced
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper

To serve

Steps

  1. Boil the potatoes in unsalted water for about 20 minutes until completely soft. Drain well and let them steam dry in the pot for a couple of minutes.
  2. Mash the potatoes with the butter, then beat in the hot milk a little at a time with a whisk or a hand mixer on its lowest speed, until light and fluffy. Season with the salt and nutmeg and keep warm with a lid on.
  3. Put the bacon in a cold frying pan and set it over medium heat, so the fat melts out slowly. Fry for 8–10 minutes, stirring now and then, until crisp. Lift it onto paper towel and pour away all but 1 tablespoon of the fat.
  4. Add the onions to the pan and cook over medium heat for 12–15 minutes, stirring often, until soft and golden. Season with the pepper and stir the bacon back in.
  5. Pile the mash onto warm plates, make a hollow with the back of a spoon and fill it with the bacon and onions. Scatter with chives and serve with the beetroot. Keep leftover mash and topping in separate containers: they last 3 days in the fridge, and the bacon crisps up again in a hot pan.

Good to know

What else goes on top?

Pickled beetroot is the classic. A spoon of mustard on the side and a sprinkle of chopped chilli are both popular, and the chilli makes the name more honest.

Why start the bacon in a cold pan?

The fat melts out gradually and the strips crisp evenly instead of scorching on the outside while staying rubbery in the middle.

Can I make the mash richer?

Yes. The classic uses 100 g of butter in the mash, for a score of about 32 instead of 37.

Per

Calories
113
Protein
(10%)
3 g
Fat
(42%)
5 g
Carbohydrates
(49%)
15 g
of which sugar
4 g
Fiber
2 g
Sodium
248 mg

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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How

As written, 2444 kcal goes into the pot and 2366 g of ingredients comes out as about 2155 g of food: 113 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.