Smoked Mackerel Smørrebrød with Dill and Chive Blossoms

“In a country where understatement and simplicity reign, it makes sense that the unpretentious sandwich is embraced as a national dish.” (npr.org) Danish Rugbrød, or rye bread, has been perfected over the last few hundred years, and the open-faced sandwich has been elevated to an art. Recipes for the dense, dark bread range from simple—containing just rye and wheat flours and cracked rye—to more complex—studded with seeds and sweetened with molasses or dark syrup. I prefer the more complex method, with layers of flavors created by the addition of more ingredients. The recipe I developed (coming soon!) has oats, cocoa, and blackstrap molasses, and flax, sunflower, and caraway seeds, in addition to the cracked rye. I also use Guinness instead of water! For these open-faced sandwiches, or smørrebrød, as they’re called in Danish, I opted for a zingy and light crème fraîche mixture instead of the traditional butter (the “smørre” in smørrebrød). This is perfectly acceptable, but if you want to hold tight to tradition, you need that first smear of butter before adding any …