Posts Tagged Norwegian specialities
A popular Norwegian Christmas speciality: Pork belly
Posted by admin in Food and drink, Photos and videos on November 24, 2009
Pork Belly Recipe
Posted by admin in Food and drink on November 24, 2009
Pork belly (ribbe) is a popular Christmas dish in Norway, traditionally served with boiled potatoes, sauerkraut, kjøttkaker (literally ‘meat cakes’) and Christmas sausages. Feel free to eat it that way, or try this alternative with green lentils and roasted fennel, two vegetables that go incredibly well with this particular cut of meat. What matters is to get the meat right. We’re great fans of the dish in our household, and had pork belly no fewer than four times last December, which admittedly might be overdoing it a bit (I mean, it’s hardly healthy stuff!), but so be it – I just like it too much. We’ve experimented with several recipes but this is the best we’ve come across so far, somehow the crackling comes out just perfect.
Serves 4
You will need:
Pork belly (allow about 250-300g per person)
800g green lentils
2 fennel bulbs
4 garlic cloves
A few laurel leaves
Salt
A couple of days beforehand:
Take your pork belly out of the fridge. Rinse it under cold water, then pat it dry. With a good knife, cut a criss-crossing pattern on the skin side, quite deep in (you should cut a bit of the meat under the outer skin too). Add quite a lot of salt and rub it into the cuts, using your fingers to do so. Cover with cling film and put back in the fridge.
On the day you cook the pork belly (allow 3 hours)
Pre-heat the oven to the max temperature (250°C). Put a bit of oil on the baking tray, then lay your pork belly upside down (i.e. thick skin side down) on the tray. Pour water into the tray so that the thick skin (the crackling to be) is covered, but not the rest of the meat. (This is the secret to the best pork belly ever, so make sure you don’t skip that step!). Reduce the temperature down to 200°C. Cook for about 1 hour 20 minutes.
Take your pork belly out of the oven, turn it round (so that the crackling side is now on the top) and put back in the oven for another 1 hour 40 minutes with what remains of the water. Occasionally take a spoon and pour some of the water over the meat. You should do this about 4 or 5 times. This is because the crackling expands with water, and the more air in it, the crispier it will be.
About 30 minutes before the pork belly is ready:
Remove the water from the tray and use it to make a gravy, mixing it with some of the fat from the pork belly and some flour. Cook your lentils (plus garlic cloves and laurel leaves) by covering them in water and cooking for about 25 minutes (or until soft). Slice the fennel and roast in the oven with the pork belly (about 25 minutes too).
Lutefisk: ‘You haven’t lived until you’ve tasted this’
Posted by admin in Food and drink, Photos and videos on November 5, 2009
A Norwegian speciality: Lutefisk
Posted by admin in Food and drink on November 5, 2009
Now this has to be one of the strangest culinary specialities you will ever taste. It’s an acquired taste, arguably, but don’t give up if you’re not wooed the first time you try it. When done properly, lutefisk can be really good. And it’s a rather interesting dish – I don’t know of any equivalent anywhere in the world! So for something truly Norwegian, I’m afraid there is no escaping it.
But what the heck is lutefisk? It’s just dried white fish (usually cod) treated with lye, or caustic lye soda. The result is an almost transparent, jelly-like slice of fish that admittedly doesn’t look all that enticing, but amazingly enough tastes wonderful. In the old days it was just a way of preserving, but today it’s a dish reserved for special occasions, and popular at Christmas. The best thing about lutefisk, though, is all the trimmings (I’m not sure the dish would be so popular if it was just the fish, to be honest), so make sure you do things properly and go for the full Monthy. Your best bet is probably to try lutefisk in a restaurant, but you can also buy it ready-made in most supermarkets (in Norway at least) – it’s available fresh or frozen. Needless to say, nobody bothers treating the fish at home any longer – it would stink out the place in no time anyway.
If you’re really, really interested in finding more about lutefisk, there is (believe it or not!) a Lutefisk Museum in Drøbak, on the way from Oslo to Østfold.
Lutefisk Recipe
Posted by admin in Food and drink on November 5, 2009
My preferred way of cooking lutefisk is to just stick it in the oven (well, life’s just too short for complicated recipes, that’s what I think).
Allow about 300g per person.
- Heat your oven to 400F (205C).
- Arrange your lutefisk skin side down on a sheet of aluminum foil and season with salt.
- Place on a rack in a large pan and bake for about 20 minutes (or until the fish has acquired its jelly-like texture).
- Drain out excess water before serving.
- Serve your lutefisk at once, ideally on hot plates, with bacon or pork drippings, melted butter, green peas and boiled or steamed potatoes. Enjoy!
Tip: Do not overcook the fish as it will shrink, and done excessively it will all but disappear (yes it’s true, it happened to me the first time I attempted to cook lutefisk). Now don’t say I didn’t warn you…
Moss 1883 Aquavit
Posted by admin in Food and drink on October 27, 2009
Aquavit (or akevitt) is Norway’s national tipple. It’s a spirit (typically containing 40% alcohol) distilled from either grain or potatoes, and flavoured with a mix of herbs. The recipes vary, but caraway (karve) is typically the dominant flavour. There are many different brands to choose from, ranging in tastes from the mild summer aquavit, often served chilled, to the stronger, spicier Christmas version, designed to cut through the heavy festive food. The most famous ones are Løiten Linje Aquavit, Lysholm and Gilde from Norway, Aalborg from Denmark and O.P Andersson, the oldest aquavit in Sweden. An excellent local brand, however, is Moss 1883, produced in, you will have guessed… Moss. ‘Slightly smoky aroma, sweet and spicy taste, and a subtle hop aftertaste. A robust yet mellow aquavit, unusually combining mildness with clarity of taste. A nice balance.’ Moss 1883 aquavit is available in the bigger Vinmonopolet outlets, and on duty-free at Moss Rygge Airport.
Fårikål Recipe
Posted by admin in Food and drink on September 26, 2009
Serves 4 people
You will need:
800g-1kg mutton or lamb
1 white cabbage
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
2 tablespoons juniper (optional)
4-6 dl water
1. Cut up the meat and the cabbage.
2. Alternate layers of meat and cabbage in a big pan, with the fattest meat at the bottom. Sprinkle a bit of flour, salt, pepper and juniper in between the various layers.
3. Pour the water over the lot. Cook to boiling point.
4. Reduce the heat and let cook for 1.5-2 hours with the lid on until the meat is soft and tender.
5. Adjust the seasoning, and serve with boiled potatoes.
Fårikål
Posted by admin in Food and drink on September 26, 2009
One of Norway’s most popular dishes, traditionally eaten in the last week of September. In fact, the last Thursday in September has officially been named “Fårikål Day” in Norway, with lots of restaurants featuring fårikal on their menu, and local and national newspapers publishing recipes to try at home. Fårikål (it should be spelt “får-i-kål” really) literally means ’sheep in cabbage’, and basically that’s what it is, although those with a more delicate palate can opt for lamb if they find the taste of mutton too strong. Cabbage’s not my favourite vegetable I must say, actually before I moved to Norway I seldom had it at all, but somehow I love that dish. Because the cabbage and the meat cook for so long (see recipe above), both end up being so soft they melt in the mouth. And it’s so easy to prepare anyone can turn out a decent one. Now that’s my kind of dish!