Norwegian cuisine in its traditional form is based largely on the raw materials readily available in Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 and its mountains, wilderness and coast. It differs in many respects from its continental counterparts with a stronger focus on game

Game (food)

Game is any animal hunted for food or not normally domesticated. Game animals are also hunted for sport.The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world. This will be influenced by climate, animal diversity, local taste and locally accepted view about what can or...

 and fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

.

Modern Norwegian cuisine, although still strongly influenced by its traditional background, now bears the marks of globalization and Americanization

Americanization

Americanization is the influence of the United States on the popular culture, technology, business practices, or political techniques of other countries. The term has been used since at least 1907. Inside the U.S...

: pasta

Pasta

Pasta is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, now of worldwide renown. It takes the form of unleavened dough, made in Italy, mostly of durum wheat , water and sometimes eggs. Pasta comes in a variety of different shapes that serve for both decoration and to act as a carrier for the...

s, pizza

Pizza

Pizza is an oven-baked, flat, disc-shaped bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings.Originating in Italy, from the Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many parts of the world. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria"...

s and the like are as common as meatball

Meatball

A meatball is made from an amount of ground meat rolled into a small ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as breadcrumbs, minced onion, spices, and possibly eggs...

s and cod

Cod

Cod is the common name for genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name for various other fishes. Cod is a popular food with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of...

 as staple foods, and urban restaurants sport the same selection one would expect to find in any western Europe

Western Europe

Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...

an city.

Seafood

The one traditional Norwegian dish with a claim to international popularity is smoked salmon. It is now a major export, and could be considered the most important Norwegian contribution to modern international cuisine. Smoked salmon exists traditionally in many varieties, and is often served with scrambled eggs, dill, sandwiches or mustard sauce. Close to smoked salmon is gravlaks, (literally "dug salmon"), which is salt-and-sugar-cured salmon

Cured salmon

Cured salmon and other fish recipes have been found in many cultures stretching from the people of early to modern Scandinavia to the Native Americans....

 seasoned with dill and (optionally) other herbs and spices. Gravlaks is often sold under more sales-friendly names internationally. A more peculiar Norwegian fish dish is Rakfisk

Rakfisk

Rakfisk is a traditional eastern Norwegian fish dish made from trout or sometimes char, salted and fermented for two to three months, then eaten without cooking.-Origin:...

, which consists of fermented

Fermentation (food)

Fermentation in food processing typically is the conversion of carbohydrates to alcohols and carbon dioxide or organic acids using yeasts, bacteria, or a combination thereof, under anaerobic conditions. Fermentation in simple terms is the chemical conversion of sugars into ethanol...

 trout

Trout

Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...

, a culinary relation of Swedish surströmming

Surströmming

Surströmming herring") is a northern Swedish dish consisting of fermented Baltic herring. Surströmming is sold in cans, which often bulge during shipping and storage, due to the continued fermentation. When opened, the contents release a strong and sometimes overwhelming odor, which explains why...

.

Until the 20th century, shellfish was not eaten to any extent. This was partly due to the abundance of fish and the relative high expenditure of time involved in catching shellfish when set against its nutritional value, as well as the fact that such food spoils rather quickly, even in a northern climate. However, prawns, crabs and mussels have become quite popular, especially during summer. Lobster is of course popular, but restrictions on the catch (size and season) limit consumption, and in addition lobster has become rather rare, and indeed expensive.

People gather for "krabbelag" ("crab party") feasts, either eating ready cooked crabs from a fishmonger, or cooking live crabs in a large pan. This is typically done outdoors, the style being rather rustic with only bread, mayonnaise and wedges of lemon to go with the crab. Crabs are caught in pots by both professionals and amateurs, prawns are caught by small trawlers and sold ready cooked at the quays. It is popular to buy half a kilo of prawns and eat it at the quays, feeding the waste to seagulls. Beer or white wine is the normal accompaniment.

Mussels are normally bought live from a fishmonger who can guarantee them to be free of harmful micro-organisms; few people gather mussels themselves, owing to the risk of poisoning. Preparation is simple: steamed with garlic, parsley and perhaps some white wine, and served with bread. The juice can be enriched with double cream to make a soup.

The largest Norwegian food export in the past has been "tørrfisk" - dried codfish. The Atlantic cod variety known as 'skrei' because of its migrating habits, has been a source of wealth for millennia, fished annually in what is known as the 'Lofotfiske' after the island chain of 'Lofoten

Lofoten

Lofoten is an archipelago and a traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Though lying within the Arctic Circle, the archipelago experiences one of the world's largest elevated temperature anomalies relative to its high latitude.-Etymology:...

'. Tørrfisk has been a staple food internationally for centuries, in particular on the Iberian peninsula and the African coast. Both during the age of sail and in the industrial age, tørrfisk played a part in world history as an enabling food for cross-Atlantic trade and the slave trade triangle.

A large number of fish dishes are popular today, based on such species as salmon, cod, herring, sardine, and mackerel. Seafood is used fresh, smoked, salted or pickled. Variations on creamed

Creaming (food)

Creaming is used to refer to several different culinary processes.- In baking :Creaming, in baking, is the technique of blending ingredients — usually granulated sugar — together with a solid fat like shortening or butter. The technique is most often used in making buttercream, cake...

 seafood soups are common along the coastline.

Due to its availability, seafood dishes along the coast are usually based on fresh produce, cooked by steaming and very lightly spiced with herbs, pepper and salt. While coastal Norwegians may consider the head, caviar sack and liver an inseparable part of a steamed seafood meal, most inland restaurants will spare diners this part of the experience. A number of the species available have traditionally been avoided or reserved for bait, but most common seafood is part of the modern menu.

Meat and game

High cuisine is very reliant on game, such as moose

Moose

The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration...

, reindeer

Reindeer

The reindeer , also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory populations. While overall widespread and numerous, some of its subspecies are rare and one has already gone extinct.Reindeer vary considerably in color and size...

, duck

Duck (food)

Duck refers to the meat of several species of bird in the Anatidae family, found in both fresh and salt water. Duck is eaten in many cuisines around the world.-Types of ducks:The most common duck meat consumed in the United States is the Pekin duck...

, and fowl

Fowl

Fowl is a word for birds in general but usually refers to birds belonging to one of two biological orders, namely the gamefowl or landfowl and the waterfowl...

. These meats are often hunted and sold or passed around as gifts, but are also available at shops nationwide, and tend to be served at social occasions. Because these meats have a distinct, strong taste, they will often be served with rich sauces spiced with crushed juniper berries, and a sour-sweet jam of lingonberries on the side.

Preserved meat and sausages come in a bewildering variety of regional variations, and are usually accompanied by sour cream dishes and flat bread or wheat/potato wraps. Particularly sought after delicacies include the fenalår, a slow-cured lamb's leg, and morr, usually a smoked cured sausage, though the exact definition may vary regionally. Due to a partial survival of an early medieval taboo against touching dead horses, eating horse meat was nearly unheard of until recent decades, though it does find some use in sausages.

Lamb's meat and mutton is very popular in autumn, mainly used in fårikål

Fårikål

Fårikål is a traditional Norwegian dish, consisting of pieces of mutton with bone, cabbage, whole black pepper and a little wheat flour, cooked for several hours in a casserole, traditionally served with potatoes boiled in their jackets...

 (mutton stew with cabbage). Pinnekjøtt

Pinnekjøtt

In Norway, Pinnekjøtt is a main course dinner dish of lamb or mutton. Pinnekjøtt is a festive dish typical to Western- and Northern Norway, served with puréed rutabaga and potatoes, beer and akevitt. This dish is largely associated with the celebration of Christmas, and is rapidly gaining...

, cured and sometimes smoked mutton ribs that is steamed for several hours, is traditionally served as Christmas dinner in the western parts of Norway. Another Western specialty is smalahove

Smalahove

Smalahove is a Western Norwegian traditional dish made from a sheep's head, originally eaten before Christmas. The name of the dish comes from the combination of the Norwegian words hove and smale. Hove is a dialectal form of hovud, meaning head, and smale is one word for sheep...

, a smoked lamb's head.

Because of industrial whaling, whale meat

Whale meat

Whale meat is the flesh of whales used for consumption by humans or other animals. It is prepared in various ways, and is historically part of the diet and cuisine of various communities that live near an ocean, including those of Japan, Norway, Iceland, and the Arctic...

 was commonly used as a cheap substitute for beef early in the 20th century. Recently prices have risen due to the reduction in the whale quota to approximately 300 per year. The price increases, together with the fact that whale meat's flavor is easily ruined, have made whale a much rarer delicacy. While not common, eating whale meat is not controversial in Norway.

Typical main courses

Although Norwegian cuisine has become as international as any other western cuisine, traditional dishes remain popular.

Fish

Torsk - Cod: poached, simply served with boiled potatoes and melted butter. Carrots,fried
bacon, roe and cod liver may also accompany the fish.
A delicacy which is somewhat popular in Norway is torsketunger; cod's tongue.

Lutefisk

Lutefisk

Lutefisk or Lutfisk is a traditional dish of the Nordic countries and parts of the Midwest United States. It is made from aged stockfish or dried/salted whitefish and lye . It is gelatinous in texture, and has an extremely strong, pungent odor...

- lyed fish: a traditional preparation made of stockfish (dried cod or ling) or klippfisk (dried and salted cod) that has been steeped in lye

Lye

Lye is a corrosive alkaline substance, commonly sodium hydroxide or historically potassium hydroxide . Previously, lye was among the many different alkalis leached from hardwood ashes...

. It was prepared this way because refrigeration was nonexistant, and they needed a way to preserve the fish for longer periods. It is somewhat popular in the United States as a heritage food. It retains a place in Norwian cuisine (especially on the west coast) as a traditional food around christmas time.

Preparation and accompaniment is as for fresh cod, although beer and aquavit is served on the side.

Stekt fisk - braised fish: almost all fish is braised, but as a rule the larger specimens tend to be poached and the smaller braised. The fish is filleted, dusted with flour, salt and pepper and braised in butter. Potatoes are served on the side, and the butter from the pan used as a sauce.

Fatty fish like herring and brisling are given the same treatment. Popular accompaniments are sliced and fresh-pickled cucumbers and sour cream.

Fiskesuppe - fish soup: A white, milk-based soup with vegetables, usually carrots, onions, potato and various kinds of fish.

Sursild - pickled herring

Herring

Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...

: a variety of pickle-sauces are used, ranging from simple vinegar-
sugar-based sauces to tomato, mustard and sherry based sauces. Pickled herring is served as an hors d'oeuvre or on rye bread as a lunch buffet.

Meat

Kjøttkaker - meatcakes: rough and large cakes of ground beef, onion and salt and pepper. Roughly the size of a child's fist. Generally served with sauce espagnol. Potatoes, stewed peas or cabbage and carrots are served on the side. Many like to use a jam of lingonberries as a relish. The pork version is called medisterkake.

Kjøttboller - meatballs: A rougher version of the swedish meatballs. Served with mashed potatoes and cream-sauce or sauce espagnol depending on localization.

Svinekoteletter - pork chops: simply braised and served with potatoes and fried onions or whatever vegetables are available.

Svinestek - roasted pork: a typical Sunday dinner, served with pickled cabbage (a sweeter
variety of the German sauerkraut), gravy, vegetables and potatoes.

All good cuts of meat are roasted, as in any cuisine. Side dishes vary with season and what goes with the meat. Roast leg of lamb is an Easter classic, roast beef is not very common and game is roasted for the bigger occasions.

Lapskaus - stew: resembles Irish stew

Irish stew

Irish stew is a traditional stew made from lamb, or mutton, as well as potatoes, carrots, onions, and parsley....

, but mincemeat, sausages or indeed any meat except from
fresh pork may go into the dish.

Fårikål - mutton stew: very simple preparation: cabbage and mutton is layered in a big pot
along with black pepper, salt (and, in some recipes, wheat flour to thicken the sauce), covered with water and simmered until the meat is very tender. Potatoes on the side.

Stekte pølser - fried sausages: fresh sausages are fried and served with vegetables, potatoes, peas and perhaps some gravy.

Syltelabb

Syltelabb

Syltelabb is a Norwegian traditional dish, usually eaten around and before Christmas time, made from boiled, salt-cured pig's trotter. They are traditionally eaten using one's fingers, as a snack food. They are sometimes served with beetroot, mustard and fresh bread or with lefse or flatbread...

is usually eaten around and before Christmas time, made from boiled, salt-cured pig's trotter. They are traditionally eaten using one's fingers, and served as a snack and sometimes served with beetroot, mustard and fresh bread or with lefse or flatbread. Historically syltelabb is served with the traditional Norwegian juleøl (English: Christmas Ale), beer and liquor (like aquavit

Aquavit

Aquavit may refer to:* Aqua vitae, Latin for "water of life", a concentrated alcoholic distillate* Akvavit, a Scandinavian distilled beverage* Okovita, a historic Polish-Ukrainian term for an alcoholic drink related to vodka...

). This is because Syltelabb is very salty food.

Smalahove

Smalahove

Smalahove is a Western Norwegian traditional dish made from a sheep's head, originally eaten before Christmas. The name of the dish comes from the combination of the Norwegian words hove and smale. Hove is a dialectal form of hovud, meaning head, and smale is one word for sheep...

is a traditional dish, usually eaten around and before Christmas time, made from a sheep's head. The skin and fleece of the head is torched, the brain removed, and the head is salted, sometimes smoked, and dried. The head is boiled for about 3 hours and served with mashed rutabaga and potatoes.

Sodd

Sodd

Sodd is a traditional Norwegian soup-like meal with mutton and meatballs. Usually vegetables such as potatoes and/or carrots also are included. It is often a part of festive activities, such as weddings, in the middle parts of Norway together with water or ginger ale ....

is a traditional Norwegian soup-like meal with mutton and meatballs. Usually vegetables such as potatoes and/or carrots also are included.

Sauces and marinades

Along with the rest of Scandinavia, Norway is one of the few places outside Asia where sweet and sour flavouring is used extensively. The sweet and sour flavour is utilized best with fish. There is also a treatment called "graving," literally burying, a curing method where salt and sugar is used as curing agents. Although salmon or trout are the most used fish for this method, other fish and meat also get a treatment similar to gravlaks.

Gravlaks

Gravlax

Gravlax or gravad lax , gravet laks , gravlaks , graavilohi , graavilõhe , graflax is a Nordic dish consisting of raw salmon, cured in salt, sugar, and dill...

- sweet and salty cured salmon: a filleted side of salmon or trout that has been frozen for at least 24 hours to kill off parasites, is cured with the fillet is covered with a mixture that is half salt and half sugar, spiced with black pepper, dill and brandy, covered with cling-wrap, and cured in the refrigerator for three days, turned once a day.

Gravet elg - sweet and salt cured moose: this treatment may be used for all red meat, but game and beef work best. It is the same procedure as for gravlaks, but brandy is often substituted with aquavit, and dill with juniper berries.

Pickled herring: a pickle is made with vinegar, sugar, herbs and spices like dill, mustard seed, black peppercorns, onion and so on. The pickle must be acidic enough to prevent bacterial growth. Rinse, salt-cured herring is added and allowed to stand for at least 24 hours.

Tomato pickled herring: this pickle in a thick sauce: 4 Tablespoons tomato paste, 3 Tablespoons sugar, and 3 Tablespoons vinegar are mixed and thinned with about 4 Tablespoons water, flavoured with black pepper and bay leaf. Salt-cured herring is rinsed, cut in 1 cm (1/3in) thick slices and a raw, sliced onion added. Let stand for at least 24 hours.

Fruit and desserts

Fruits and berries mature slowly in the cold climate. This makes for a tendency to smaller volume with a more intense taste. Strawberries, blueberries, lingonberries, raspberries and apples are popular and are part of a variety of desserts, and cherries in the parts of the country where those are grown. The wild growing cloudberry

Cloudberry

Rubus chamaemorus is a rhizomatous herb native to alpine and arctic tundra and boreal forest, producing amber-colored edible fruit similar to the raspberry or blackberry...

 is regarded as a delicacy. A typical Norwegian dessert on special occasions is cloudberries with whipped or plain cream. Apple cake is also popular.

German and Nordic-style cakes and pastries, such as sponge cakes and Danish pastry

Danish pastry

Danish pastry is a sweet pastry which has become a specialty of Denmark and neighbouring Scandinavian countries and is popular throughout the industrialized world, although the form it takes can differ significantly from country to country...

 (known as "wienerbrød", literal translation: "Viennese

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 bread") share the table with a variety of home made cakes, waffles and biscuits. Cardamom

Cardamom

Cardamom refers to several plants of the genera Elettaria and Amomum in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to India and Bhutan; they are recognised by their small seed pod, triangular in cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin papery outer shell and small black seeds...

 is a common flavouring. Another Norwegian cake is Krumkake

Krumkake

Krumkake or Krum kaka is a Norwegian waffle cookie made of flour, butter, eggs, sugar, and cream. Krumkake are traditionally made during the Christmas season....

, a paper- thin rolled cake filled with whipped cream. (Krumkake means 'Curved Cake' or 'Crooked Cake'). Baked meringue

Meringue

Meringue is a type of dessert made from whipped egg whites and sugar, occasionally some recipes may call for adding an acid such as cream of tartar or a small amount of vinegar and a binding agent such as cornstarch found in icing sugar which may be added in addition to the corn starch which...

s are known as "pikekyss", literally translated as "girl's kiss".

During Jul, the traditional Norwegian Holiday season, many different dessert

Dessert

In cultures around the world, dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food. The word comes from the French language as dessert and this from Old French desservir, "to clear the table" and "to serve." Common Western desserts include cakes, biscuits,...

 dishes are served including Julekake, a heavily spiced leavened loaf often coated with sugar and cinnamon.

Breads

Bread is an important staple of the Norwegian diet. The most popular variety is grovbrød, or coarse bread (whole grain). 80% of Norwegians regularly eat bread for breakfast and lunch., the bread in Norway is normally topped with something: butter, peanut butter etc.

Dairy products

Dairy is still extremely popular in Norway, though the variety of traditional products available and commonly in use is severely reduced. Cheese is an export, in particular the plain-brand favourite Jarlsberg cheese

Jarlsberg cheese

Jarlsberg is a mild cow's-milk cheese with large irregular holes or what are commonly referred to as "eyes", originating in Jarlsberg, Norway.-Description:...

. The sweet geitost or brown/red cheese (not a true cheese, but rather caramelized lactose from goat milk or a mix of goat and / or cow milk) is very popular in cooking and with bread. More sophisticated or extreme cheeses include the gammalost (lit. "old cheese"), an over-matured, highly pungent cheese made from sour milk, and Pultost

Pultost

Pultost is a soft, mature Norwegian sour milk cheese flavored with caraway seeds. Pultost is found in two forms, spreadable and porous. The spreadable kind has a stronger taste. The name comes from the Latin word pulta which means "porridge."...

, made from sour milk and caraway

Caraway

Caraway also known as meridian fennel, or Persian cumin is a biennial plant in the family Apiaceae, native to western Asia, Europe and Northern Africa....

 seeds.

Coffee

Norway has a particularly strong affinity for coffee

Coffee

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

, and is according to Nationmaster the world's leading coffee consumer, with the average Norwegian drinking 160 liters, or 10.7 kg of coffee each year. Coffee plays a large role in Norwegian culture, and it is common to invite people over for coffee and cakes, and to enjoy cups of coffee with dessert after the main courses in get-togethers. The traditional way of serving coffee in Norway is plain black, usually in a mug, rather than a cup. As in the rest of the west, recent years have seen a shift from coffee made by boiling ground beans to Italian-style coffee bars, tended by professional baristas. Coffee is included in one of the most traditional alcoholic beverages in Norway, the "kaffedoktor", or most commonly known as karsk

Karsk

Karsk is a Norwegian name for liqueur coffee with moonshine or vodka as the liqueur, and maybe a spoon of sugar...

, from Trøndelag.

Alcohol

Both industrial and small-scale brewing have long traditions in Norway. Restrictive alcohol policies have encouraged a rich community of brewers, and a colourful variety of beverages both legal and illegal. The most popular industrial beers are usually pilsners and red beers (bayer), while traditional beer is much richer, with a high alcohol and malt content. The ancient practice of brewing Juleøl (Christmas beer) persists even today, and imitations of these are available before Christmas, in shops and, for the more potent versions, at state monopoly outlets. Cider brewing has faced tough barriers to commercial production due to alcohol regulations, and the famous honey wine, mjød (mead), is mostly a drink for connoisseurs, Norse and medieval historical reenactors, and practitioners of åsatru

Ásatrú

is a form of Germanic neopaganism which developed in the United States from the 1970s....

 and other Norse neopagan religions. The climate has not been hospitable to grapes for millennia, and wines and more potent drinks are available only from the wine monopolies.

Distilled beverages include akevitt, a yellow-tinged liquor spiced with caraway seeds, also known as akvavit

Akvavit

Akvavit or aquavit is a traditional flavoured spirit that is principally produced in Scandinavia, where it has been produced since the 15th century....

 or other variations on the Latin aqua vitae

Aqua vitae

Aqua vitae, or aqua vita, is an archaic name for a concentrated aqueous solution of ethanol. The term was in wide use during the Middle Ages, although its origin is undoubtedly much earlier having been used by Saint Patrick and his fellow monks to refer to both the alcohol and the waters of baptism...

- water of life. The Norwegian "linie" style is distinctive for its maturing process, crossing the equator in sherry casks stored the hull of a ship, giving it more taste and character than the rawer styles of other Scandinavian akevittar. Norway also produces some vodkas, bottled water and fruit juices.

In rural Norway, it is still common to find hjemmebrent (moonshine

Moonshine

Moonshine is an illegally produced distilled beverage...

). For personal consumption, it is illegal by Norwegian law to produce beverage with more than 22% alcohol by volume.

External links

• Seafood from Norway (Norwegian Seafood Export Council)
• Norse Food in historical sources - From the Society for Creative Anachronism
• - 10 Best recommendations for restaurants serving traditional food in Oslo