Period Norse Food

There is much debate about the foods Vikings ate.  The truth is, nobody knows exactly what they ate and how they prepared it.  All we can do is look at what foodstuffs were available during that time and - together with archaeological record of presumed cooking implements and preserved edible items - try to draw reasonable conclusions.

Other recipes below, so don't forget to scroll down!

 Mead and simha recipes are here, on a separate page..

 Archaeological Finds of Ninth- and Tenth-Century Viking Foodstuffs, by Carolyn Priest-Dorman.
 A review of the archaeological evidence for food plants from the British Isles: an example of the use of the Archaeobotanical Computer Database (ABCD)
 Hearths in the Viking World, a compilation of archaeological finds of hearths, by Carolyn Priest-Dorman.
 Viking Food, from the Viking Answer Lady, with some recipes.
 Viking food:  Background information and technical details/raw materials for food, from the Viking Network.
 The Norse Spice Chest, and what might have been found in there.
 Food link from Bergen pages.
 Birkana food page.
 Using a clay kettle to cook foods, Viking Network.
 Tools and cooking utensils, Viking Network.
 Cooking with soapstone tools


What people ate and drank in Jorvick, Viking Network.
Över Öppen Eld Vikingatida Recept (Over an Open Fire Viking Age Recipes).  This page is in Swedish, but useful to those who can read it.
Food and Feud in Saga Iceland, by Gary Martin
Althing Feast and Recipes, by Geoffrey Visick
On Preserving Foods with Honey
Pickled Norse Meat - excellent article about mead, vinegar, and pickling
Clay ovens excavated in Uppåkra
Cattle in the Middle Ages
SCA-cooks message archive (zipped files)
Articles from Stefan's Florilegium, portions of which - but read carefully, as not all - can be applicable to Norse cooking.

Misc

Misc Information...

Date: Fri, 26 Jan 2001 12:27:35 -0800
From: Ron and Laurene Wells <tinyzoo@home.com>
Subject: SC - Re: sca-cooks V1 #2924

...The title of the book is Eyewitness Books VIKING, author is Susan M. Margeson. You might be able to find a copy at your local library, our library has many (though not all) of the Eyewitness Books. I think I own more copies than our local library has now, thanks to DKFL (sigh... I wish they had not closed that door of opportunity!) Half the information in DK books are depicted in pictures. I tried to find it on DK.com where they sometimes have the pages of the book available for viewing online, but I could not find it. So, you'll have to suffer through my text-only summary until you can find a copy to browse for yourselves! Any spelling or grammatical errors are my own, as I had to type this by hand.

The pages talking about mealtime are 34, 35. Obviously there were not "recipes" only food ingredients. I am noticing that no dates are really mentioned on these pages, which I know is something that most of you are interested in. These are the foods mentioned though:

So, now we can all go make a roasted duck (or seagull?) and some Barley bread with dried peas and have ourselves a real Viking feast tonight! :) Or if you are in a colder region you could boil a hunk of meat with some garlic, onions, salt and cumin for a nice Viking-style stew.  --Laurene

Some recipes!

No... no cookbooks exist from the Viking Era.  The recipes below are a "best-guess" approximation.  Enjoy!

Barley Bread, Ragnhild's

You can buy barley flour from health-food shops. This bread has a sweetish, nutty flavour. You can cheat by using dried yeast.

1lb. barley flour
1lb. wheat flour
good pinch of salt
1 sachet of dried yeast
1 tbsp. honey
water to mix

Heat the honey and water by the edge of the fire until it reaches blood heat (you can stick your finger in it and it feels warm). Mix together the other ingredients in a large bowl, make a well in the centre, and pour in the warm water gradually, mixing with your hands until you have a firm dough. Cover with a damp cloth and leave in the sun for an hour or so, until well risen. Flour your hands and form the dough into several cakes. Place them on your warmed griddle (over the embers near the edge of the fire is the best place), and flatten them down slightly. Score a cross in the top with a knife. Cook the bread until it's fluffy all the way through, turning it several times.

Source:  http://www.ydalir.freeserve.co.uk/cindex.htm

Blackberry Patties, Ragnhild's

Once you've got the hang of making bread, you can have a go at some yummy variations. This recipe was invented at the Stafford Castle show in 1997, when the long hot summer had given us a bumper crop of fat, luscious blackberries.

You need:

some bread dough
some blackberries
and a little butter and honey

Wash the blackberries in clean water before use. Flatten egg sized pieces of bread dough with your hands (or flatten them on a floured board), making them as thin as you can. Place a handful of blackberries on the dough, with a small knob of butter and a drizzle of honey. Dampen the edges of the dough, fold it in half, and seal it firmly by pressing the edges together. Place your patty on a medium hot griddle (as for the bread), and cook until golden, turning occasionally. Serve hot or cold. Be careful to let them cool before you give them to children, as the fruit filling can be scalding hot!

Source:  http://www.ydalir.freeserve.co.uk/cindex.htm

Cabbage, creamed

Still a favorite in Norway today, I imagine that a recipe so easy would've existed during Viking times...

1 lb of chopped cabbage
2 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk
salt, to taste

Boil the cabbage until tender, approx. 30 minutes. Make a roux from the butter, flour, and milk. Simmer 5-10 minutes to desired thickness. Drain the cabbage and add to the sauce. Season with salt.

Possible additions:  dill weed, onion (documented here), coriander, thyme.  They might've also used leftover bread crumbs instead of flour.

Herbed Chicken or Hare and Barley

Based on a 7th century English recipe (original here).  This is a one-pot meal that could have been on a Viking table.

Serves 6

3 Tbsp butter
2 to 3 lbs (depending on the amount of bone) chicken or rabbit, jointed
1 large onion, chopped in large pieces
1/2 cup minced fennel bulb
6 oz pot barley
4 cups water
4 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar
2 to 3 carrots, cleaned and cut into rounds
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in a heavy pan and fry the meat with the onion and fennel till the vegetables are slightly softened and the meat lightly browned. Add the barley, water, vinegar, salt, and pepper.  Bring the pot to the boil, cover it and simmer gently for 1 - 1 1/2 hours or till the meat is really tender and ready to fall from the bone. Adjust the seasoning to taste and serve in bowls.

Source:  The British Museum Cookbook_ by Michelle Berriedale-Johnson, 1987, British Museum Publications.

Possible additions: mead or wine, hard cider, other period veggies.

Dulse

Dulse (Palmaria palmata) - is a red seaweed that grows attached to rocks by a "holdfast" in the North Atlantic and Northwest Pacific. It is commonly used in Ireland and Atlantic Canada both as food and medicinally and is now shipped around the globe. Dulse is found in many health food stores or fish markets or can be ordered directly from local distributors.

Is dulse a period food?  See below...

Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2000 12:14:16 -0000
From: nanna@idunn.is (Nanna Rognvaldardottir)
Subject: Re: SC - A new project....

Stefan asked:

>But what are these "dulse strips"? Perhaps you have mentioned them
>before, but I'm afraid I don't remember. Is this the lichen?

No. Dulse, as Seumas says, is edible seaweed, Palmaria palmata or Rhodymenia palmata (this botanical name most Icelanders would recognize because it is also the name of a famous poem by our Nobel Prize-winning author HalldÛr Laxness). The Icelandic name is s–l; the Irish name is dillisk, I think.

Dulse is frequently mentioned in the sagas and other medieval writings and seems to have been eaten widely, up until the late 19th century; now they are mostly used as a snack. There was a famous incident a few years ago, when a member of the Althing was taken to task by the Speaker for bringing food into the meeting hall and eating it at his desk; he maintained that he had not brought any food, just dulse, which wasn't food anyway - citing Egill SkallagrÌmsson, who had chewed dulse when he was trying to starve himself to death.

Dulse can be eaten raw but it can be rubbery (someone compared it to chewing on a salted rubber band). Now it is usually dried (partially at least), cut into strips or shreds and added to skyr or porridge, soups, stews, bread and - well, just about anything. Or they were simply eaten with butter or some kind of dipping liquid. In some regions, they were eaten fresh; then they were boiled for some time, chopped and added to bread or soups. They were so common in Southern and Western Iceland that August was often called "dulse month" because that was the usual dulse harvesting time.

The Irish make dillisk sandwiches - a layer of dulse between two slices of buttered bread.

--Nanna

Source:  http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-BY-REGION/fd-Iceland-msg.html

Non-period recipes:

Fava Bean Soup

Fava beans, also known as broad beans, are known to have been available to Vikings.  Together with other vegetables, this is a soup they might have come up with...

1/2 pound (250g) dried fava beans, soaked overnight
1 quart water (you can try meat, vegetable, or fish broth, too)
1 large onion (documented here)
1 Tbsp fresh dill weed
1 cup chopped fresh spinach, washed well
butter or sour cream

Drain the soaked fava beans and peel off the outer skin if not purchased already peeled.

Boil 1 quart (1 liter) water and 1 teaspoon salt in a heavy-bottomed stainless steel or terracotta pot. Slice the onion into the water. Add the fava beans and cook covered over low heat for an hour. Puree using a food mill.

Cook the greens in salted boiling water, drain and serve with the puree or put through a food mill together with the fava beans.

Drizzle with melted butter or a dollop of sour cream.

Other vegetables that might've gone into such a soup during seasons they were available:  carrots, parsnips, turnips, celery, spinach, cabbage.

Source:  Hjordis' little ole brain...

Fish

You can bet that Norse people ate plenty of fish.  Whatever might've been available in the different areas they lived (and they lived in a wide variety of places for their time!), I'm sure they found ways to prepare it in a tasty way.

Fish Soup

Measurements are given in cups. One cup=1 1/2 dl or about 90 g flour.

1/2 kg of trout, salmon, cod or another fish.
10-12 cups of water
Salt
One cup of whipped cream
3-5 cups of herb such as the top shoots of stinging nettles, young dandelion leaves, ashweed, wild chervil, cress, wild marjorum, dill, plantain, angelica, wild onions, caraway greenery, parsley, thyme, ... or whatever the season has to offer.

Remember: You must always be sure that the plants are edible!

Clean the fish, wash and cut into small pieces.

The slices of fish must be cooked until they are tender. This takes 20-30 minutes.

Put the cooked fish slices on a dish and bone them.

Put the fish back in the soup. Add the whipped cream and chopped herbs.

The soup should now cook for about 20-30 minutes adding salt as desired. Then it is ready to be served. Fish soup can be served with flatbread.

A little dab of butter in the soup tastes good!

Serves 4 to 6.

Source:  From the book  I LÆRE SOM VIKING by Trine Theut,. Published in 1994 by Trine Theut and OP-Forlag, Aps, Denmark.  ISBN 87-7794-248-5. English version by Steven Mohn

Icelandic Whole Salmon with Apples and Beets

5 to 6-pound salmon
3 Tbsp salt
4 Tbsp butter
3 cups boiling water
1 cup raw or cooked apples, choppd
1 cup cooked chopped beets
sauteed celery

Clean the fish, but do not remove head or tail. Remove viscera and lean fish well. Sprinkle with salt and let stand for a few minutes. Melt butter in a large kettle or deep frying pan and brown the fish on all sides. Pour the boiling water over the fish, and simmer until tender. Place the whole fish on a serving platter. Keep hot. Cook beets until softened (or use canned). Peel or chop or cube. Mix 1 T water, 1 T vinegar, 1 T sugar, and pour over beets. Let stand for 1/2 hour or longer. Drain. Or mix beets with a little sour milk or sour cream. Chop or cube raw or cooked apples. Place small mounds of apples and beets around fish. Between mounds, place sauteed celery.  8 servings.

From THE COMPLETE SCANDINAVIAN COOKBOOK, Alice B. Johnson.

Flatbread

Measurements are given in cups. One cup=1 1/2 dl or about 90 g flour.

7 Cups of gruttet flour or thick wheat flour.
3 cups of liquid. Use whey or butter milk
1 Egg
A dash of salt (if desired)

Flour, liquid, egg and salt must be kneaded long and thoroughly. If needed add more flour or liquid so the dough is just right.

The dough should be shaped into small balls and then pressed flat and thin.

The bread is baked over a glowing fire on shards of pottery or pans, about 2-3 minutes on each side. The bread should be light brown and sound hollow when you knock on it lightly with a fingernail. For the pottery you can use the shards from an average red burned herbal pot...

Sweeter bread/cakes can be obtained by sweetening the dough with honey.

Toasted stinging nettles give a good spicy taste.

Chopped nuts and cooked acorns in the dough are also good.

Source:  From the book  I LÆRE SOM VIKING by Trine Theut,. Published in 1994 by Trine Theut and OP-Forlag, Aps, Denmark.  ISBN 87-7794-248-5. English version by Steven Mohn.

 

Osyrat Kornbrod (Barley Flatbread)

1 1/2 cups barley flour
1/2 cup water

Blend together until a stiff dough is formed. Warm the griddle over a fire. Take a heavy rolling pin and a walnut sized ball and roll until flat. Lay it on the griddle about 30 seconds on either side until golden brown, serve hot. When they get cold they are very hard.

Tip: brush both sides of each piece of flatbread with flour before you stacking them - otherwise they stick together.

Source:  Over an Open Fire: Viking Age Recipes, Broome, Susan and Hajowite, David

  10 Sep 1999 08:47:23 -0500
  From: "TheMorrigan" <themorrigan@softhome.net>
  Source:  Stefan's Floregium, http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-BY-REGION/fd-Norse-msg.html

Here is the Viking flat bread rec.

* the proportions came from a rec. I found on "The Viking Network". After playing with that recipie this is what I came up with for more reasonable variations and cooking methods based on archaeology.

Here is the recipe, a bunch of cooking notes follow it.

7 cups (give or take) of graham flour (this is whole grain rough ground wheat)
3 cups of buttermilk, whey, or goatmilk
1 egg

Mix all ingredients ( I usually add the last few cups of flour one at a time until the consistency is right). This will be the consistency of CONCRETE as you do the final mix.

Before you press into either clay or tin pans dust the pan with a bit of the dry flour to prevent sticking.

Press small handfulls of the dough into your pans, flatten until less than 1/2 inch thick.

These can be baked on a hearth near the fire, a grill (charcoal or propane with woodchips) set at 350, or a regular oven at 350. They take about 10 minutes per side, as they begin to get a hollow sound flip the bread over and finish on the other side, when they have a slight brown and they sound hollow they are done.

These are best served right when done, can be served that day, slight reheating helps the taste and consistency. A day old and cold they could be used as an offensive weapon.

* Variations:

You could add proportions of the flour as whole wheat bread flour, or use all whole wheat bread flour, this gives a more pita bread style but it becomes rather bland.

Adding ground walnuts and a few spoons of honey to the all graham flour recipie is very good!

We have tried baking these on our gas grill at 350 with wood chips and the bread on clay pans (for the clay pans we used the red clay saucers sold to go with clay pots for houseplants) These worked very well, but the end product really did not taste different than those baked in the oven.

If you use my reaductions or reprint these please give credit.

Lady Morganna McGlachlen
Shadewes Company
mka: Nancy Foust

  Date: Sat, 7 Aug 1999 11:40:16 -0000
  From: "Nanna" <nannar@isholf.is>
  Source:  Stefan's Floregium, http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-BY-REGION/fd-Norse-msg.html

In a book on Norwegian food history (mostly post-1500) by Fredrik Gr¯n that I have here it says that:

"The first Nordic writer to mention the baking of flat breads and even has an illustration of them in his work is the Swedish archbishop Olaus Magnus, around 1550. He is the first to tell the often repeated tales about flatbread that keeps so long that it can be baked at the birth of a child and served at its engagement party. He also says that women in Norway "at the ocean coast", but also women in many Swedish communities, will come together on bright spring days to help each other with the baking. That was a group activity. They use "thin metal plates", he says, no longer flat stones. The dough is made of flour, beans and peas, and this is also correct for Norway. Then he describes how the flatbread is kept in high piles, and says it will keep for 16-20 years. Olaus Magnus doesn't use the term "flatbr¯d". He also mentions other types of bread baked in Sweden, "julebr–d" (Christmas bread), "krydred br–d" (spiced bread), bread that will go stone hard in the air, "skorpor" and lastly "a fine bread for delicate Nordic gentlewomen". The dough for that consists of wheat flour, eggs and sugar, with added rose water and "malvasir" (don't know what that is)."

Petter Dass, in the 17th century, talks about flatbread that is baked in large amounts just after Christmas, for the seamen that were going north to the Lofoten to fish - they took chests filled with three months worth of food with them.

Ludvig Holberg, in 1729, says that the reason Norwegians bake flatbread that keeps for many years is that they have so many bad harvesting years; as so little rye is grown in Norway and the barley is not too good, the flour is best used for flatbread, and will taste much better than when used in thicker breads.

I've seen speculation that the original flatbread of Viking times probably wasn't hard and stiff, but rather soft, as the Icelandic flatbread still is, and was used to wrap around food, or butter. But the bread mentioned in the Sagas is mostly loaves, probably thick pieces of unleavened dough baked in the embers.

--Nanna

Meat Soup

Measurements are given in cups. One cup=1 1/2 dl or about 90 g flour.

8-12 cups of water
1/2 kg meat (pork, beef, lamb, chicken, hen etc)
Salt
3-5 cups of herb such as the top shoots of stinging nettles, young dandelion leaves, wild chervil, cress, wild marjorum, dill, plantain, angelica, wild onions, caraway greenery, thyme, or whatever the season has to offer.

Remember: You must always be sure that the plants are edible!

Put the meat in the kettle. Pour water over the meat so it is covered and put the kettle on the fire. In order that the heat is spread evenly the kettle must be turned about every 5-10 minutes.

When the water boils it should cook for about one hour. It may be necessary to add more water so the meat is always covered with water.

While the meat is cooking wash and chop the herbs. They will go in the soup when it is ready.

When the meat is tender take it out and slice it to a size fit for a spoon and return it to the soup.

Add salt as desired, then it is ready to be served.

It can be served with flatbread.

If you want a more filling soup you can add soaked wheat kernels, thick flour...or the soup can be smoothed out with pea flour (yellow peas grinded on a stone).

Serves 4 to 6.

Source:  From the book  I LÆRE SOM VIKING by Trine Theut,. Published in 1994 by Trine Theut and OP-Forlag, Aps, Denmark.  ISBN 87-7794-248-5. English version by Steven Mohn

Maybe-not-so-Norse Pie

Source:  Stefan's Floregium, http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-BY-REGION/fd-Norse-msg.html

Author notes:  Now, the name of these dishes in late-fourteenth-century French is something like Pastez Nourrois, and I'm willing to entertain the possibility that the translation of the name into the expression "Norse Pies" could be wrong. Also, Norwegian or not, they postdate the time of Viking activity by at least 150 years or more, if I have my timeline correct. So, technically, they are not especially Viking, unless they are really from Norway and survived a couple of centuries virtually unchanged, to be found alive and well in France. COULD be true, but... --Adamantius

Viandier de Taillevent, Scully translation: "Norse Pies. Take finely chopped, well-cooked meat, pine-nut paste, currants, finely crumbled rich cheese, a little sugar and very little salt."

Le Menagier de Paris, Powers translation: "Norwegian Pasties be made of cod's liver and sometimes with fish minced therewith. And you must first parboil them for a little and then mince them and set them in little pasties the size of a threepenny piece, with fine powder thereon. And when the pastrycook brings them not cooked in the oven, they be fried whole in oil and it is on a fish day; and on a meat day they be made of beef marrow recooked, that is to wit the marrow is put in a pierced spoon, and the pierced spoon with the marrow therein is put in the broth of the pot of meat, and left there for as long as you would leave an unplucked chicken in hot water to warm it up; then set it in cold water, then cut up the marrow and round it into big balls or little bullets, then carry them, to the pastrycook, who puts them by fours or threes in a pasty with fine powder thereon. And without putting them in the oven they be cooked in fat."

Oatcakes, Ragnhild's Basic

This is a good recipe for children to help with.

1lb. wholemeal flour
8oz. oatmeal
a good pinch of salt
1tbsp. melted dripping or vegetable oil
water to mix

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl until you have a fairly wet dough. Cover with a damp cloth and leave out of the sun for about 30 minutes, by which time the dough will have stiffened. Flour your hands, break off walnut sized pieces of dough, and shape them into flat cakes. Get your griddle good and hot, or they will cook slowly and turn into hockey pucks! Cook the cakes quickly for about 30 seconds each side. Serve hot or cold, with just about anything.

Source:  http://www.ydalir.freeserve.co.uk/cindex.htm

Pork with Plums

This one contains all ingredients available to Vikings.  Carolyn Priest-Dorman mentions on her Archaeological Finds of Ninth- and Tenth-Century Viking Foodstuffs page that Vikings were very fond of plums.  Plums are documented to have been found at Jorvik.

3 Tbsp butter
1 cup chopped onion
2 cups pitted and chopped fresh ripe plums
1 to 2 lbs cubed pork (depending on how many you're feeding)
1/4 cup vinegar
3 cups water
1 cup carrot rounds
2 cups chopped cabbage
honey, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste

Put all of it into a pot and let simmer for 30 to 45 minutes.  (Alternately, you can saute the onion in the butter until clear, then add the meat and braise, then add the rest and simmer.)  Serve and enjoy!  Serves 3-4.

Possible additions: other veggies, barley.  You'll need to add another cup of water at least, if you add barley, and will have to cook it all for at least another 30 minutes; serve when the barley is soft enough for you.  We added barley and it was quite good.

I fixed this one for dinner, and it was very tasty!  It passed the husband test, and is a repeat meal item.

Source: Hjordis Olvirsdottir.  The recipe didn't come out of a cookbook or webpage - it escaped from Hjordis' brain.

Porridge

The Viking family's porridge (4-6 servings)

Measurements are given in cups. One cup=1 1/2 dl or about 90 g flour.

10-15 cups of water
Two cups of chopped wheat kernels. Let them soak over night so they won't be so hard to chew.
Two cups pearl barley
A handful whole grain wheat flour
A handful crushed kernels of nuts
3-4 tablespoons of honey
A healthy portion of apple bits, hippells, pears or...

Put the chopped wheat kernels, wheat flour, pearl barley and crushed nuts in the kettle. Pour 10 cups of water in the kettle and place on the fire.

Stir the porridge evenly and turn the kettle to spread the heat. If the porridge starts to get too thick, pour more water in it.

After about 1/2 hour add the honey, nuts and fruit. The porridge should now cook until the fruit is wet and the porridge has the desired consistency. It should take 15-30 minutes.

It should be served warm, possibly with some cold cream. 

Source:  From the book  I LÆRE SOM VIKING by Trine Theut,. Published in 1994 by Trine Theut and OP-Forlag, Aps, Denmark.  ISBN 87-7794-248-5. English version by Steven Mohn

The Groetlingbo Porrige
Based on a porrige from a Viking age womans grave on Gotland

Makes 10 servings.

3,5 dl barley, preferably whole grain
0,5 dl peas (dried)
0.8 l water
1.3 l milk (sheeps milk in the original)

[NB one dl is one tenth of a liter, i.e. 3.4 fl.oz.]

Soak the peas overnight. Throw away the water. Mix peas, barley and water. Perhaps some salt as well. Boil in a covered pot for 10 minutes. Add the milk, stir and bring to a boil. Allow to swell at a suitable temperature (45-60 min). Serve with milk, honey and dried or fresh apples or berries.

I have no idea if the archaeological record indicated the honey, berries and apples, or if they were added by the archaeologist that reconstructed it.

From email:  Par Leijonhufvud parlei(at)algonet.se

Source:  http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-BREADS/grains-msg.html

About Skyr...

From: ambatt@infinet.com
Wed, 3 Sep 1997 08:57:07 +0200 (MET DST)

Jenny Jochens includes mention of skyr in her book*, referring to the "curd room" storage area as the skyrbu'r. She also mentions of it:

"Such a skyrbu'r might have a southern exposure, as indicated by the term 'southern room' (sudhrbu'r), suggesting that the sun's heat was used to further fermentation. Different containers (skyrker and sy'ruker) stored the curds and whey and were large enough to hide a man."

As a note to this, she also mentions: "the 'large curd containers' (skyraskar sto'rir) in which Egill and his men were served the ubiquitous nourishment which here was so thin that it was drunk." - reference to Egill's saga 2.43:107

*_Women in Old Norse Society_; by Jenny Jochens

Regards,
Bobbie Dixson
ambatt@infinet.com
http://www.infinet.com/~ambatt/

Skyr, from Iceland

1.5 l (6 cups) skim milk
250 ml (1 cup) buttermilk
1/4 rennet tablet

Warm up a small measuring cup with hot water, warm the spoon too, or use a plastic spoon. Put 30-50 ml tepid water in and dissolve a quarter rennet tablet. The tablet has lines scored for ease in splitting.

Do not use past date buttermilk, this is an important ingredient.

Freshly bought buttermilk is best. Put skim milk and buttermilk in a 2 L Pyrex measuring cup, and warm it in the microwave for 6 minutes on HIGH, stop and stir each minute.

Stir the dissolved tablet into the mixture. Set aside about 5 hours for the curds and whey to separate, then strain in a cotton bag or a cotton tea towel. The curds (Skyr) will stay in the strainer, and the whey (Mysa) runs into the container.

A good way is to place a tea towel in a large collander. Put the mixture in and then gather the sides of the towel, tie and hang it over a saucepan to catch the Whey.

The Skyr will be almost dry when removed from the bag or the strainer. It can be used as is, but if you prefer it smoother put in a container and beat with a little sugar and cream for the consistency you like. Yield - 300 ml.

Serve with sugar and cream or milk [goes good with blueberries].

Source:  http://recipes.alastra.com/microwave/skyr.html

Skyr: Icelandic Curds

Yield: 8 servings

4 qt milk
1/2 pt sour cream
1/2 rennet tablet

The milk is brought to a boil without burning it, and then cooled to blood heat (98F). A cupful of the sour cream is whipped and mixed with some of the milk until thin and smooth: then it is poured into the milk. At the same time, one-half rennet tablet is dissolved in a little cold water (about a tablespoonful) and poured into the milk, which is stirred to mix the ingredients. The mixture is allowed to stand at room temperature for 24 hours.

Then the skyr is scooped from the pot and strained gradually through a fine linen sieve (several layers of cheesecloth may be used instead). It is thus separated from the whey. The skyr which is left in the sieve should be about as thick as ice cream. Four quarts of milk should make about one and a half quarts of skyr.

When serving, whip skyr well with a spoon or whipper to a smooth ice-cream-like consistency. The consistency should not be grainy or like cottage cheese.

Icelanders eat skyr as a dessert with sugar or cream. (Or fruit.)

(from THE COMPLETE SCANDINAVIAN COOKBOOK, Alice B. Johnson)

Source:  http://www.ibmpcug.co.uk/~owls/iceland.htm

Skyr Discussion...

Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2000 02:58:45 -0000
From: "Nanna" <nannar@isholf.is>
Subject: Re: SC - A new project....

Skyr is a cultured milk product - you use warmed milk, non-homogenized or skimmed (cow's or ewe's milk, but these days it is always cow's milk), add starter (a bacterial culture) and rennet, let it cool, then pour it into a sieve and let it stand overnight, while the whey (s?ra) is draining away. I'm not convinced you can make authentic skyr without a starter but there are several recipes floating around the web somewhere that use a substitute. You can see some photos of a school class making skyr here (the text and recipe is in Icelandic, unfortunately, but basically it is 10 litres skimmed milk, 6 drops of rennet, a heaped tablespoon of traditional skyr and two tablespoons of cream (optional)).

http://www.krokur.is/~vhlskoli/Nordliv/skyrgerd/welcome.html

Skyr is not much like cottage cheese or ricotta cheese. If anyone is familiar with Greek yoghurt, then I find it comes reasonably close to modern, fairly mild and smooth, versions of skyr (I freely substitute them in recipes) but the traditional skyr is much more tart and and thicker, so it can be cut with a knife - it is usually diluted with milk or water and heavily sugared when eaten as a dessert or breakfast dish, which is what most people do. I, however, use unsweetened traditional skyr for lots of things - cakes, bread, dips and sauces, soups, stews - oh, and it is very good as a topping for baked potatoes, as Alan Davidson and I discovered when we were doing some culinary experiments with the skyr I brought him when I visited him in London earlier this year. BTW, if anyone has the early issues of PPC, there is an article on skyr-making there - issue 3 or 4, I believe.

Berjaskyr - skyr mixed with bilberries and crowberries - is actually my favorite food ever. And hrÊringur - skyr mixed with cold oatmeal porridge -is one of the very few foods I really dislike. Unfortunately, my mother served it about three times a week when I was a child. So did most other housewifes in the region. I last ate it on 25 March, 1974, at 8.30 PM, and I know that because I was so famished after the birth of my first child that when the midwife went to get me some food and returned with a bowl of hrÊringur, which was the only thing to be had in the kitchen at that hour, I ate it greedily. But when I had my son a few years later, I took a packet of cookies to the hospital just in case.

--Nanna

Sour Cream Porridge

Another big favorite in Norway, this dish is very, very old and could've easily been prepared in Viking times (although the amount of flour used might seem frivolous to Vikings who hand-mill their grain).

Sour cream porridge must be made from high fat (35%) natural sour cream, with no stabilizers or gelatin added. For the best results, use homemade sour cream. Heat 2 1/2 dl (1 cup) whipping cream to 35 C (95 F), almost body temperature, then whisk in 2 tablespoons buttermilk. Let stand at room temperature at least 8 hours, until thickened.

1 2/3 cups 35 percent fat sour cream
1 1/4 cups flour
5 cups full fat milk
3/4 teaspoon salt

Simmer sour cream, covered, about 15 minutes.

Sift over 1/3 of the flour. Simmer until the butterfat begins to leach out. Skim off the fat.

Sift over the remaining flour and bring to a boil. Bring the milk to a boil and thin the porridge to desired consistency. Whisk until smooth. Simmer about 10 minutes, and season with salt. Serve with the fat, sugar and cinnamon.

Serves 6.

Source:  Sons of Norway.

Some possible additions:  honey, sloe berries, plums, peaches, blackberries, bilberries, wild strawberries, raspberries, grapes, blackcurrents, redcurrents, elderberries.

Turnips, Mashed

Remember, potatoes were not available to Vikings!  Many cultures regularly used turnips before the arrival of potatoes into their diet.  Many of the vegetables - carrots, parsnips, turnips, cabbage - might've have simply been cut in chunks and placed in stews.  But I can imagine them wanting a more varied menu, and this is a recipe they could've easily come up with...

3 small turnips, tennis-ball sized
3 Tbsp butter, melted
2 Tbsp sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

Peel turnips, making sure to remove the tough top bits; place in a saucepan. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Cover with pan lid, lower heat and simmer for about an hour until tender. Drain then cut into chunks small enough to fit in your food processor. Place chunked veggies, butter, and sour cream in a food processor and puree.  (Or if you're feeling like getting aggression out, use a potato masher.)

Possible additions:  period-appropriate cheese, onion, celery.

Source:  Hjordis Olvirsdottir

Email to:  Ravenstead Household

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The Ravenstead household is dedicated to studying the arts and sciences of the Norse culture during the “Viking Era” (700-1066 AD) and re-enacting the lifestyle of that era in our encampments.