Nordic Recipes

Swedish Jedi:
I'm more fo a Kroppkakor(boildes potatoes stuffed with "fläsk"??) and Palt (the same as kroppkakor but it is pigblood in this)

As a native of Norrbotten, stronghold of the paltivores, I feel it's my duty to clear up this misunderstanding.

I've eaten palt all my life and we've never used pig's blood as an ingredient!

There is a dish called blodpalt, but it's no way near the same thing as palt. Blodpalt is basically a boiled version of blodpudding, and I wouldn't eat that if my life depended on it!

The main difference between kroppkakor and palt is that kroppkakor are made from pre-boiled potatoes and palt from raw potatoes (there are other differences, but I won't go into that now).

Anyway, here's a palt recipe for Joey, should he fancy a taste of the land of the midnight sun ...

--
Palt
raw potatoes, 10-12
salt, 1 tbsp
barley meal, 3.5 dl
wheat-flour, 3.5 dl
Stuffing (optional)
salted pork, 300 g
onion, 1

Peel and then grate or mince the potatoes (preferably using an old-fashioned meat grinder).
Mix the potatoes, the salt, the barley meal and the wheat-flour in a large bowl to make a fairly firm dough (if it's too runny, add more flour, and don't be afraid to use your hands).

Boil some water in a large pot and add about 1.5 tbsp of salt per liter.

Shape the dough into balls the size of a tennis ball using your hands and a ladle, and immerse them one at a time in the simmering water (to keep the palt from falling apart, let it stay in the ladle for a few seconds before you let go).

Let the palt simmer for about an hour with lid on. When it rises to the surface, it's ready.

For palt with filling, just dice the pork and chop the onion. Make a hole in the dough balls and fill them with pork and onion. Cover the hole with dough and boil the palt as described above.

You could also fry up the pork and serve it on the side, but personally, I prefer my palt without any pork whatsoever.

Palt is generally served with butter or margarine (you should let the palt melt it slightly), lingonberry jam and a glass of milk.

 

There is a difference between småländska kroppkakor and öländska kroppkakor.
One of them is made from boiled potatoes, the other is made from 50% boiled and 50% raw potatoes. (can't remember which is which)
Otherwise, it is almost the same recipe. They are also eated with melted butter and lingonberry jam down in Småland and Öland.
(For you outside Sweden, Palt and Kroppkakor are a little bit like the German "Knödel" or Italian "Gnocchi", and stuffed with spiced pork)

 

Risgroet is easy to make, but REAL risgroet has to boil forever. And you have to stand and stir all the while.

In Norway you get a marsipan pig if you get the almond.

Too bad I hate marsipan. Bring on the stork- sjokolade!

 

You also hate marsipan, Karoline? I thought I was the only one... my friends think I'm weird.

The worst job I've ever had was in a candy store once, around Easter, and the owner insisted that I'd try all the marsipan chickens to see if they were okay...

 

I forget the brand name of chocolate I had in Norway (I think it might have been just called "Melkesjokolade"? and it was some of the best chocolate I had ever had in my life (including Switzerland!))

I got some on my first day, and had it every day I was there! That, a loaf of bread, a chunk of Jarlsberg Swiss and a 1.5 litres of Coca Cola is a great (filling) lunch!

--Joey

 

Thank you sooo much for that post, Wookiee. I almost had a heart attack (well, I did almost spill my beer, which is pretty bad too), when I read the description of palt being made from pigs blood. You can make some pretty tasty stuff with pigs blood, but not palt. And yes, palt rocks and you should definately try it.

And surströmming is not rotten fish, you heathens. It's fermented fish. Herring, to be more exact, and it is very tasty, even without the snaps. Uuuh.. never mind that. I've never had surströmming without snaps, so I wouldn't really know.

 

Oh, well fermented is fine

Though if lutefisk is soaked in poison, and you eat it, I will believe ANYTHING!

How long does palt take to make?

And do you have to boil the potatoes before mincing them?

--Joey

 

No, the potatoes should not be boiled before mincing them.

I guess it takes about 45 minutes to make the dough (depending on how much you make), and then you should keep the "potato dumplings" on simmer for about an hour.

Trivia:
Palt is sometimes called "pitepalt" since it's closely associated with Piteå, a town located in the south of the province of Norrbotten (not far from Västerbotten, where Lynx is from ... hence her knowledge in all things palt ).
Click here for some pics from a typical Norrbotten school lunch.

Piteå is also home to the Palt Acadamy (a lifetime membership will set you back SEK 250) and the world's first and only Paltzeria ! Fact is, they even serve McPalt at the local McDonald's.

The feeling of satisfaction you get from filling yourself up with palt is called "paltschwiimen".
I'm not sure where "schwiimen" comes from, but I guess it could be some kind of Piteå speech for "svimma" ("pass out").
"Paltschwiimen" is also known as "paltkoma" ("palt coma"), and the Palt Academy describes it as "a profound spiritual state of well-being".

EDIT:
Nothing to do with palt, but this just made me laugh.
Apparently, McDonald's has opened the first snowmobile drive-thru in the world ... in Piteå!
Snowmobiles in line
Snowmobiler gets his order
Snowmobile traffic

 

If I have time to break away from studying Differential Equations this weekend, I am going to attempt either Risgroet (Riskrem actually) or Palt.

--Joey

 

dreadlocked_wookie..u maybe..but my grandmother always use that...yum yum ^^

 

I'd like to remind everybody that since it's now easter time you should try to make yourself some "mämmi". I posted the recipe in the beginning of this thread. Mämmi is an essential part of Finnish Easter. Just try it, you might like it.

 

What is Marzipan?

I have seen it in pig form, fruit form etc.

--Joey

 

I am an idiot, yes is it is now official. I asked about this earlier and Enji answered it for me but somehow I forgot.

--Joey