Recipe: Traditional Icelandic head cheese

CULTURE Food

Recipe for Icelandic head cheese

TEXT AND PHOTO: Eyglo Svala Arnarsdottir

The old Norse month of thorri is from late January to late February. This is when Icelanders celebrate thorrablot, a feast of traditional thorramatur, or “thorri food”, which ranges from pickled ram’s testicles to dried fish. While everyone likes a good thorri celebration, not everyone enjoys the food. However, Icelanders should perhaps pay more respect to the food that kept their forefathers alive, as it is an excellent example of head-to-tail cooking – which back then was known as common sense.

In Icelandic, head cheese of lamb is known as svidasulta. It’s tasty and easy to make. The following recipe can be found on the website for Leidbeiningastod heimilanna, a database of household guidelines (leidbeiningastod.is).

INGREDIENTS

4–5 singed sheep heads (available frozen in most Icelandic supermarkets) Cold water to cover the heads (too much water will diminish the congealing effect) 2–3 tbsp. salt Mutton stock

METHOD

Defrost and rinse the sheep heads in water. Boil in salted water for 1.5–2 hours or until the meat can easily be removed from the bones. Move the heads to a plate and let the water drain off. Keep part of the broth and add mutton stock for more flavour. After the heads have cooled down somewhat, remove the meat and chop rather coarsely. Put the meat in a box or a loaf tin and pour the broth over so that it floats between the pieces of meat. The broth should preferably go right up to the edge, but too much broth will make the head cheese fall apart. Leave to cool, then place something heavy on top and close the lid. The head cheese can be stored in the fridge for over a week. Alternatively, put it in the freezer or pickle it in whey.

DID YOU KNOW...

Thorri food was traditionally pickled in whey (or mysa in Icelandic), a byproduct of skyr, which increases its nutritional value. Vitamins from the whey are transferred to the meat and the acid preserves various supplements. The acid also makes the meat more tender and digestible. (Source: mbl.is)