Birkerød Gymnasium’s International Cookbook 2025
Written by Birk Foss
Hallin
Oliver
Sienna Noon
About This Cookbook
This cookbook was currated from recipes submitted from IB students, both from BG and elsewhere. Our goal was to represent and honour as many food cultures as possible in this book, as well as educate others on different cultures around the world through food. Food speaks for a large part of cultures and has evolved and developed over centuries. A lot of time was spent collecting, testing and photographing the recipes. We hope that this cookbook finds its way along whichever path you, the reader, might take; as a source of inspiration and as a testament to the cultural diversity in IB.
Dishes
Japanese Fried Chicken
Val’s Chicken and Pasta
Armenian Spas
Greek Spinach Pie
Argentinian Milanesas a la Napolitana
Thai Garlic Fried Rice
Italian Pasta Arabiata
Lebanese Spicy Potatoes
Anne’s Shepards Pie
Nepali Dumplings
Roast Irish Chicken and Veggies
Sweets and Baked Goods
South African Koeksisters
Jewish Challah Bread
Welsk Picau Bach
Danish Drømmekage
Grethe’s
Dishes
/spanakópita/
Greek Spinach Pie
This is a Californian take on the traditional Greek spanakopita, the beloved pie that combines layers of olive oil soaked filo sheets with a cheesy spinach filling.
For the filling:
☐ 4 eggs
☐ 6 tbsp 60g flour
☐ Approx. ½ kg frozen spinach, thawed and drained
☐ Approx. 400 g cottage cheese
☐ Approx. 3 ½ dl/1 pack feta cheese, alternatively swapping some for cheddar cheese
Make the filling:
☐ Fresh herbs to the heart’s desire: dill, oregano, parsley, basil
☐ Salt and pepper
Assembly:
☐ Olive oil
☐ 2 packs filo sheets (can be found in most supermarkets)
1. Remove the spinach from the freezer. Pour into a sieve or piece of cloth over an empty bowl. Once thawed, squeeze the spinach to remove excess liquid.
2. Combine eggs and flour in a bowl. Rinse and pick the fresh herbs. Add the remaining ingredients including the spinach and herbs to the egg and flour mixture. Make sure to season generously with salt and pepper, as the flavors are quite mild at this point.
Assembly:
1. Bring a generously sized baking dish, and brush a thin layer of olive oil on the bottom. Place a filo sheet, and brush more olive oil on top. Spread out a thin layer of the filling, then place another filo sheet on top. Repeat the process until all the filling is used up, while making sure to brush olive oil on each filo layer. For the lid, stack several greesed filo sheets and create a droopy/wave top.
2. Bake for 1 hour at 180ºC , until the lid is crispy and golden brown.
Milanesas a la Napolitana
Argentinian Fillets
Ingredients:
☐ 4 thin fillets of cow meat (can also be pork or chicken)
☐ 3 eggs
☐ Shredded bread
☐ 4 slices ham
☐ Cheese, sliced, to taste
☐ Tomato sauce (preferably homemade with onions and/or any other personal preferences)
☐ Salt
☐ Black pepper
☐ Oregano
☐ Oil for frying
☐ Potatoes for fries
Steps:
1. Season the fillets with salt and black pepper.
2. Beat the 3 eggs in a bowl.
3. Pass the fillets through the shredded bread, then through the beaten eggs, and then through the shredded bread again.
4. Put approx. one finger of oil in a pan and heat it up to approx. 170ºC.
5. When warm, put the fillets in and fry them on both sides, until the outside looks a golden-brown colour.
6. Once fried, put them on absorbent paper and then place them on an oven tray.
7. Cover the fillets with the tomato sauce, ham, cheese and oregano (feel free to add some tomato slices on top as well!)
8. Put them in the oven at around 200ºC for approx. 5 minutes.
9. Serve with fries.
/khaw
phad kratheiyam/
Thai Garlic Fried Rice
Ingredients:
☐ 2-3 bowls/about 400 g jasmine rice, day old for best results
☐ 6 cloves of garlic, sliced for topping and minced for rice
☐ Sunflower seed oil
☐ 1 stalk of scallion, cut in round segments
☐ 1-2 eggs
☐ Salt to taste
☐ Approx. 1 tsp white pepper
☐ 2 tbsp of light soy sauce
☐ A dash of Maggi sauce
Steps:
1. Start by thinly slicing a few garlic cloves and frying them in hot oil. Fry the garlic until they are almost golden brown and take them out to rest. Lightly salt the garlic slices (do this after you fry them so the oil doesn’t get smoky :P )
2. Make sure the stove is on high heat and add oil to the pan and wait until hot. Add in the minced garlic and cook until fragrant (don’t wait for them to turn brown because they will burn otherwise).
3. Crack in two eggs and let them set before you scramble them. Once the eggs are scrambled and almost cooked, add your rice and stir it. Make sure the rice is not clumped together and is covered in oil.
4. Add in the soy sauce and Maggi sauce. Stir and make sure every grain of rice is covered in the sauce. Sprinkle in the white pepper and scallion, and finally serve topped with the garlic topping!
اطاطب /batata harra/
Lebanese Spicy Potatoes
Ingredients:
☐ 8 potatoes
☐ 2-3 cloves of garlic
☐ 1 fresh corriander bundle
☐ 1 tsp chili powder
☐ ½ tsp salt
☐ Oil for frying
Steps:
1. Peel the potatoes and cut them into small cubes. Deep fry in oil until golden brown.
2. Mince the garlic finely. Chop the coriander finely. Sauté the garlic and coriander on a pan in a little oil.
3. Once done, add the fried potato cubes into the pan and mix everything together.
4. Add the chili powder (for mild spice) and salt, and serve.
Anne’s Shepards Pie
Shepards pie is a classic British dish composed of a mince with mashed potatoes on top. It is a hearty dish that is so comforting in the cold seasons. It can be easily customised and adjusted to one's liking and enjoyed by many.
Ingredients:
☐ Oil
☐ 2 large onions
☐ 1 lb (450g) minced beef
☐ 1 tbsp flour
☐ Marmite (optional)
☐ 570 ml stock
Steps:
☐ Pepper
☐ Salt
☐ Mixed herbs
☐ Potatoes (enough to cover dish)
☐ 50 mL Milk
☐ 2 tbsp Butter
☐ Cheese
1. Dice the onions and fry them in some oil until translucent. Add the mince and cook until brown and soft. Add the flour and optional marmite to the pan and mix well. Then add the stock creating a roux. Season with the mentioned spices to taste and adjust as needed. Cook until the mixture thickens.
2. Peel and cut the potatoes into even pieces. Boil them in salted water until fork tender (should be able to easily stick a fork in). Then drain the potatoes and in the same pot mash them up. Add the milk and butter and continue to mash. Add more milk, butter or additional seasonings if desired; the mash should be firm and not too runny.
3. Finally assemble the dish by first adding the meat mixture to a dish. Layer the mashed potatoes on top and finally add a hearty layer of grated cheese. Place the dish in a hot oven (200-220°C) until bubbling and crispy on top. Serve and enjoy!
Tips and Techniques:
The pie shown to the left was made with beluga lentils substituted for the minced beaf. They were pre-boiled for 15 minutes, then prepared in the same way as the minced meat.
It can be helpful to shape the mashed potatoes in thin tiles, then placing them on the beef mixture, especially if the mixture ends up less thick than expected. In this way, the potato mash lid has greater coverage, and you avoid mixing the two layers.
Sicín & Glasraí Éireannacha Rósta
Roast Irish Chicken and Veggies
This version was first cooked March 28, 2020 in an apartment in Østerbro by yours truly, Adrian. You can eat it anytime but probably best between 6 and 8pm.
For the chicken:
☐ 1 organic full chicken
☐ Organic oil
☐ Paprika
☐ Random selection of:
☐ Potatoes
☐ Carrots
☐ Garlic
☐ Onion
☐ Sweet potatoes
☐ Kale
☐ Salt and pepper
Steps:
1. Ore-heat the oven to 175, fan on.
2. Cut veggies while listening to an economics podcast. Put plenty of oil in the large oven dish. Fire the veggies in, sprinkle the salt and pepper on.
3. Rinse chicken, place on veggies, pour more oil on, add more salt & pepper + paprika over chicken. Add some water to get a bit of gravy. Stick in oven for 75-80 minutes.
Sweets & Baked Goods
הלח /challáh/
Jewish Braided Loaf
A special bread, that is traditionally eaten in the Jewish and Israeli culture every Friday evening. This bread holds a significant cultural and religious meaning for Jewish people all over the world.
Ingredients:
☐ 1 kg flour
☐ 2 tsp of dry yeast
☐ 1 cup of sugar
☐ 1 cup of oil
☐ 600 mL warm water
☐ 1 ¼ tsp salt
☐ 1 egg
☐ Sesame seeds
Steps:
1. Mix the yeast with sugar and with a little bit of water.
2. Mix the yeast suger and water with the flour and mix.
3. Let the dough sit for no longer then an hour.
4. After the dough has risen, divide the dough into 3 parts, then each part into 3 small balls. Roll each ball into a strip and with the 3 strips make a braid and now you got the shape of the challah.
5. Proof the challah for another 30 minutes, then brush the egg, wisked to incorporate the yolk, and sprinkle sesame seeds on top of the challah.
6. Warm the oven to 180°C and bake until the bottom is brown, approx. 20 minutes.
Tips
You can also smear honey on the challah so the challah will be sweet.
Drømmekage
Danish Dream Cake
This particular recipe was developed by a Fynbo from Hårby, Fyn, who won a Moulinex blender for contributing the recipe to a Danish magazine. With its soft and spongy bottom and caramelized sugary topping, it’s no wonder this cake holds a special place in a Danish heart.
For the batter:
☐ 4 eggs
☐ 300 g sugar
☐ 250 g flour
☐ 3 tsp baking powder
☐ 1 tsp vanilla powder
☐ 2 dl milk
☐ 50 g butter
Steps:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
For the topping:
☐ 25 g butter
☐ 100 g finely shredded coconut
☐ 250 g dark brown sugar (you’ll find it as brun farin, with a little picture of a drømmekage on the packaging!)
☐ ½ dl milk
2. In a pot, briefly whisk together egg and sugar. Setup a water bath by filling a compatible pot with water and bringing it to a boil. Bring the pot with the sugar/egg mixture to the pot. The water should not touch the bottom of the pot. Heat the mixture whisking constantly until the mixture thickens. Do not expect the mixture to turn as thick as something like pastry cream, since there is no corn starch present.
3. In a seperate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and vanilla powder.
4. Warm milk and butter in a pot.
5. Pour the thickened sugar/egg mixture into the flour mixture and combine gently. Pour in the warm milk and butter, combining gently, while the eggs are still tempered. Use a spatula if available.
6. Pour the batter into a baking dish, greased and coated with flour. Bake for 20 minutes at 200°C, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
7. Meanwhile, combine the topping ingredients in a pot, heat to combine.
8. After the 20 mins, spread the topping evenly over the cake, then bake for 5 minutes at 225°C.
9. Let cool, then slice, serve and enjoy!
Grethe’s Havrebrød
Bread with rolled oats
This recipe was developed by a Danish grandmother from the island of Fyn, continuing the theme of the previous Danish recipe. Her recipes were influenced by her career as a biologist, and it was written here as authentically as possible.
Soaking the oats:
☐ 100 g rolled oats (“grovvalset” in Danish supermarkets)
☐ 500 mL H2O (boiling)
For the dough:
☐ 1 pack/50 g of fresh yeast
☐ 50 mL H2O
☐ 1 tbsp acacia honey (commonly found in Danish supermarkets)
☐ 50 g sunflower seeds
☐ 50 g sesame seeds
☐ 12 g ungrinded, coarse salt
☐ 450 g wheat flour
Steps:
1. Soaking the oats: Pour the boiling water over the oats and let them soak until the reach room temperature, or around 25°C.
2. Preparing the dough: Dissolve the yeast in the 50 mL of water (seperate from the water used for the oats). Add to a mixer bowl together with the rest of the ingredients, including the soaked oats. Mix on a stand mixer for 10 minutes, alternatively doing so by hand. Let the dough rise for 45 minutes at room temperature.
3. Transfer the dough to a cold, greased pot (preferably something similar to a dutch oven, which is a rounded, cast iron pot used for baking bread. Most importantly, the pot should be oven safe). Let it rise another 30 minutes at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 200°C if you are using the pot, otherwise increase the temperature slightly, only around 5°C.
4. Bake the proofed bread for 50 minutes at 200°C on the second rack from the bottom, with top/bottom convection and fan on.
Grazie
Thank you
to everyone who contributed to this recipe book:
Valdemar Jørgensen
Ani Nahapetyan
Emma Petersen
Rotanna Prijaat
Julia Ambler
Mira Hotait
Avash Shrestha
Adrian Mongan
Ofri Kela
Molly Bakewell
Bori Bako
Clothilde Pichon
Thanks to you, we can now share these delicious recipes with our international cookbook.
Tak
Merci Gracias