When I think of Denmark I think of Crown Princess Mary, J-Dag and cycling the cobbled streets of it’s capital, Copenhagen, so I was a little surprised when I found out that bacon is a huge part of Danish life; and that is how I came to be invited on a bacon cruise of the river thames with Danish Crown as part of the ImagiNATION festival!
As we all clambered aboard the schooner, Maja, the boats chef, Eddie, was already at work preparing the bacon feast.
In 2012, Danish Crown is celebrating 125 years of producing bacon in Denmark. Even if you haven’t heard of Danish Crown before you’ve probably eaten their bacon as 60% of the bacon is produced by them, which makes them the second largest bacon producer in the world – pretty impressive in the bacon world!
To celebrate this landmark year they sailed a traditional Danish schooner from London to Denmark and onboard they have produced bacon the way sailors would have prepared it so many years ago. Taking a slab of bacon you salt the meat before wrapping it up in cloth and leaving it onboard the boat to preserve it and cure it during long journeys; The end result is a delicious salt infused bacon with just enough crunch. To spice up the dish up Eddie included baby onions, beetroot cubes and a diced parsley sauce.
But it wasn’t just the delicious Danish bacon that had the group onboard excited as London’s weather was treating us to a cloudless 30degree summer day, the perfect weather to sail the Thames.
Tower Bridge, not London Bridge like some think, was decked out in it’s Olympic rings but we wanted to sail under it so that meant one thing…
Yep, the raised the rings and the bridge just for us! We literally stopped London traffic twice – sorry!
The atmosphere onboard was jolly as some of the kids from the families who sailed the ship joined us onboard for the bacon tasting and the crew were happy to be in London, having only arrived that morning. I spoke to one hobbyist about how to get more from Intrepid Powerboats, it was a great conversation. As we glided along the Thames other boats bearing the Danish flag honked their horns and waved at us or called out in Danish across the waters.
And don’t worry because the Danish Crown pig was safe and sound at the start and end of the cruise… the crew may need to eat him on the way back to Denmark!
If you’re in London and feel like a taste of Denmark don’t forget to head down to St Kathrine’s Dock for ImagiNATION!
13 Comments
Beverley
July 30, 2012 at 10:23 amNow I have bacon cravings dammit!!! Can you believe I was a vegetarian for so long? Nope, me either?!
Looks like it was a gorgeous sunny day for you my love, kinda makes me miss England!
Nicole
July 30, 2012 at 10:44 amAre you still a vegetarian? Oh how times have changed Miss! I’ll ask Danish Crown nicely if they’ll export us both some bacon for us to munch on (though I’m sure it’s already in NZ/Aus because they are such a big company!)
Was 30 degrees in London, I couldn’t believe it! 🙂
Swititaysu
July 31, 2012 at 12:24 pmI love the pic of the Danish Crown pig! Great post! Thanks for sharing.
Nicole
August 18, 2012 at 9:03 pmThanks Switiaysu! I thought the pig was pretty cute as well. 🙂
Wez
July 31, 2012 at 1:39 pmNow here’s a post I can appreciate, when its all about meat, and bacon mmmmm. Looks like a fun day out there Nicole, and BACON!!! 😉
Nicole
August 18, 2012 at 9:05 pmBacon, bacon, bacon – all we needed was bacon vodka and it would have been a party!
Thanks for commenting Wez. 🙂
Laurence
August 1, 2012 at 8:30 amOMG. Denmark and bacon?! Awesome sauce.
Waegook Tom
August 1, 2012 at 12:34 pmWait…am I reading this right? A bacon cruise on the Thames on a sunny day during the Olympics? I think someone went right into my dreams and took out my fantasy…
Nicole
August 1, 2012 at 12:56 pmIndeed your dreams have come true for two-weeks only! Come one, come all! 🙂
Yvonne
August 1, 2012 at 2:02 pmThe bacon cruise looks like fun. Unfortunately, I will be missing the IMAGINATION festival since it will only run from July 27th to August 12th.
Nicole
August 18, 2012 at 9:07 pmOh that’s unfortunate Yvonne! It was a great few weeks.
Hopefully you can head to Denmark soon for an authentic taste of Denmark. 🙂
NaEun
August 2, 2012 at 11:31 pmBaconnnnnn noms!
Nicole
August 18, 2012 at 9:06 pmIt was rather nom-alicious 😉