Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Staples & Specialities
TASTEBUD TOURING
We think that the incredible local fish and lamb should be high on your hit-list in Iceland.
You may be considering the 'novelty value' of sampling the likes of whale, puffin and even
hákarl(rotted Greenland shark), but please do consider your actions (see
Click here
)
. Try
these delicious blasts of local flavour instead.
Skyr
Rich and creamy yoghurt-like staple, sometimes sweetened with sugar and berries.
You can consume it in yoghurt-style drinks or local desserts, playing a starring role in
cheesecake and crème brulée (or even 'skyramisu') concoctions.
Hangikjöt
Literally 'hung meat', usually smoked lamb, served in thin slices (it's tradition-
ally a Christmas dish).
Harðfiskur
Brittle pieces of wind-dried haddock ('fish jerky'?), usually eaten with butter.
Pýlsur
Icelandic hot dogs, made with a combination of lamb, beef and pork, and topped
with raw and deep-fried onion, ketchup, mustard and tangy remoulade (ask for 'eina með
öllu'- one with everything).
Liquorice
Salt liquorice and chocolate-covered varieties fill the supermarket sweets
aisles.
Rúgbrauð
Dark, dense rye bread. Look for hverabrauðin Mývatn - it's baked under-
ground using geothermal heat.
Fish & Seafood
'Half of our country is the sea', runs an old Icelandic saying. Fish is still the mainstay of
the Icelandic diet: you'll find it fresh-caught at market stalls and in restaurant kitchens,
from where it emerges boiled, pan-fried, baked or grilled.
In the past, Icelanders merely kept the cheeks and tongues of
þorskur
(cod) - something
of a delicacy - and exported the rest; but today you'll commonly find cod fillets on the
menu, along with
ýsa
(haddock),
bleikja
(Arctic char) and meaty-textured
skötuselur
(monkfish). Other fish include
lúða
(halibut),
steinbítur
(catfish),
sandhverfa
(turbot; not
an indigenous fish),
síld
(herring),
skarkoli
(plaice) and
skata
(skate). During the summer
you can try
silungur
(freshwater trout) and
villtur lax
(wild salmon). Farmed salmon is
eldislax
; it's available year-round, and appears on countless menus in smoked form.
