Æbleflæsk

Æbleflæsk, literally apple pork, is a traditional Danish dish of cured or salted pork belly, called flæsk, fried with apples, thyme and sugar, often with chopped onion added. Versions range from a sweet apple mash with small cubes of bacon to larger slices of lightly salted fried pork arranged on a dish beside the fried apples and onions. In a common modern version the pork belly is fried first in a skillet and pieces of tart apple follow, mixed with spices and sugar and cooked until they soften; in other versions the apples are cooked in water and the pork belly is prepared in the oven. It is served hot or cold with rye bread (rugbrød) on the side, is often eaten with beer and snaps, and is a popular dish for pre-Christmas buffets known as julefrokost. Its origin is not clear, and it is more common in some regions, such as Funen, than in others.