Norwegian cuisine
The Norwegian cuisine is the national cuisine of Norway, dominated by the traditional diet of fishermen and farmers. Fish and dairy products have long been the basis of this cuisine, supplemented by grain and whale meat.
General
The Norwegian cuisine is strongly influenced by the Scandinavian climate with short summers and long winters. Cereal cultivation is possible only in the south of the country, and even there only grow oats and barley. These varieties are not suitable for the production of yeast bread, so for Norway tough dried pita bread ( unleavened bread ) is typically comparable to the crispbread. It has the advantage of being long lasting. The soft flat bread called lefse, in which the dough potatoes are added. Today, the most popular bread in the bakeries are the so-called kneippbrød, named after Sebastian Kneipp and franskbrød, bright " French bread ".
Plays an important role in the coastal areas has always been fishing. Herring have long been a staple and have been prepared in many ways. The poorer people ate partially allegedly four times daily herring, at every meal. He was salted, dried, pickled or fermented. Widely used because of its durability was klippfisk (stockfish ). Even today, popular Lutefisk, pickled codfish.
A regular diet revolution meant the introduction of the potato in the 18th century.
Due to the climate, the preservation of food used to be very important in order to ensure supply during the winter months. Many foods have therefore been smoked, salted, pickled or dried.
The modern Norwegian breakfast is very rich and is more like the English than the continental breakfast. Lunch ( lunsj, trad " formiddagsmat " ), however, is more of a snack and often cold. The dinner ( middag ) is already taken 17 to 18 clock and is the main hot meal of the day. Partly still follows a snack to 21 clock ( aftensmat or " kveldsmat "), which may also consist of coffee and cake.
Fish
The most important export products of Norway and its contribution to international haute cuisine is the salmon. Very popular is smoked in different variations. Gravet laks or simply gravlaks is inserted into a pickle of salt, pepper, sugar and dill and usually served with a dill - mustard sauce. Besides herring also cod, sardines and mackerel play an important role and, more recently, shrimp. A special fish specialty called Rakfisk and consists of fermented trout. It has strong similarity with the Swedish fish dish Surströmming.
Meat
Even small farmers had in the past at least one cow; time it was important exploitable remote or steep pasture, therefore, goats and sheep were kept particularly. As a real specialty is fenalår, salted, and usually smoked leg of lamb. To the west of the country is now considered smalahove, smoked sheep's head, as a delicacy, whereas it was formerly regarded as a poor man's food, which is eg Christmas no longer should be in the house. In your kitchen, also plays a role game, including moose, reindeer and wild fowl. Game dishes are often served with sweet and sour sauce and crushed juniper berries. Especially popular are Kjøttkaker, meatballs in a dark sauce. Until the 20th century whale meat served as a cheaper substitute for beef. Norway operates as one of two European countries in addition to Iceland to continue commercial whaling, although less intensively than before. Whale meat is available in many restaurants.
Milk products
Butter, cheese and other dairy products play for the Norwegian diet still play an important role, while whey is less significant today. Previously, the traditional bland everyday drink of the population consisting of whey and water. For the production of cheese sour milk was determined by the " old style " usually used, which then Gammelost (literally translates as " old cheese ", ie " cheese in the old style " ) gives: a brown cheese. Pultost is a mature cheese with a harsh taste, Geitost (literally " goat cheese " ), a brown goat cheese with a sweet taste, or a white hard cheese made from goat's milk be.
Typical dishes
As typical Norwegian dishes are:
- Kjøttkaker (literally meat pie ( plural) ), meatballs in brown sauce
- Fårikål, Mutton with cabbage
- Sild, pickled herring
- Pinnekjøtt, salted lamb ribs
- Lutefisk
- Porridge, porridge of sour cream and flour with sugar and cinnamon, but also sometimes with honey
Drinks
The most popular drink in Norway today is coffee that is drunk at any time of day. The annual per capita consumption is around 160 liters. Beer is also very popular and was formerly brewed by every household itself, especially as a hard drink at Christmas; in pre-Christian times brewing was even required by law of " Jule- beer ", an injunction was fine. Significant is the production of Norwegian Aquavit ( akevit ) which is distilled from potatoes. Beer and aquavit are traditionally drunk to many Norwegian dishes such as lutefisk, pickled or smoked and Fårikål. A special feature is the brand line Akevit, in which the spirit is transported prior to the sale of ships to Australia and back, so that the alcohol passes through the equator. This procedure is said to improve the taste.