Norwegian cuisine in its traditional form is based largely on the raw materials readily available in Norway and its mountains, wilderness and coast. Norway has a long coastline with excellent sea food. So if you visit Norway, you have to taste some of it. The most common fish have traditionally been cod and sei. You should eat the fish not too many hours after it has been caught. With fresh fish, you can prepare it very simple. Boil it for a few minutes, and serve it with boiled potatoes and melted butter. This is our traditional way of eating this fish. There are of course exeptions to this. Salmon is better a few days after it is caught, just as with meat. Today salmon is very common, due to all the fish farms around the coast. What was once a luxury has become pretty cheap. (But the wild salmon is better than the farmed fish, and wild salmon is still very expensive.) Norway is a pure region with fisheries, green pastures, small farms, and a modern meat and dairy industry, dominated by beautiful fjords, mountains, and untouched nature. Our main diary company, TINE, claims that Norway is naturally very well suited to produce excellent diary products. Cows and Lambs thrive on sparsley populated areas and by crystal clear rivers, sea and unspoiled mountain sides they produce first grade milk for raw material all important in cheese making. Norwegian sheeps and their lambs are transported up in the mountain areas to grass during the summer. This gives the meat a very good taste, and Norwegian lamb meat is really of World Class quality. This tradition is also popular among the wolves, bears and a few other wild animals that are living in the same area. They appreciate the food the farmers send up to them each summer, which of course creates conflicts between the sheep farmers and those who want to preserve wild life. Modern Norwegian cuisine, although still strongly influenced by its traditional background, now bears the marks of globalization and Americanization: pastas, pizzas and the like are as common as meatballs and cod as staple foods, and urban restaurants sport the same selection one would expect to find in any western European city. GoNorway show you a presentation of Norwegian food and beverages and in which county they are consider a speciality. Some producers name and in which place/county they are located. B E V E R A G E S     B E V E R A G E S     B E V E R A G E S     B E V E R A G E S SEA FOOD 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. 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 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, which consists of fermented trout, a culinary relation of Swedish surströmming. 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 - lyed fish: a traditional preparation made of stockfish (dried cod or ling) or klippfisk (dried and salted cod) that has been steeped in lye. 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: 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 & GAME Reinsdyrsteik (reindeer steak) high cuisine is very reliant on game, such as moose, reindeer, duck, and fowl. 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. Kjøttkaker - meatballs: the Norwegian variety is simpler than the Swedish, and served in a brown sauce (sauce espagnol) rather than a cream-sauce. Potatoes, stewed peas or cabbage and carrots are served on the side. Many like to use a jam of lingonberries as a relish. 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, 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 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). This is because Syltelabb is very salty food. Smalahove 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 is a traditional Norwegian soup-like meal with mutton and meatballs. Usually vegetables such as potatoes and/or carrots also are included. 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. 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 Dairy is still extremely popular in Norway, though the variety of traditional products available and commonly in use is severely reduced. Milk products, especially cheese, is an export, in particular the plain-brand favourite Jarlsberg cheese. The sweet geitost goat´s cheese 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, made from sour milk and caraway seeds. FRUITS & BERRIES Norwegian fruits and berries are much used for desserts. The berry season is mainly in summer and early autumn. Strawberries and cloudberries are among Norwegians favourites. Lingonberries are preserved and used as an accompaniment to meat dishes. There is also a broad spectrum of bakery produce, with different regional varieties. Some of the most popular items throughout the country are flatbread - unleavened bread, and different kinds of "lefser", which are thin pancake-like cakes. Most Norwegians swear by sandwiches for lunch and some of the most popular fillings are herring in various forms, and specialities such as smoked salmon and gravlaks - salted and fermented salmon. SAUCES & 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 - 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. Jarlsberg Filled Peppers Marinated Edam Cheese Meatball Snacks Stuffed Eggs Walnuts and Cheese Warm Lobster Salad Almond or Nut Cake Apple Cake with Sabayonne Birthday Kringle Cardamom Cone-Shaped Wafers Cherry Cream Cake The Dairymaid´s Wafers Deer Antlers Goro Fyrstekake Lemon Waffles Mother Monson Rosettes Tiny Almond Pies Tropical Aroma Cardamom Buns Else´s Coarse Bread Flatbread I Lefse Potato Lefse I Potato Lefse II Small Potato Cake Bergen Rumballs Caramel Pudding Cloudberry Cream Cookie Cones with Cognac Cream on Mixed Berries Festive Cream Cake Almond Wreath Cake Lingonberry Cake Madeira Cream Norway´s Grand Fruit Pie Sour Cream Dessert Omelet Strawberry Cake Roll Strawberry or Raspberry Ice Cream Troll Cream I and II Boneless Birds Cabbage Rolls Chicken Fricasseev Cotter´s Kettle Curried Lamb Fish Au Gratin Lutefisk Marinated Trout Meatloaf Nøkkel quiche Norwegian Burgers Norwegian Meatballs Norwegian Pancakes Pork Patties Loin rib of pork Reindeer Roast with Game Sauce Rømmegrøt Smoked Pork Loin Smoked Salmon Quiche Trout Paté with Chive Sauce Lamb in cabbage Lamb in cabbage (Fårikål) is a national dish. Open-Face Sandwiches Cabbage Soup Fish Chowder Lamb and Cabbage Stew Leek Soup Norwegian Pea Soup Orkdal Soup Sanvik´s Stew Sodd Trondheim Soup Sodd is a speciality of Trøndelag, with a number of local variants. The soup is always made with several different kinds of meat. In some places small flour dumplings and meat balls are added, in others just the meat balls. Sometimes neither are used, only the meat cut into small pieces and added to the soup. Cucumber Salad Boiled/Steamed Potatoes Creamed Green Peas Hasselback (Roasted) Potatoes Raw Potato Dumplings Rutabagas -   M  I  L  K   - There are two dairy companies on the Norwegian market. Tine milk and Q milk. The precise components of raw milk vary by species and by a number of other factors, but it contains significant amounts of saturated fat, protein and calcium as well as vitamin C. Cow´s milk has a pH ranging from 6.4 to 6.8, making it slightly acidic. The amount of calcium from milk that is absorbed by the human body is disputed. M I N E R A L W A T E R Farris is a brand of mineral water produced in Larvik. It is Norway´s oldest and by a distance best-selling bottled water. It has been mentioned in the literature as having positive health effect. Ringnes breweries own the rights to the Farris trademark. The products under the Farris brand are sparkling mineral water which also comes with various flavours. The annual production volume is ca 40 million liters. The new blue glass bottle (0.33l) that was launched in 2001 won the Norwegian Design Councils "Honours Award for Design Excellence".