Ethnic Food Project

We tried to find an Icelandic restaurant in the area without success. In fact, the only one we could find one the entire U.S.: The Frosty Mug in Florida. We’re not sure if their food is legitimate or not. We even contacted the Icelandic Embassy. They are very friendly, and assured as that there are no Icelandic restaurants in this area or anywhere close by. They had a great suggestion, which was for us to host our own Icelandic festival during the months of January or February during their festival month, Þorrablót. According to Wikipedia:

Þorrablót is an Icelandic midwinter festival that takes place in the month of Þorri, according to the Old Icelandic Calendar, which starts in late January and ends in late February. These festivals were started by Icelandic student associations in the latter half of the 19th century. The first one was reportedly organised by the association of Icelandic students in Copenhagen in 1873. Related to other nationalistic feasts invented in the 18th and 19th centuries, such as Burns night in Scotland, the Þorrablótis an evening with dinner where participants hold speeches and recite poems, originally to honour the Norse god Thor, after whom the month is presumed to be named. Calling the feast a blót (a feast held in honor of a god in Norse paganism) makes clear the reference to pagan times, which many nationalists of the 19th century considered a golden age of Icelandic history.

Additionally, Þorrablót is a relatively recent event, gaining popularity in Iceland during the 50’s and 60’s during Iceland’s post-WWII urban boom. Isholf.is has a lot of information about the festival from an insider’s view, including complaints about non-traditional food permeating the festival (like Þorri pizza). The variety of food served on this occasion is known as Þorramatur. Þorramatur foods include traditionally cured meats, fishes, brennivín (an Icelandic akvavit),  rúgbrauð (dense and dark rye bread), as well as the following:

• Kæstur hákarl, putrefied Greenland shark
• Súrsaðir hrútspungar, the testicles of rams pressed in blocks, boiled and cured in lactic acid.
• Svið, singed and boiled sheep heads, sometimes cured in lactic acid
• Sviðasulta, head cheese or brawn made from svið, sometimes cured in lactic acid
• Lifrarpylsa (liver sausage), a pudding made from liver and suet of sheep kneaded with rye flour and oats
• Blóðmör(blood-suet; also known as slátur, meaning slaughter), a type of blood pudding, which is made from lamb’s blood and suet, kneaded with rye flour and oats
• Harðfiskur, wind-dried fish (often cod, haddock or seawolf), served with butter. [We read on isholf.is that "In old times Harðfiskurwas eaten like bread in those homes that could only afford flour for baking on special occasions. It is still Iceland's favourite snack, and a popular travel food. (Chances are, if you meet an Icelander and he has a funny smell about him, it will be because of the harðfiskur tucked away in his luggage.)"] 
• Rúgbrauð (rye bread), traditional Icelandic rye bread
• Hangikjöt, (hung meat), smoked and boiled lamb or mutton, sometimes also eaten raw.
• Lundabaggi, sheep’s loins wrapped in the meat from the sides, pressed and cured in lactic acid
• Selshreifar, seal’s flippers cured in lactic acid

According to Wikipedia,

Þorramatur has undergone many changes since the 1950s. The large midwinter festivals of associations in Reykjavík have been supplemented by many smaller ones and nowadays even informal family gatherings can be called Þorrablót, which has become defined by the serving of Þorramatur, i.e. the consumption of Þorramatur is the necessary and sufficient condition for any kind of party to be called “Þorrablót“. Originally, this led to the standardisation of the buffet around a few foods mass-produced by large meat-production houses for the Þorrablót season, whereas before it often had to be locally procured. Not least, Þorrablót festivals have become one of the high points of the year in the rural countryside and villages around Iceland in the last three decades. Being thus exported from the city to the countryside the buffet has come to reflect again regional culture and traditions.

Þorramatur has also changed to reflect changing tastes. The traditional method of storing meat by submerging it in fermented whey, which gives the food a characteristic sour taste, is unfamiliar to most generations of Icelanders living today and therefore a Þorramatur buffet usually has a choice between sour and unsourpieces of the same food, served on separate trays as the acid readily contaminates food it comes in contact with. Some of the food, for example the rams’ testicles, has to be cured by the acid before serving though. A number of foods have been added to the buffet that have never gone out of fashion in Icelandic cuisine, such as smoked lamb, fermented sharkand dried fish, which are still commonly consumed in all seasons. Þorramatur also may include some novelties, traditional food that was strictly regional and even rare as such, and unfamiliar even to the older generation. Examples include seals‘ flippers, known only from the Breiðafjörðurarea, which is sometimes, albeit rarely, served as part of Þorramatur.

We, of course, had a hard time securing many of the foods listed above, so we had to come up with our own variations. The Icelandic Embassy suggested we go to Whole Foods and Wegmens. Wegmens sells Arctic Char, an indigenous fresh water Icelandic fish. The Artic Char is similar to trout and salmon, but is blander. Whole Foods has quite a few Icelandic products, although it is hard to tell what since no one working at the Clarendon location had any idea about what was available in the store, although according to the Icelandic Review, Whole Foods is actively adding more Icelandic products to their store. We were able to find Skyr (Icelandic yogurt) and Sirius chocolate at the Clarendon location. From these few items, recipes provided by the Icelandic Embassy, insider Icelandic tourist knowledge, and Google we were able to plan our approximation of Þorrablót (buffet-style, of course).

Overall Icelandic cuisine focuses on fish and meat. It is virtually impossible to be vegan and live in Iceland, unless you rely on imported goods. Fermentation, drying, and smoking are important parts of food preparation methods. Sheep are important to Icelandic culture, as is dairy, whey, and lamb. In fact, sheep are the most common domesticated animal in Iceland. Grains and cereals were historically luxury items. The most common type of bread is rúgbrauð, similar to pumpernickle although wetter. Wikipedia notes that “Popular garden vegetables at first included hardy varieties of cabbage, turnip, rutabaga and potato. These entered Icelandic cuisine as boiled accompaniments to meats and fish, sometimes mashed with butter.” Game is also popular in Iceland, although declining numbers have limited their consumption, including puffin, cormorant, seal, minke whale.

In Þorramatur tradition, we tried to purchase an approximation of the food suggested, and bought pickled herring (always a Scandinavian favorite), rye bread, butter, and smoked salmon. Traditionally, the sliced meat and fish is served on rye bread with butter. We found that the butter gave it a rich taste and helped cut the acidity of the pickled herring. Haddock, plaice, herring, shrimp, and halibut are probably the most common types of fish in Iceland.

To round out the meal, we also incorporated other Icelandic cuisine like hot dogs, cake, Skyr, porridge, etc. Hot dogs are popular in Iceland, although their hot dogs have a higher fat content and contain lamb, pork, and beef (“Icelandic Cooking“). The Icelandic style hot dog is served on the standard white bun, but includes the following condiments: remoulade, ketchup, pylsusinnep (Icelandic hot dog mustard), chopped raw onions and fried onions. This topping selection is known as “the works,” i.e., all condiments, or in Icelandic, “eina með öllu.” We approximated these ingredients slightly. Since pylsusinnep is unavailable, we used a generic sweet mustard. Based on a recipe from Icelandic Cooking, we mixed our own remoulade using mayonnaise, capers, sweet mustard, and sweet relish. At their recommendation, we also used French’s French Fried Onions. Overall, the hot dog was crispy, rich, savory, sweet, and liked by all. We decided to leave out the other extras Icelandic Cooking suggested, like kokkteilsósa (cocktail sauce containing mayonnaise and ketchup) and pickled red cabbage.

We also purchased Skyr and made a popular Icelandic breakfast food: Skyr, porridge, and preserves. Skyr is sold at Whole Foods in a variety of flavors alongside the yogurt, although it is technically a soft cheese. Supposedly Skyr was originally Norwegian, but brought to Iceland by the Vikings. It is made with skim milk, so it is a low fat/calorie food. Wikipedia noted that

Skyr may be used in a traditional Icelandic dish called hræringur(meaning “stirred” or “made by stirring”) which consists of roughly equal amounts of Skyr and porridge. It is often mixed with jam or fruit for a dessert, or with cereals for breakfast. Children often like sugar sprinkled on top. It will keep without refrigeration, making it a good high-protein food to take on a trip.

We created this dish and found that the combination was pretty good. The Skyr made the porridge a lot creamier and the preserves kept it from being bland and made it sweeter. We found a recipe for Skyr, as well.

Finally, we rounded things out with some Icelandic desserts, including Nói Siríus Chocolate, randalín (an Icelandic layer cake), and some Icelandic candies brought by a friend from Iceland. We found the chocolate and candy to be pretty typical. The chocolate tasted similar to a Cadbury sort of chocolate, meaning bland, milky, and sweet. However, Nói Siríus’ website states that their chocolate contains less milk and sugar compared to other types of chocolate. We followed a recipe for randalín from the Icelandic Embassy’s website, but can no longer find the recipe (it looks like they have recently redone their website). According to Wikipedia:

A variety of layer cake called randalín, randabrauð or simply lagkaka has been popular in Iceland since the 19th century. These come in many varieties that all have in common five layers of half-inch thick cake alternated with layers of fruit preserve, jam or icing. One version called vínarterta, popular in the late 1800s, with layers of prunes, became a part of the culinary tradition of Icelandic immigrants in the U.S. and Canada.

We couldn’t exactly figure out what it was supposed to look like based on the website so we had to approximate on this cake. The finished result was much similar to shortbread than cake. It was dense, buttery, and crumbly. The cake wasn’t very sweet, but was very buttery. The jam helped add sweetness.

We’d hoped to find some brennivín, Iceland’s aquavit, but weren’t able to find any. According to Isholf.is, ”Brennivín“is a national drink, a nasty schnapps made from potatoes and flavoured with caraway. It is also called ‘Black Death,’ which explains a lot. Many Icelanders never touch it, and a majority of the ones who drink it only do so when feeling patriotic, such as when attending Þorrablót or when trying to impress foreign visitors.” Wikipedia corroborates this, stating that most people rarely drink it and notes that brennivín translates to “burning wine.”

RECIPES:

Remoulade Sauce
(from Icelandic Cooking, Recipes and Food)

1 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp. drained, finely chopped cucumber pickle
1 tbsp. drained, chopped capers
2 tsp. French mustard
1 tsp. finely chopped parsley
1/2 tsp. fresh tarragon
1/2 tsp. chervil
1/2 tsp. anchovy paste

Combine the ingredients, mixing well and refrigerate. Serve with cold meat, poultry, fish or hot dogs.

Randalín
(Our recipe was from the Icelandic Embassy’s website. This one is from Jo’s Icelandic Recipes.)

500 grams  flour 
250 g  sugar 
250 g  margarine/butter, soft 
2 ea.  eggs 
1 1/2 tsp.  baker’s ammonia (ammonium carbonate)  pinch  baking powder 
essence of cardamom/pinch of ground cardamom 

Mix together all dry ingredients. Add the margarine/butter, kneading until well mixed. Cool in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours. Roll out into a thickness of approx. 1 to 1 1/2 cm. You can divide the dough now or after baking, into as many parts as you want layers (3-5 is the usual). Try to keep each portion the same shape, size and thickness as the others. Bake in the centre of the oven at 200°C, until golden in colour and done through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. When the cake is almost cold, spread rhubarb jam or prune jam (see recipe below) on top of all layers except one and sandwich the layers together. 

More Icelandic Recipes:
-Jo’s Icelandic Recipes: Lots of recipes and information about Icelandic culture, etc.
-The Icelandic Embassy: Now they only have a few recipes, but they may add more.
-Samkoma: A few different recipes, but some broken links.

TOTAL: ~$50 (we had some ingredients on hand)