Norwegian cuisine
The perfect blend of traditional ingredients and modern cooking styles
Norway is rich in high-quality ingredients, with local grains, vegetables, lamb and cured meats, wild berries and specialty fish being essential ingredients for Norwegians.
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The natural conditions vary greatly from country to country, with one of the longest coastlines in the world, and these excellent conditions have created the traditional cuisine of Norway. Norway is world-famous for its wild natural environment, vast land, bottomless fjords, and cold, clear water. Therefore, catching and cooking quality fish has naturally become a very important part of Norwegian culture. In the past, Norway was the world's largest exporter of dried cod, and now it is a major exporter of fresh salmon and Arctic cod. Learn more about Norway's top-notch seafood.
You can see these fresh ingredients every day in the Norwegian kitchen. Because Norway is rich in products and easy to use, it is no surprise that a new trend has emerged, which is to make your own food from scratch. In addition, Norwegians love coffee, and local roasters and baristas have re-improved coffee and won world-class awards.
Norwegian lamb: Very, very nice!
Norwegian lamb meat is tender and juicy because livestock are kept in grasslands far from the city, where the environment is not polluted, the water is clean, the pasture is diverse, and the protein content is high.
In addition, sheep have also made a great contribution to Norway's beautiful cultural landscape, and they have maintained local vegetation during grazing, thus protecting ecological diversity.
One of the important principles of sustainable meat production practiced by Norwegians is that slaughtered livestock must be used to the fullest, and many dishes are cooked from meat from multiple parts of the sheep.
Fenalår in Norway refers specifically to lamb leg meat smoked for a long time, and long ago, Norwegians living in the mountains used to hang the leg of lamb in the winter to dry it for easy storage.
Pinnekjøtt refers to lamb ribs marinated in brine or sea salt, a dish often tasted at Christmas in the Norwegian fjords.
If you're lucky (and guts), you can also try smoked sheep's head. The dish is called smalahove in Norway, and people in some places think it's delicious.
Norway's best food souvenir
Bringing home some specialties can make the feeling of vacation last longer.
"Røkelaks" (smoked salmon)
You can buy whole smoked salmon, finely packed fish or easy-to-carry fillets. You can also buy it with a special yellow mustard sauce.
"Ørret" (trout)
Trout tastes a little sweeter than salmon. If you're bold enough, you can also try partially fermented pickled trout.
"Jetost Cheese" (Brunost, brown cheese)
Choosing to bring this sweet brown sheep cheese home, it can be said that you are bringing home the Norwegian specialties when eating this cheese, the Norwegian cheese slicer is indispensable, and you can see this beautiful utensil in the kitchens of most people in the country.
Seaweed salt
Salt is a common spice every day, but the salt extracted from seaweed is very interesting and healthy.
"Sild" (herring)
Herring is increasingly practiced and can be paired with a variety of marinades to make a variety of flavors.
"Flatbrød" (thin bread)
It's a crisp loaf of bread, much thinner than the latest laptops, and is usually sold in protective boxes. Served with soups, stews or cured meats and sour cream, it's delicious.
"Lefse" (crepes)
A traditional soft pancake made from flour, potatoes, milk, butter that requires the help of traditional tools.
coffee
Norwegian coffee roasters have won awards in international professional competitions and become the world's best coffee producers.
Waffle mix powder and waffle pan
The comfortable life of Norwegians is absolutely inseparable from waffles.
Homemade jam (syltetøy)
Bring jams made from fruits grown in an untouched natural environment to sweeten your home.
VALDRESFLYE.
Photo: TINA STAFRÉN
Hunting: Four game game dishes not to be missed
Autumn is the best time to hunt in Norway, when you can see a variety of game in Norwegian restaurants and family tables. Here are four kinds of game meat, you may wish to try.
1. Moose. If cooked properly, moose meat is very delicious and tastes like venison or elk.
2. Reindeer. The Far North is home to 250,000 reindeer. The local indigenous Sami are also known for their adept at raising reindeer. Reindeer meat is lean and delicious.
3. Deer. Deer are found in Norwegian forests to outnumber moose. Venison is often made into steaks, sometimes smoked, air-dried or marinated.
4. Grouse. Grouse are a favorite bird for hunters to catch. The breast of the young grouse is tender and has a faint fishy smell. The smell of flesh on the legs and other parts is stronger.
Cheese: Brie cheese
Norway has several world-famous inventions, the most famous of which is ostehøvel (cheese shaving vessel). Thor Bjørklund invented this apparatus in the 1920s.
Jethost cheese (brown feta cheese) is Norway's most famous cheese, a caramelized whey cheese that is very similar to milk fat gummies. Norwegians usually eat it with high-quality bread or Norwegian waffles for a unique flavor. Warm wooden huts are often found near Norway's famous cross-country ski trails or on crowded peaks, where this food is served. Not everyone likes its taste, and many foreigners are only willing to try it once.
In recent years, Norwegian cheese shops have become increasingly diverse in their offerings, including camembert cheese, blue cheese, goat cheese, brie cheese and traditional old cheese (gamalost) and pultost. Norway's clean and cold nature allows for the production of high-quality goat's milk and milk. Today, there are more than 150 small cheese production plants from southern Norway to northern Finland. Most cheese factory operators are ambitious young people who are eager to try different techniques, ingredients and maturities.
Norwegian Specialty Christmas Cuisine
Norwegians strictly follow the Christmas Day diet traditions that have been handed down from generation to generation. But the Norwegians love Christmas food differently everywhere. Here are some of the most common foods for the Christmas season:
Rib:
i.e. grilled pork belly. It is often eaten with German sauerkraut, boiled potatoes, sausages, meatballs and gravies. 60% of Norwegian families enjoy Ribbe on Christmas, with families in Trendrag and eastern Norway especially enjoying the dish.
Stick meat:
Air-dried pickled lamb ribs, and in some places the smoked method is used to make this dish. Pinnekjøtt literally means steamed meat from branches, as Norwegians used to steam Pinnekjøtt on birch branches. The dish ranks second among the norwegians' most beloved dishes on Christmas Eve, and the people of the West Coast are particularly keen on Pinnekjøtt.
Alkaline fish (Lutefisk)
Previously, Norwegians used alkaline water to preserve dried cod. Soaked dried fish is washed and cooked in the oven, served with potatoes, bacon, stewed peas and mustard.
Multekrem：
A dessert made with cloud berries mixed with whipped cream.
Cookies:
According to tradition, Norwegian families make seven different cookies and cookies at Christmas. Among them, gingerbread (gingerbread cookie) may be the most popular one.
Aquavit:
Acquavit is norway's national winery. The main ingredient of this spirit is the potato, which is then added with plants such as kudzu seeds, fennel, dill, fennel and coriander. This wine is perfect for Christmas dinners.
Gløgg:
Norwegians also love sweet mulled wine. Unlike other countries, Norwegian glogs do not include herbal spices, but instead mix syrup, dried almonds and raisins with a unique flavor.