Svið & sviðasulta – Icelandic singed sheep's heads & brawn (head cheese)

Cooked svið.
Continuing with the Þorri food, here is a popular Þorri dish, one that is also widely eaten outside the Þorri season.

Sviðasulta, literally sheep's head jam is a traditional meat product that can be found in any Icelandic supermarket. It is usually eaten fresh, but during the Þorri season you can also get whey-pickled head jam. There is also a pig's head version, svínasulta, which is spiced. This variety food is known as head-cheese or brawn in English.

Some recipes include gelatine, but it is generally not necessary if the cooking liquid is allowed to thicken during cooking (by not adding water unless it seems to be completely evaporating).

6 ea. sheep's heads, singed (see instructions below)
as needed water and salt

How to singe and otherwise prepare sheep's heads for cooking:
Take the fresh heads and singe them with fire until all the hair is burnt. Use a stiff brush to clean the heads under running cold water. Clean the area around the eyes and inside the ears especially well. Saw the heads in half lengthwise and remove the brains (less messy if you freeze them first). Cook them with the skin on.

Preparation:
Pack the heads into a cooking pot, sprinkle with coarse salt and add water. It's not necessary to let the water cover the heads completely. When the water boils, skim off the scum. Cook, covered, until the flesh begins to separate from the bones, 90-120 minutes at the least if the heads are meant for jam. Heads that will be eaten without further preparation generally need only 60 - 90 minutes cooking, and should only be cooked until the flesh is cooked through, but has not started to separate from the bones.

Slices of sviðasulta.
To make the jam:
When the heads are cooked, remove from the cooking liquid. Heads that will not be made into brawn are put on a platter and served right away, or allowed to cool and served cold. Heads that will be made into jam are taken and the meat cut off the bones and into coarse pieces. You can include the skin or leave it out as you wish. Put the pieces in a loaf pan and put a light weight on top. Allow to cool at room temperature and then put it in a refrigerator to set completely. To make more of the jam, include some of the cooking liquid in the mix. The cooking liquid will set better if singed sheep's legs are cooked with the heads.
When the brawn is set, it can be eaten fresh or preserved in whey.


Serving suggestion:
A half sheep head, divided into jaw and skull..

Sheep's heads can be served either hot or cold. Either way, they are usually served with plain, boiled potatoes, rutabagas (cooked with the heads) and white sauce. I hear lemon sauce is also good with sheep's heads. The half-heads are usually split in two as shown in the photo. There is more meat on the jaw, which has the tongue, cheeks and most of the jaw muscles, while the skull has the eyes, ears, some meat and fat. Many people eat the skin as well.
Brawn, fresh or preserved, is usually served buffet-style with several other kinds of variety meats, fish, bread and potatoes. Thinly sliced fresh brawn can be used as a topping for bread or a filling for sandwiches. My personal favourite is fresh brawn with potato salad.

convert measures from metric to your preferred system

Popular posts from this blog

Hangikjöt - Icelandic smoked lamb (instructions)

Image
Still in keeping with the Þorri theme, here is a popular food that is a favourite main dish for Christmas and Sundays, as well as being an essential part of the Þorri buffet and a popular cold cut to top bread and flatbread . Slices of hangikjöt Hangikjöt is an old favourite of the Icelanders. For centuries, we have smoked, pickled, dried and otherwise preserved food, and hangikjöt is one of the most delicious of the smoked products.  Much like in olden times, hangikjöt is not an everyday food, except when used as a topping for bread, skonsur and flatbread . It may be eaten either hot or cold, and is traditionally served with cooked potatoes, white sauce, peas and pickled red cabbage. What follows is a description of the old method used for smoking lamb/mutton to make hangikjöt . Smoking food, general information: Smoking is an ancient food preservation method. The smoke dries the food and prevents it from spoiling quickly. Food that is to be smoked must be salted first.
Read more

Harðfiskur – Icelandic hard (dried) fish

Image
Continuing with the Þorri theme, this is the single most popular food you will find on the Þorri buffet. It is a popular snack in Iceland, and some people love it so much that they will some with them when they go abroad on holiday. Harðfiskur, whole fillet Of the traditional Icelandic foods, harðfiskur and skyr are probably the two which most appeal to foreigners. I have received several e-mails from people asking how to make harðfiskur or where to buy it abroad, and so I decided it was time to give a description of how it's made. Many kinds of fish dry well, but traditionally it is mostly cod, haddock and ocean catfish (wolf-fish) that are dried. Flounder also makes excellent harðfiskur , and in some areas of Iceland people also dry arctic char.   Drying haddock, cod and flounder: Harðfiskur in ready-to-eat pieces Wash the fish and scrape off the slime, then gut the fish and remove the head. Haddock and cod can either be butterflied or filleted before drying. F
Read more

Iceland Moss Soup - Fjallagrasamjólk

This is a very healthy, nourishing soup. Iceland moss ( Cetraria islandica ) is very versatile. In spite of the name, it isn't a moss at all, but a lichen. It's used in cosmetics (especially creams and ointments), medicines and nutritional supplements (it is an excellent remedy for coughs and digestive problems), and as food. In the past it was also used for colouring wool. Iceland moss also grows in other northern countries, but as it is very sensitive to pollution, it is not much harvested. It tastes very bitter when used in teas and infusions, but cooking it in milk, like in this recipe, removes most of the bitterness. This soup is very nourishing and tasty. It is up to you if you choose to actually eat the moss or just use it as a flavouring (it gets a bit slimy when cooked). I sometimes get this at my grandmother's. She also makes a cough syrup with Iceland moss, which tastes extremely bitter in spite of it being saturated with sugar, but it is the best cough remedy I
Read more