Chapter 2: Norway

 

Norway it is known for its beautiful landscapes, wildlife and extreme climate, but like every country, it must have its gastronomic side and that is what we will show in this chapter.

The average Norwegian makes three or four meals a day, with a cold breakfast with coffee, a cold lunch (usually packaged) at work, and a hot dinner at home with the family. Some may add a cold meal in the late afternoon, usually a simple sandwich, depending on the family dinner schedule (and personal habit).

in this post we will delve deeper into the different dishes of the nation, avoiding creating a segment of each meal hour.

The gastronomy of Norway in terms of dishes has strong bases in fish and game meat (elk, reinder and wild birds) so most of its meals contain one of these ingredients.

One of the best known dishes and that you will surely find if you investigate a little of this country is the well-known rakfisk a traditional dish that contains fish sometimes trout or salted salvelino and that is fermented over a period of two or three months (so ordering one has its history) in that time it is cut into fillets,   it is served raw and ingested as an accompaniment to some other food such as cooked potatoes or even other fish, it is a well-known product in Norway, an approximate amount of five hundred tons per year is consumed in that country alone.

rakfisk is related to the swedish food dish "surstrómming" and is most likely also related to Scandinavian culture, no one knows when the first rakfisk was consumed, its first record dates back to 1348 but surely the food existed before.

Another of the staple foods is the Tørrfisk, say of a dried cod, from the Lofoten Islands in Norway, it is mostly known as pejepalo originated in the Viking and with traditional recipes from different countries.

This food itself does not manage to be a meal since it is used in different preparations is a great ingredient for Nordic gastronomy, Tørrfisk dries but is not the same as dried cod, drying is one of the oldest practices to preserve food and in this case cod came to be hard similar to a stick. sometimes Tørrfisk is served with some accompaniment although the flavor is stronger than normal cod, since it went through a drying process and is usually harder as I mentioned before

Also as I mentioned before game meat is consumed, where various preparations are made with beef, elk, wild poultry and lamb meat (very popular around the world), and as I mentioned lately lamb meat is popular and for Norwegians it is more popular in autumn mainly indoors, an example is the Fårikål (stew of the lamb accompanied by cabbage). Cured, and sometimes smoked, lamb ribs, called Pinnekjøtt which are boiled for several hours, are traditionally served as Christmas dinner in the western parts of Norway. Another specialty of these regions is the smalahove, the head of the smoked lamb.

Also as most countries have a power in the area of fruits and vegetables, in Norway the cold climate makes fruits ripen very slowly and makes fruits tend to a smaller volume and more intense flavor such as cherry, strawberry and apples, also as most countries make dessert and cake preparations with their local products.

In the Norwegian beverage area it is a bit broader since unlike the previous chapter: Yemen, it is very popular in popular Norwegian alcoholic beverages.

Aquavit is one of the most popular alcoholic beverages that is a derivative of potatoes and grains, its distinctive flavor comes from herbs and spices used after the distillation process, mainly caraway, fennel and cumin, aquavit is consumed during festive gatherings and can have a golden or lighter to light brown color, depending on the harvest.

Vikingfjord is a well-known Norwegian vodka brand distilled with water from the Jostedalsbreen glacier. The brand has been voted best vodka by the international wine and spirits community. It is a best-seller in Norway and around the world. Vikingfjord comes tasteless, with an alcohol content of 40 percent.

Introduced to Scandinavia in the eighteenth century, the name "punsch" derives from the Hindi word for five, which refers to the number of ingredients that make up the drink: alcohol, water, sugar, fruit and spices. Punsch can also be seasoned with liquor to add an exotic note, such as almonds, chocolate and banana. It is usually served hot during the winter. 

With this we conclude this post, learning about the different foods of the world, Chapter 2: Norway