Brunede Kartofler – Caramelized Potatoes
Brunede Kartofler is a classic Danish side dish which was always served with Christmas dinner when I was a child. Of course it was also served occasionally at other times but I think probably most Danes associate the dish with Christmas in particular. The sweetness of the caramelized potatoes is wonderful with the other classic side dish Rødkål (sweet and sour red cabbage) which is slightly tangy and the two dishes are often found on the same table.
When making Brunede Kartofler make sure to watch the sugar so it doesn’t burn and when you add the butter it will bubble up briefly, so please be very careful.
Caramelized Potatoes
Brunede Kartofler
Ingredients:
potatoes (approx 20 small white)
1 cup sugar
5 tablespoon butter
Directions:
Boil potatoes in salted water until fork tender. Drain potatoes and place in refrigerator to cool. Once potatoes are cold, remove peel. In a pan over medium-low heat melt sugar. Watch sugar carefully so it does not burn. When sugar has melted add butter, please note that it will bubble up, stir to combine. Add potatoes and cook low and slow, gently stirring occasionally until potatoes are warmed through. Enjoy!
Source: My mother Åse Frandsen
Thank you for posting this! My Aunt made a traditional Danish Christmas Eve meal every year when I was growing up. She died of cancer when I was in High School and I was never able to get the recipes from her. I’ve been trying to keep the tradition with my family through the Rice Pudding with Almonds. Hopefully next year I’ll be able to recreate our traditional Christmas Eve meal.
Keeping traditions alive is so important. I hope you have fun with and enjoy the process of making all these wonderful Christmas dishes. Merry Christmas!!
I’m curious as to your take on brunkulør in this recipe. My husband is Danish, and whenever we are served these in Denmark, the sauce (I guess it’s sauce, or maybe I should call it the carmelization?) is always brown–and I’m told this is from the brunkulør, but that not everyone uses it. Do you ever bring some from Denmark to put in Danish food here? Or if you wanted to do that, would you just use American food coloring? I find the whole concept of it fascinating! And, by the way, I love your site. I surprised my husband with some authentic-tasting remoulade from your recipe not long ago!
I have never heard of using Kulør when making Brunede Kartofler. The brown color comes from the caramelization process, cooking the potatoes over low heat for quite some time. It also helps to cook the potatoes the day before (so the potatoes are cold and dry, maybe even slightly tacky when starting the cooking process) so the sugar will adhere to the surface more easily.
As for Kulør (a dark coloring liquid) most Danes use it for giving gravy a deeper brown color. I use it as well but only for gravy and yes I do get my Kulør from home (Denmark). I don’t make gravy all that often so a bottle will last me forever. Btw Kulør can also be purchased from online Scandinavian stores. So happy to hear you are enjoying the blog.
I use a shortcut….and use canned small white potatoes! If I don’t use the canned potatoes I cannot get them to caramelize properly for some reason!
If you boil the potatoes ahead of time (I do mine one day ahead) and allow them to cool completely before making Brunede Kartofler, you should not have any problems with the caramelization. But like you said, canned potatoes is definitely a shortcut.
I love these! Already looking forward to Danish Christmas dinner!
Gitte, what a lovely & fancy potatoes recipe! Thy look so tasty & delcious too!
Thank you Sophie
Brunede kartofler! Christmas is nigh. I would say it’s the Danish version of the yams served for Thanksgiving in the States — in that the taste is almost the same — and the Danes love their potatoes as much as the Americans love their yams!
Umnn…very delicious, – the sight makes me look forward to the Christmas dinner!
My host family made these for me when I studied in Denmark, and I thought they were delicious!