Rotten shark meat. Sharks of Iceland against Vikings and Hakarl. Why exactly a rotten shark?
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What is disgusting to a Russian, is delicious to a Sicilian (or Swede)... mm... delicious. Are you going to eat? I don’t recommend it yet, I suggest you look at a selection of “rotten delicacies” from all over the world, after which I think you will lose your appetite for a long time.
So, here we go:
Swedish gourmet food - surströmming. This is canned fermented herring, which “ferments” (sours) in barrels for several months, and, simply put, practically goes rotten. The fish has a strong unpleasant odor and a very salty taste. This dish is served with boiled potatoes or simply on bread, and real connoisseurs eat it straight from the can with fresh milk..
Residents of the far north especially love dishes with flavor, for example, our Russian Chukchi consider it a real treat rotten deer meat. The killed individual is specially kept for several weeks in a barn until it acquires a specific smell, and then a stew is cooked from it. The smell during the preparation of such soup can be heard over several tens of meters.
Here's another one for you yummy from the northern peoples - kiviak. The head of a dead seal is cut off, all the meat inside is cut out except for subcutaneous fat and entrails, then stuffed with dead, unplucked auks (such birds). Then they sew up the whole thing and bury it in frozen ground for six months to a year. During this time, all the flesh of auks and seals rot together, becoming saturated with vitamins that are extremely necessary for those living in the far north. It tastes like very smelly rotten cheese, say those who dared to try this delicacy.
Real shock can cause Italian Casu Marza- This is specially rotten sheep cheese with cheese fly larvae. Not so much the type of cheese itself, but rather its eating. Unlike other varieties of cheese, Casu Marzu is eaten directly with live larvae. Disturbed insects (reaching up to 8 mm in length) are capable of jumping to a height of up to 15 cm, so it is advised to keep your eyes closed while eating Casu Marzu.
Icelanders' main dish for the New Year is hakarl.. For the dish, the carcass of a Greenland shark is taken, buried in the ground for a month and a half, and then hung in a barn for another 4-6 months. During this time, the poison and toxins in the meat disappear, and are replaced by the stench and taste of rotten fish, which Icelanders eat with pleasure. This tradition came from the Vikings. By the way, the production of hakarl is carried out on a large scale; in local stores, this national “delicacy” is sold in much the same way as a beer snack in our country.
Centennial egg. Do you think it's an allegory? But no. This is a traditional Chinese dish. An unpeeled chicken egg is placed in a mixture with a strong alkaline reaction - lime, salt, clay. Then the egg is taken out, the white turns into something rubbery, and the yolk turns into cream. Moreover, the egg darkens greatly, acquiring a unique rotten aroma. The alkalinity of the delicacy reaches the level of soap. True, it is prepared only a few months a year.
Lastly. In some African tribes, crocodile meat is considered a special dish, but not fresh, but rather one that has been sitting for a couple of weeks. The crocodile is first killed, then a cut is made from head to tail, the insides are cleaned out and half buried in the sand. After a few weeks, when the meat reaches the desired condition, it is taken out and eaten in a feast. What is noteworthy is that this delicacy is eaten strictly according to seniority in the tribe, starting with the leaders and shamans, then everyone else. This dish is called Akiaurus, which means “sacred meat.”
But as they say, everything in this world is relative, for example, for Americans, our crayfish for beer or roach with flavor, which we eat with pleasure, are also considered strange and not edible. So the proverb is more applicable here than ever - “there are no comrades according to taste and color.”
Imagine that you come to dine at a gourmet restaurant. You open the menu and read the range of dishes on offer: dried fish, blood sausage, pickled lamb testicles, turnip puree, jelly from the horns and hooves of lamb, pickled whale meat, a ram's head, a piece of rotten shark... I can imagine the expression on your faces, especially on women. , I had exactly the same thing! “What’s going on, where are we?” - you ask. There is only one answer: you will be offered such exotic dishes in restaurants in only one country in the world - Iceland.
It is no secret that every people and every nation has its own, centuries-old path of development. If people, due to their geographical location, are forced to live in difficult climatic or natural conditions, then they find their own special, often unique experience of survival. Icelanders are no exception.
For many centuries they lived separately from the rest of the world. On a distant island, lost in the ocean. Without a constant, close connection with the European continent. In a cold climate, not very suitable for agriculture. Such difficult living conditions taught the Icelanders ingenuity. They came up with unusual ways to preserve food for a long time and thereby diversify their meager diet.
There are practically no minerals in the depths of Iceland. Including no salt. Salt was always imported here, was very expensive and for this reason was almost never used. There were no freezers before either. Therefore, to prevent the caught fish from spoiling, it was dried in the sun and wind to a stone state and stored in this form.
When the Icelanders slaughtered a ram, part of the carcass was smoked, hanging over the fireplace. Smoked meat could be stored for quite a long time. And the insides of the animal were fermented in whey, which was used as a preservative. They did the same with whale meat. In whey, like in salt, products can be stored for several months. This technology is somewhat similar to the pickling of vegetables, cucumbers, cabbage, etc., which is so popular in Russia. Only the Russians use salt as a preservative, which they always had in abundance, and the Icelanders came up with the idea of using whey.
At the end of January, Iceland celebrates the holiday Boundadagur. Bondadagur- All Men's Day. On this day, the housewife prepares a delicious, festive lunch for her husband and family members. It is Men's Day that opens the period called Torrablot Þorrablót- a time when Icelanders enjoy national delicacies prepared using ancient technologies and recipes. In modern Iceland, communal meals during the period are very popular. Þorrablót: with work colleagues, members of hobby clubs, friends or relatives.
My husband, like a true Icelander, of course, does not stand aside. This year we invited our Ukrainian friends, who recently lived in Iceland, to dinner, in the style of the ancients. For them, all this old Icelandic food is a novelty. I was entrusted with making the turnip puree. My husband shopped at the nearest supermarket and served everything himself. Now I’ll tell you more about each of the dishes:
Dried fish (cod or haddock) Harðfiskur . Icelanders love her. I would compare the popularity of Harzfiskur in Iceland with the popularity of roasted sunflower seeds in Russia. Icelanders eat Harzfiskur as a delicacy. They put a piece in their mouth and gnaw and savor it. Then the next piece, the next... For my taste, it’s so-so, nothing special, tasteless fish, since salt and no spices are used in cooking. During the Þorrablót meal, it is customary to eat dried fish with butter:
Smoked lamb Hangikjöt Hangikjöt
- the most delicious thing from the cohort of ancient food. I have sung the praises of Icelandic lamb more than once and will never tire of repeating it. Icelandic lamb is probably the best in the world in terms of taste. This is what Hangikyot looks like:
Blóðmör blood sausage and Lifrarpylsa liver sausage.
Both types of sausage are made from offal. The taste is wow, quite edible. The first of them (darker in the photo) is with the addition of sheep blood, the second is without it:
Pressed, marinated lamb eggs Hrútspungar. After storage in whey, they have a specific, sharp-sour taste:
As well as whale meat Sur Hvalur Súr hvalur , aged in whey. This is what these Icelandic “delicacies” look like together: on the left are pickled eggs, on the right is pickled whale:
The next dish on the menu is Sviðasulta Sviðasulta . This is a kind of jelly, cooked from lamb legs and heads, with the addition of fat, meat and a certain amount of spices. Quite a tasty dish, reminiscent of jellied meat. But jellied meat, to be honest, is much tastier, especially the one that I cook myself. In the photo, on the plate on the right - another pickled Icelandic delicacy called Lundabaggy Lundabaggi . This is a roll made from the fat layer surrounding the sheep's stomach:
One of the most unusual, I would say extreme, dishes of ancient Icelandic cuisine - Hakartl Hákarl. Or rotten shark meat . Since ancient times, Icelanders have invented a way to use Greenland shark meat for food. The fact is that when fresh, its meat is poisonous and deadly to humans. And after the shark rots in the fresh air, the poison decomposes and the food becomes suitable for consumption. But in return it acquires a disgusting, pungent smell of ammonia!
Modern Icelanders, mostly men, eat this nasty thing as a delicacy, savoring it in small pieces and flavoring it with a sip of Icelandic schnapps Brennivin or a glass of beer. To be honest, I haven’t tried Haukartl and won’t. Life is more precious. The nasty smell of this dish is enough for me:
One of the specific delicacies of Icelandic cuisine is hakarl (rotten shark meat). The history of the dish, as well as the peculiarities of its preparation by the inhabitants of Iceland.
Everyone knows that what is good for a Russian is like death for a German. But the people of Iceland beat us by a couple of points, inventing a national dish that disgusts almost everyone who tries it. Only the Icelanders themselves enjoy it and enjoy it. We are talking about haukarl (isl. hákarl) - dried meat from decomposed Greenland shark. Given this characteristic, one should not expect a particularly pleasant aroma from a popular Icelandic dish. Its smell is reminiscent of rotten cheese mixed with ammonia, only much worse.
Tourists who dare to try the signature delicacy are impressed not only by the smell, but also by the stunning taste. Haukarl has a specific bitterness that no other dish in the world can compare with. According to reviews, this is the most unappetizing food you can think of. But residents think differently.
Excursions in Reykjavik and surrounding areas
The most interesting excursions are routes from local residents to Tripster. It’s interesting to start with (the capital of Iceland, although small, has an abundance of interesting places). And then immediately go on a trip around (the 8-hour program includes all the main natural beauties of the country, including the valley of the Høykadalur geysers and the Gullfoss waterfall).
Why exactly a rotten shark?
Icelanders are people who scrupulously honor traditions. Their Viking ancestors once settled an absolutely uninhabited and unsuitable island in the open ocean. Their main food was the Greenland shark, which is found in abundance in the icy waters of the North Atlantic. The predator is distinguished not only by its ugly body, but also by its extremely toxic meat. The choice of food sources in harsh climatic conditions was small, so the Vikings had to come up with a way to eat shark without risking their lives.
Haukarl meat under preparation
Fearing starvation, they developed their own unique preservation method that allows them to cleanse shark meat of the poison it contains.
Haukarl: disgusting or finger-licking good
Hákarl, like other Icelandic dishes, is unlike any other food in the world. The whole world can consider this meat inedible and disgusting as much as it wants, but what is bad for some people may be a delicacy for others. In the case of Icelanders, tradition rules. People are inextricably linked with their history and traditions (including culinary ones). Food unites people into groups, excluding outsiders, and therefore is always at the center of various religious rituals. Each nation has its own “norms,” especially those related to culinary traditions.
What is “typical” for the inhabitants of Iceland may seem completely inedible to representatives of other nations. Apparently this is exactly what happened with Haukarl.
How to make haukarl: the Viking method
The technology for making haukarl, used in Viking times, is still used today. The time-tested process remains relevant.
The first step is to decapitate the shark. Then, in order to get rid of toxic substances (trimethylamine oxide and uric acid), a shallow hole is dug in the sand, where the haukarl is placed with pebbles and sand, and covered with large stones on top. Due to the pressure of the stones, specific substances are released from the meat. Over the course of 6-12 weeks, this liquid allows the shark to “properly” rot.
At the end of the period, the fermented shark, whose average length is about 7 meters, is taken out of the ground, cut into long pieces and hung to dry for several months. Many Icelanders who cook hakarl claim that they determine the readiness of the meat solely by the smell and the characteristic dry brown crust that forms on it. When the product is finally ready, the pieces are peeled, the meat is cut into slices and served.
The most disgusting dish in the world or the gastronomic heritage of the descendants of the brave Vikings, without which one cannot understand the mysterious Icelandic soul? Today we tell you how and why haukarl is prepared - rotten shark meat.
To begin, so to speak, to whet your appetite, a little history. It is clear that the dish, which has now gained fame as perhaps the most disgusting dish invented by man, was not invented because of an easy life. The volcanic land of Iceland is not particularly fertile, therefore, since ancient times, the first Scandinavian settlers in these places mostly relied on fishing, trying to use everything that the sea gave them. Even Greenland sharks, whose meat, due to physiological characteristics, is fairly spoiled by ammonia and is completely unsuitable for food after traditional cooking methods.
The Vikings were distinguished by their amazing ability to survive in an environment unfavorable for economic activity, so they found a way to use shark meat as food. Having gutted the prey, they buried the catch in shallow holes, placing several heavy boulders on top. Under their weight, in 6-12 weeks, depending on the season, all harmful, even deadly substances were squeezed out of the fish, and the cold of the Icelandic sand prevented the meat from spoiling. After this, the resulting “semi-finished product” was dug up, cut into strips and hung out to dry for several more months. Then a small rotten layer was removed from the surface and eaten. Of course, after such manipulations, the dish had a specific taste and smelled pretty bad, but it could save entire families from starvation or simply malnutrition in the winter months.
Fortunately or unfortunately, no one cooks shark meat in the traditional way in Iceland today. Even for the entertainment of tourists (and this is a dubious entertainment - admiring the mounds of the earth for several months). But they cook, and not in considerable quantities. Turning to modern technologies, ammonia is squeezed out of a shark carcass using a press in fish factories, which is much faster and more efficient, but then it is still hung out in rags to dry. And any tourist can appreciate this by visiting, say, the Shark Museum (combined with a factory, of course) on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula.
Haukarl, of course, cannot compete in popularity with lutefisk or surströmming (another contenders for the title of the most disgusting dish in the world), which a lot of people in Norway and Sweden enjoy eating. But, despite the fact that in the modern world Iceland is definitely not in danger of starvation, the production of rotten shark is at a consistently decent level. Moreover, the Icelanders themselves are not particularly fond of their national dish - the indigenous inhabitants of the island prefer to taste it as a tribute to tradition during the winter holiday of Torrablót. Although, of course, someone eats it regularly. But tourists, largely thanks to the specific fame of the haukarl, feed the rancid shark for a sweet soul.
Despite the fact that everyone, without exception, notes the extremely unpleasant smell of the dish, many describe the taste as specific, but not at all disgusting. The only thing that a traveler who is planning to feast on a rotten shark should remember is that it should be eaten in very small quantities - for a stomach that is not accustomed to such food, haukarl may seem something too extreme.
Haukarl is an Icelandic dish that consists of dried, rotten Greenland shark meat. Doesn't that sound delicious?
Iceland is an island country in northwestern Europe. The climate here is maritime subarctic. Therefore, it is not surprising that the island has little vegetation, practically no trees and, accordingly, very poor wildlife.
Therefore, it is absolutely logical that Icelanders have been involved in fishing for centuries. After all, the sea waters in this region are very rich in various species of fish and whales.
The Greenland shark is also found here, but its meat is very poisonous, since due to its physiological characteristics it simply has almost no urine and urine is excreted directly through the skin, so the meat is literally saturated with ammonia, which, as you know, not only smells terrible, but also very poisonous.
Residents of Iceland have long known that eating fresh shark meat is fraught with severe poisoning or even death, so they found a way out.
The Vikings gutted the caught shark, cut it into large pieces and buried it in small holes. Heavy stones were placed on top, which in 6-12 weeks squeezed out all harmful substances from the fish, and the cold soil prevented the meat from spoiling.
After a few months, the meat was dug up and hung to dry for another few months.
Then the top layer was cut off from the pieces, which simply rotted in the difficult maritime climate, and then the meat could be eaten.
You can only imagine what the fish smelled and tasted like after such months of manipulation. However, it was not spoiled and could save from starvation.
Now this dish is also quite popular, primarily among tourists. But it is no longer prepared in such old-fashioned ways. Ammonia is squeezed out of meat in factories using a press, and then, as in the old days, it is hung in the fresh air to dry.
Extreme lovers who decide to try this specific dish note that, despite the repulsive smell, the dish itself is quite tasty.
If you are in Iceland and decide to try hakarl, remember that you need to eat it in very small doses, because if you are not used to it, you risk ending your vacation in a hospital bed.
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