Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
FOOD
Meat
Norwegians love their meat and some of the most memorable meals for carnivores will in-
volve Norway's signature species. Roast reindeer
(reinsdyrstek)
is something every nonve-
getarian visitor to Norway should try at least once; despite its cost (starting from around
Nkr275 and often much higher), you'll likely order it again as it's one of the tastier red
meats. If you're fortunate enough to be invited to a Sami wedding, you might also come
across a traditional reindeer stew
(bidos)
. Another popular local meat is elk
(elg),
which
comes in a variety of forms, including as a steak or burger.
Other meat-based dishes that Norwegian chefs excel at preparing include
bankebiff
(slices/chunksofbeefsimmeredingravy),
dyrestek
(roastvenison)and
lammebog
(shoulder
of lamb). Not surprisingly given the Norwegian climate, meats are often cured, one variety
ofwhichis
spekemat
(curedlamb,beef,porkorreindeer,oftenservedwithscrambledeggs).
Furtherdishesinclude
kjøttpålegg
(coldmeatcuts),
fårikål
(lambincabbagestew),
syltelabb
(boiled, salt-cured pig's trotter),
lapskaus
(thick stew of diced meat, potatoes, onions and
other vegetables) and
pytt i panne
(eggs with diced potato and meat).
Surprisingly few Norwegian restaurants offer the kind of meals that Norwegians eat at
home, or at least used to when their mothers and grandmothers cooked for them. One such
dish is traditional Norwegian meatballs served with mushy peas, mashed potatoes and wild-
berryjam.Oneplaceworthyofspecialmentionwherethisandothertraditionaldishesdom-
inate the menu is Pingvinen (
Click here
) in Bergen.
Norwegian National Recipes: An Inspiring Journey in the Culinary History of Norway
by Arne Brimi can be
hard to track down, but there's no finer study of Norwegian food covering all regions and it's written by one
of Norway's premier chefs.
Seafood
One Norwegian contribution to international cuisine that you shouldn't miss is salmon (
laks;
grilled or smoked, in which case it's called
røykelaks
). Where other Norwegian foods
may quickly empty your wallet without adequate compensation for taste, salmon remains
blissfully cheap, although this applies only to farmed salmon; wild salmon is considerably
