Talk:Norwegian cuisine

Horse meat

The following text was added without citation:

Horse is often put in some sauseges.

This seems suspect, I will revert pending verification. Gaius Cornelius 18:08, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

This is correct. There's a type of light sausage, eaten cold ("spekepølse", do the English have only one term for sausages?), that has horse meat in it. One brand is "stabburspølse" but there are others. I could upload a picture of the package but that seems silly just to win this discussion eyh? I'll improve the article anyway. Kaleissin 11:24, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for clearing that up. There is no question of "winning": I did not know whether the statement was true or not, but it was an anonymous edit of just the sort that sometimes turns out to be vandalism. I was just doing my wiki-duty - I fix a lot of vandalism. By-the-way: yes, the English speaking world has only one word for sausage although there are specific types and borrowed words from other languages are frequenty used. Thanks again. Gaius Cornelius 18:34, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

As for English words for sausage, might I add "bangers" ? I reckon that's mostly a British/Irish thing, and they plump and sometimes explode when cooked. Here in the States, we usually refer to cold, sliced sausage such as Salami as "lunch meat". The horse meat sausage would fall in this category.68.35.66.170 (talk) 06:01, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Gammelost It says that it is an overly matured cheese, while it is the cheese that is freshest when it get to stores, beeing only about 4 weeks old.

Conclussion

"Santa Claus pizza and blue whale burgers are Norwegian variants to these international staples.

As a Norwegian, I have never heard about Santa Claus pizza or "Julenissepizza" which I figure it would be called in Norwegian. I also find the lack of influence of kebabs and garlics and other spices strange, since the average Norwegian dont have the time to prepare typical Norwegian meals. this comment was writtened a VERY clumsy, but adding the facts that we use a lot of fastfoods, 19:10 JANUARY 23RD 2011.

Sheep heads and other fun stuff

I think we lack sheep's heads here, not to mention all the nice food from Trøndelag (sodd, klenning, tjukkmjølk etc). Where is raspeball, storfeskball and kumle? There is also far more cheese than gamalost (and better tasting too..!). And since it is the season to be merry: What about ribbe, pinnekjøtt and all the wonders of the yule feast? :) This is definitely extremely traditional norwegian food. How anyone can say pizza is part of the traditional norwegian CUISINE is pretty far out. SWA 22:47, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

EDIT: I didn't see smalahove and pinnekjøtt already was mentioned.. sorry. SWA 22:49, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

i want to be admitted

Con we add thinbread please? I have Norweigan roots and I love thinbread. It is really good. So is crub. Can we add those? Thanks Binglebongle2000 (talk) 23:50, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

Thinbread is Swedish. Norwegians have flatbrød, which is different in thickness and taste (tunnbröd is made with milk and wheat or rye, flatbrød with water and barley). "Crub" I have never heard of, and it doesn't follow a pattern for being a Norwegian word. Do you mean krabbe? 65.75.16.254 (talk) 22:54, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Fish

Processed fish, like fish balls in brine (fiskeboller), fish cakes (fiskekaker) and similar products should be mentioned. Even if they become popular in the postwar times. (Because of the development of canning food?)

Stockfish is still used as snack, and i common in rural costal areas. Though stockfish does not smell as much as surströmmning, preperation of the fish (hammering it to soften the fibres) do that it is mostly eaten in summertime outdoor. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sinobell (talk • contribs) 21:10, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Smørbrød?

Isn't the pictures shown of "Snitter"? Since they are open topped, with exceptional amounts of stuff on them?

Or is this some dialectical confusion? I'll just ask that someone else checks their dialect and change it if needed, since anon-edits are likely to not be very well embraced... :p 80.202.118.81 (talk) 19:54, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

What you described is smørbrød, and also they do add a smørbrød and snitter are not that different, snitter are smaller. So you were onto something without actually knowing it. - Chsf (talk) 10:09, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Regarding the picture, it is indeed "snitter". I've never thought of it as typically Norwegian, but maybe it is after all. It's not a traditional dish however. It's typically ordered from catering companies for more formal occasions and I've never seen or heard about anyone making "snitter" themselves. "Smørbrød" would be a sandwich, but is a more loose term. It's usually understood as two loafs of broad with topping in the middle, but not necessarily diagonally cut. This might have to do with your average Norwegian household bread being a lot more coarse than the bread used for traditional sandwiches. A mention of the Norwegian "matpakke" ("foodpacket" literally) would fit well in this article by the way. Bringing your own food for lunch consisting of loafs of bread with topping really is a Norwegian institution (simply the single loaf of bread with topping is, which I assume whoever submitted the picture was getting at). 80.202.84.36 (talk) 04:35, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Snitter would mostly be of white bread, be smaler, and often have no crust, it is cut off. Possibly the reason for the name?( ' å snitte' is to cut) Smørbrød, can be made from corse bread (grovbrød) or rolls (rundstykker), dubble or open topped. Sinobell (talk) 21:04, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Who forgot the lefse?

What about lefse and breads? ChildofMidnight (talk) 06:18, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

Lefse is seldom eaten in Norway, although it's an important part of Norwegian-American cuisine. When it's eaten in Norway, it's almost always layered with a mix of sugar and butter stirred until bright white, as an accessory to coffee. In modern times, a bit of ground "kanel" (Ceylon cinnamon, which tastes different from cassia, which is what's sold as cinnamon in the US) is often added. Norwegian-Americans serve lefse with dinner, or pretty much every which way except the way Norwegians serve it. Lompe is more commonly used in Norway -- it's basically a potato or potato-and-barley tortilla, which is often used instead of or in addition to hot dog breads. "Pølse med lompe" is the traditional fast food in Norway. With dinner, Norwegians serve flatbrød, a very thin and crispy barley based bread. Which is also the reason why traditionally, Norwegian butter is served at room temperature with a dull wooden knife, and rarely chilled as in most of Europe. The flatbread would break otherwise. 65.75.16.254 (talk) 23:19, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

This is a gross over-simplification. While it's true that it's rarely served with dinner, the sweet snack version is still very common and unquestionably an important part of traditional Norwegian cuisine. In parts of Norway (certainly in Trøndelag, although the tradition supposedly originated in Gudbrandsdalen) it's also common to serve potetlefse (potato lefse) with lutefisk. Pølse med lompe is mostly an Eastern Norwegian thing, not "the traditional fast food in Norway", although it's spread to other parts of the country.

With regard to cinnamon, most of what's sold as "kanel" in Norway is cassia too, so that's hardly an American thing. Maitreya (talk) 14:11, 31 January 2013 (UTC)

It is not as seldom as presented here. Lefse as a homemade dish, is a artform in danger of extinction, there was more local variants than in stores now. However it is not difficult to find stores that sell eqipment to make lefser (takker), even if it is not a everyday accsessory to food, more something made for the holidays. But lefse, particularly the "lierlefse" and "vestlandslefse" is sold as a sweet snack, in stores, cafés, and cantinas much like muffin/cupcakes. It is also a very popular sweet to bring to after church coffee(krikekaffe) or sunday visits, picknick, or as a part of the matpakke, as it is easy to bring, and handle. Møsbrømlefse/søvel, a specialty to the northern parts of norway, particulary the salten area is very much alive as a dish, even if it is local. Møsbrømlefse/søvel is a kind that filled with melted brown cheese and sour cream. Not an easy to handle dish. Sinobell (talk) 21:35, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Traditional cuisine

The article consists mostly of anecdotes and various random remarks. Needs some serious, sourced information on norwegian/scandinavian food - history, varieties and so on. Notably absent is a discussion of traditional or ethnic norwegian food, apart from a few of the "shock value" or gimmick dishes. Granted, it's an unexiting and endless litany of regional variations on gruel made out of cereals and milk, but it's what readers would expect in an encyclopedia article, as opposed to the travel handbook I'm reading now. Nyrge (talk) 18:17, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

sursild

is not a typical main course, more often eaten on bread —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.202.218.187 (talk) 20:44, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

True. Spekesild (salt brine cured fat herring) is the herring dish that's served as dinner. Usually with peeled fingerling potatoes, brine-pickled beets, flatbread and butter. Sursild used as a main course is likely a Norwegian-American specialty inspired by Swedish cuisine.

Contrary to what the main article says, sour foods are rare in traditional Norwegian cuisine. Vinegar wasn't even sold for human use until after World War II, and the traditional way of preserving was with salt, and sursild is a relatively new import from Sweden, where sour foods are more common. 65.75.16.254 (talk) 23:27, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

A bit late to the party, but that doesn't matter on historical subjects, I think. The above is mostly wrong. Vinegar is mentioned in several dishes in the 13th Century "Harpestreng" manuscript, as well as in the 19th Century Hanna Winsnes cookbook. Apart from that, there are other ways to create sour taste than with vinegar. I.d. "surpølse" ("sour sausage") is made from mutton and barley, with a dash of sour milk added, and is left to hang for 4 - 7 days in the (warm) kitchen, in order to flavour the sausage with lactic acid fermentation, before it is hung out to dry; the only other country I know of who does this, is Thailand. Dishes made from sour milk and sour cream tend to be sour. Etc. etc. T 85.166.161.28 (talk) 17:15, 25 November 2019 (UTC)

is this the best we can do?

Looks like the Korean and Spanish articles are better than this one.. Come on guys, can we improve this article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.202.218.187 (talk) 22:51, 14 December 2009 (UTC)

In General

I'm a Norwegian and i think this article do not have it focus on the common dishes in the norwegian homes. In Norway we are barbecue very much in the summer, We are eating more Pizza(mostly the american style Pizza) pro person than any nation outside North America, I think the article seems to forgott the normal eating today in Norway and just focus about dishes that are traditional but many of they are almost never eaten todey,

Sorry for my bad English, but i think you understand what i mean, despite of that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sondre1000 (talk • contribs) 18:02, 27 May 2012 (UTC)

Edits - discussions

I undid an edit by 195.59.15.131 without further ado - the user had changed "krumkake" to "kremkake". Krumkake is correct, and is a traditional Norwegian pastry made with a special iron. While Norwegians certainly eat cream cakes too, they are not known as "kremkake" in Norwegian, but are called "bløtkake". As the user IP has a history of disruptive edits, and not responding, I think this undo is justified.

I also wonder whether we can undo this unsourced claim:

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.

From my being a Norwegian and having lived more than a dozen places in Norway, I have never come across this, outside Chinese restaurants. If anything, Norwegian food seems less acidic than average. Lutefisk (pH 11-12) being the prime example, but other dishes too, like "mølje" (boiled cod with cod liver and cod roe) and the staple porridges and gruels. Curing and pickling is done with brine instead of acids, and where the word "sur" (sour) is used, it is almost exclusively about fermented products, not necessarily acidic ones. "Surstek" (sour steak) is a good example. Fish is almost never served with acids or sweet components, and certainly not with both. Butter or a bechamel-like sauce and boiled root vegetables is the traditional condiment to fish. Even lemon is not part of traditional Norwegian cuisine, but a new import.

Salt and sweet is a common combination, though, and might have confused the original content creator. A dollop of jam on meat dinner plates is tradtional, and sweet brown goat cheese is likewise common, sometimes even on lutefisk.

72.200.140.65 (talk) 03:23, 1 December 2012 (UTC)

Lutefisk

This is from the article under the heading of lutefisk

It was prepared this way because refrigeration was nonexistent and they needed a way to preserve the fish for longer periods.

It has no sources, and is completely wrong. It is unknown why the lutefisk is prepared as it is (it also says so in the Lutefisk article). Preparing the fish with lye will break down proteins in the fish, it will not help conserve it, especially since the fish is already dried and will keep for ages in its original form. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Daramarak (talk • contribs) 12:59, 22 April 2014 (UTC)

Edit proposal

Hi,
just a suggestion for improving the article.
It seems to me that it would make sense to organize the article historically. It makes little sense to have an article called "Norwegian cuisine" about people who eat mainly frozen pizza; and as little sense to describe all the traditional horrors, which would then disappoint any travelling foodies. AFAICS NC has a distinct "pre-urbanization" period, then the "lagging-behind-Europe" period 1870 - 1970, and then the Let's Buy Culture period of oil affluence that now sees New Nordic restauants grace themselves with Michelin stars.
The traditional section is the place for explanations of climate and soil, growth periods and wildlife species, dairy farming and grains lacking gluten for yeast leavened bread. The whole region existed on a span between superabundance (like the Lofotfiske) and dearth (overcome by turning the Lofotskrei into tørrfisk). The traditional carbohydrate was grain, but since wheat rarely ripend here, people grew a lot of barley, oats and particularly rye, and this was made into porridge (grøt) or congee (velling), and baked into flatbrød for long term storage. With little farmland but extensive pasture, agrarian economy was largely dairy-based, with milk, sour milk, butter and cheese as important food sources, and goat and sheep being eaten more often than beef.
With industrialization spreading from 1850 - 1900, people moved to such cities as there were. Policy makers focused on hygiene and health. People got educated. More and (perhaps) better food became available. Many of the "old traditions" arose in this era, with people incorporating the one-generation-from-the-farm memories into a more modern lifestyle, the traditions already morphing into a "heritage food" culture as fridges and freezers made salt, smoke, lye and casket fish burials obsolete. The Housewife School, Stabekk Husmorskole, through its courses and its cookbook, was important here. Its menues became the blueprint for weekly plans in almost all institution kitchens, and from there it spread into private homes: Mondays: leftovers (not fish, as it wasn't fresh on mondays). Tuesday: Fish - always fresh on tuesday. Wednesday: something wildly exotice like pasta bolognese, norwegian style (pale orange 'tomato' sauce from coloured bechamel). Thursday: ertesuppe og pannekaker. Saturday: Risengrynsgrøt. Sunday: Meat. Sprengt oksebryst, svinekoteletter, kjøttkaker, karbonader, hønsefrikassee, lammefrikassee, fersk kjøtt og suppe .. Monday: leftovers. Tuesday: fish .... And the nistemat and the suppeposer and the Stabburets leverpostei and makrell i tomat and the Delfia-kake ...
Now there is a "third wave", following the success of "Noma" in Copenhagen, with Fine Eateries popping up all over Scandinavia, including Norway, catering to foodies. But while fact, this may be recentivistic, and it'd be hard not to name names and be promotional.
This article could also be coordinated with "Christmas in .... Norway", which has a sizeable segment on food.
Ka dokk tru?
T 88.89.5.214 (talk) 00:12, 1 August 2017 (UTC)

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Bayer

On the beer part, Bayer is considered a red beer. I am not sure what red beer is. I know red ale, but bayer is basically lager with darker colours due to the barley. It is, to my knowledge, close to the typical Münchner Dunkel or Märzenbier. I suggest therefore that the "red" part is removed to avoid confusion with red ale.Andreas Kolle (talk) 12:38, 22 March 2018 (UTC)

Lunch time

"Norwegians usually eat lunch around 4-5 PM.". Sorry, what? --Fraph24 (talk) 18:03, 9 September 2019 (UTC)