Icelandic cooking, recipes and food

Here is the first of the modern skyr recipes. Note on the measurements: I have rounded all the ounces to the nearest whole number. It does not make any difference for the recipe. Mousse : 500 g / 18 oz. plain skyr 75 g / 3 oz. sugar 200 ml / 7 oz. cream 3 sheets gelatin 1 vanilla pod 50 ml / 2 oz. cream Split the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Reserve the seeds and discard the pod (or reserve for making something else). Soak the gelatin sheets in cold water for 5-10 minutes and lightly whip the large portion of cream. Mix together the skyr, sugar and vanilla seeds. Heat the small portion of cream, and cool slightly. Squeeze the water out of the gelatin and dissolve in the heated cream. Mix carefully into the skyr mixture and then fold in the whipped cream. Pour into small mousse forms or individual serving bowls and freeze. Serve with fresh fruit and fruit sauce. Here is a strawberry sauce that’s good with skyr mousse: 150 g / 5 oz. fresh strawberries 50 g / 2 oz. s...

For centuries, Icelanders ate skyr mostly as it was, perhaps with some milk or water stirred in to make it go down more smoothly. In latter times it has usually been thinned with milk, sugar has been added and it has been served with cream or milk. If the season is right there might be bilberries or crowberries stirred in. If the skyr was the main course, a piece of rye bread with butter, or perhaps a piece of blood sausage or liver sausage would often be served on the side. Or it might be mixed 50/50 with cold porridge and served with cream. But there are many other ways to serve or use it as an ingredient. I like it with half-and-half and brown sugar or maple syrup. The wife of the Icelandic president has declared that she loves it with honey. Some sprinkle muesli on it. Others prefer fruit. You can get all sorts of flavours from the factory, besides the plain. The ones I can remember off the top of my head are: Strawberry Blueberry Strawberry-blueberry Peach Vanilla Raspberry Banana...

I am changing the direction of this blog a bit. Henceforth is is going to be not only about traditional Icelandic foods, but about what Icelanders like to eat in general. So far I have mostly written about traditional Icelandic food, most of which is still being cooked and served in Icelandic homes. But the food many of the younger generations like best can also be called Icelandic, even if it includes such obvious new imports as passion fruit, Parmesan cheese or prosciutto. Therefore I am going to change tack and start including more modern Icelandic recipes here. To separate the traditional food from the modern, I have labelled all the traditional recipes as such. Some of the food I have labelled “traditional” is really rather new, like cocktail sauce , rice pudding and hot chocolate , but I have labelled it as traditional by dint of its either being so lastingly popular that it has been proven not to be a fad and therefore likely to continue lasting, or because it or its use is uni...

Easter will be here soon, and because we Icelanders have a notoriously sweet tooth I thought I would write about Easter eggs. Icelandic Easter eggs are invariably made from chocolate, although you will find Easter decorations made from hen's eggs. A couple of months before Easter you will start seeing small chocolate eggs in bright wrappings in supermarkets, grocery stores and candy kiosks all over the country. These contain a piece of paper with a proverb or saying, and some also contain a few pieces of candy. Then, about a month before Easter, racks upon racks of bigger eggs start appearing in shops. They range in size from goose egg to bigger than an ostrich egg and are generally made from milk chocolate, although you can now get at least one type of dark chocolate. They also come designed for diabetics and people with food allergies. All the eggs contain candy and a proverb, and are decorated on the outside, usually with an artificial baby chicken on top, but sometimes with pl...