Kútmagar - Stuffed fish stomachs

I thought it was about time to post a recipe, since I remembered a very old, traditional one I have not posted before.

This is a very old Icelandic dish. Since it is made in pretty much the same way as liver sausage, except using fish products, I suppose you could call it fish-liver sausage in English.  

For 1 person:

2-3 fresh cod’s stomachs

1 cod liver

Rye meal

Salt

White pepper (optional)

Water

There are two basic methods of making kútmagar. In one you use rye meal and in the other you don’t. 

Since I don’t expect you can buy fresh fish stomachs just anywhere and may therefore have to buy or catch whole fish and then remove the stomachs, I have included instructions on how to clean them: You take them and rub them inside and out with sand or coarse salt until you have removed the slime and anything else that may stick to them. 

Both methods:

Soak the liver in cold water for a while (30 minutes or so), then remove and peel off the membrane.

Sprinkle salt over the liver and let it stand awhile (10 minutes or so).

Method one, with rye meal:

Mash or grind the liver and mix thoroughly with rye meal. No recipe I have come across gives proportions of liver to meal, but don’t use more rye meal than liver – it will cook into a dry lump if there is too much of it. Add salt to taste and a little white pepper if you like. Stuff the stomachs a little less than half-full with the mixture and tie them closed with unbleached cotton thread. Bring a generous amount of water to the boil, add salt and drop in the stomachs. When the water boils again, prick the stomachs with a pin to prevent them from bursting. Put the lid on the pot, lower the temperature and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Method two, no rye meal:

Chop the liver into small pieces and stuff the stomachs with it, about half-full. Bring a generous amount of water to the boil, add salt and drop in the stomachs. When the water boils again, prick the stomachs with a pin to prevent them from bursting. Put the lid on the pot, lower the temperature and simmer for 45-50 minutes.

Serve hot with plain boiled potatoes, rye bread and butter.

Notes:

• Fish stomachs may be cooked without a filling and eaten straight away or pickled in whey.
• I am told that they can be used as a substitute for squid in various dishes.
• If you want more ways of cooking them, they seem to be widely used in east Asian cookery. I get over 6 million hits when I google "fish stomach" and recipes together, so there is plenty to choose from.

Fried fish Orly

I have had several requests for this dish, so I decided to post the recipe. Apparently it was a favourite with American servicemen stationed at Keflavik airport and some of them still remember it fondly.

I'd be the first to admit that this isn't a specifically Icelandic dish, but you can buy it in many diners and restaurants all over the country.

Orly batter:
300 ml (10 fl.oz.) light lager or water
2 tbs sugar
1 tsp salt (the original recipe says 1 tbs, but this must be an error)
1 tbs cooking oil (the original recipe says 1 tsp, but this must also be an error - there needs to be more than 1 teaspoon of oil in the batter)
1 egg yolk
flour
1 egg white

Mix together the lager or water, sugar, salt oil and egg yolk and thicken with flour until the batter is the thickness of pancake batter. Let stand for 1 hour at room temperature. Whip the egg white stiff and fold into the batter just before you use it.

May be used to coat fish, scampi/langoustines, shrimp or vegetable fritters.

To make fish Orly:
Haddock fillets, boned and skinned, or other white fish – cod or sole is good and anglerfish is divine
flour for dredging

Cut the fish fillets in pieces about 3 by 2 inches. Pat the fish pieces dry, season if you wish and dredge in flour. Dip to coat in the orly batter and fry in a frying pan or a deep-fryer (set temperature at 180 to 200 °C (355 to 390 °F)) for 2-3 minutes. Batter coating should be golden when cooked.

Generally served with chips/fries, cocktail sauce and coleslaw.
I also like to serve it with rice, salad and sweet-and-sour sauce.

Notes:

• Stir peeled Arctic shrimp or finely chopped vegetables into the batter and drop lumps of it into hot oil with a tablespoon. Makes great finger food.
• Cut fish fillets into finger-sized strips, batter and fry. Another great finger food.
• Cocktail sauce, garlic sauce, sweet-and-sour sauce or sweet chili sauce make a good dipping sauce for food in Orly.

Chunky fish spread:

This is a recipe developed my myself and my mother. Serves 4 as a starter or 2 as a main dish.


1/2 fillet of cold cooked fish, e.g. cod or haddock (but salmon and trout work as well), cut into small pieces

3-4 cold cooked potatoes, cut into small pieces

1/2 onion or red onion, finely chopped

Mayonnaise to taste

Pepper
Garlic powder


Mix together the mayonnaise and spices and add the rest, blending well. Serve on sweet, dark rye bread.


Note: I also like to add 1/2 a finely chopped red bell pepper to this spread.

Leftover fish salad

150 gr cold cooked fish, preferably salmon or halibut, cut into small pieces
Mayonnaise to taste
6 leaves of green salad
3 tomatoes
6 slices of lemon
Lemon juice
Mustard

Add lemon juice and mustard to the mayonnaise, to taste. Wash the salad leaves and let them drain well, divide the fish pieces evenly onto the leaves and top with mayonnaise, 1/2 a tomato and a slice of lemon.

From 160 fiskréttir by Helga Sigurðardóttir

This is the last recipe from this book (for now, but I may return to it later).

Using up leftover fish: frying

I have already posted two recipes for using leftover fish: fish pancakes and the humble plokkfiskur, which is currently enjoying something of a renaissance. Here is one more leftover fish recipe, and two more will be posted soon.

You will need:
Enough cooked leftover fish and potatoes to serve four people, cut into bite-sized pieces
Cooked vegetables, if desired
100 g butter or tallow
Salt and pepper
Chives or onions, chopped

Heat the butter in a frying pan until it stops foaming. Gently fry the fish and potatoes and onions (if using) in the butter until heated through and slightly browned. Do not scramble the food around in the pan much – the fish pieces should be intact when served. Flavour with salt and pepper to taste, and if you’re using chives, sprinkle them over the dish before serving.

From 160 fiskréttir by Helga Sigurðardóttir

Fried smoked trout with scrambled eggs

There are two wild species of trout found in Iceland: the brown trout (Salmo trutta) and the arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus). Additionally, rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) have been released into some lakes and rivers. The collective name in Icelandic is silungur, the char being called bleikja and the brown trout urriði.

This is a nice brunch dish that can also be made with smoked herring.

1 large, whole smoked trout
Butter
6 eggs
Salt
6 tbs milk
Butter

De-bone and skin the trout and cut it into slices. Melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the fish in it.

Scrambled eggs:
Mix together the eggs, salt and milk until well blended. Pour into a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring gently in circles until the mixture begins to thicken, then scramble the mixture back and forth until it is of the desired consistency.
Arrange on a serving platter with the fried trout and serve.

From 160 fiskréttir by Helga Sigurðardóttir

Halibut in cream sauce

Halibut has a number of names in Icelandic, reflecting its importance as a food fish. They include flyðra, spraka, lúða and heilagfiski. The last name means “holy fish”, presumably because it was popular Fridays food during the Catholic era.

Halibut grow to a gigantic size: the current record is around 330 kilos. One was recently caught off the coast of the West Fjords that weighed in at 219 kg. and was 248 cm. long. The flesh of these giants is rather coarse, but the flavor is delicious.

750 g halibut
1 tbs flour
Salt and pepper
2-3 onions
100 g margarine
100 g butter
50 ml cream

Fillet and skin the halibut. Cut into 2 cm thick slices.
Mix together flour, salt and pepper.
Slice the onions into rings.

Brown the margarine in a frying pan and fry the onions in it until golden. Remove and set aside. Put the butter in the pan, keeping back a small amount, and brown the butter in the pan. Dredge the fish slices in the flour mixture and brown over high heat for about 10 minutes. Arrange the fish pieces on a serving platter and top with the browned onions.

Deglace the pan with a little water, adding the cream and remaining butter. Strain into a sauce bowl.

Arrange poached potatoes on the platter on one side of the fish, and serve.

From 160 fiskréttir by Helga Sigurðardóttir

Fried cod cheeks

10 cod cheeks
1 egg white, beaten until it begins to froth slightly
Bread crumbs with salt and pepper to taste
200 g butter or margarine

Cut the cheeks away from the heads if needed. Clean well (scrape off the slime under cold running water) and pat dry. Dip the cheeks in the egg white and dredge in the breadcrumbs. Fry in the butter until golden brown. Sprinkle salt and pepper over them and serve with hot, poached potatoes.
May also be cooked in the oven.

From 160 fiskréttir by Helga Sigurðardóttir

Fried herring

6-10 fresh herrings, heads removed, gutted and cleaned
2 tbs flour
2 tsp salt
½ tsp ground white pepper
100 g butter or margarine

If the herrings are large, butterfly them, otherwise leave them whole. Heat a frying pan with the butter. Mix together flour, salt and pepper and dredge the herring in the mixture. Fry the herring in the pan until golden brown. Serve with cooked potatoes and white sauce with vegetables

This recipe also works with mackerel.

From 160 fiskréttir by Helga Sigurðardóttir

Herring rolls

“All the housewives in the country should be on the habit of acquiring at least one barrel of salted herring for the winter. The barrel must be stored in a cold place, for if the herring goes rancid it will not make good food. It is our duty, Icelandic housewives, to ensure that more is eaten of the herring than is now the case, this wholesome, fine food, which is caught in such abundance off our shores.”

Foreword to the chapter on herring dishes in 160 fiskréttir (160 fish dishes) by Helga Sigurðardóttir.

Helga Sigurðardóttir was Iceland’s version of Mrs. Beeton. She was not only a cook book author whose books can be found in many Icelandic homes, but also a cooking teacher . Several of the recipes on this blog originally came from one or another of her cookbooks, whether altered or unchanged. In the following weeks I will be posting a selection of dishes from this book, beginning with that gem of a fish, the herring.


2 salted herrings
2 bunches fresh dill, chopped
200 ml white vinegar
150 ml water
2 ½ tbs sugar
1/3 tsp pepper (in old Icelandic cookbooks ‘pepper’ usually means ground white pepper, as I am sure it does here)

Clean the herrings, fillet them and remove skin and bones. De-salt in cold water for 18 hours. Remove and pat dry. Sprinkle the dill over the fillets, roll them up tightly and tie off with cotton string. Put into a jar. Mix together the vinegar, water, sugar and pepper and pour over the herring rolls. Close the jar and let the herring marinate in a cool place for several hours. Cut the rolls into slices and serve, e.g. as canapés.

Smoked salmon sandwich spread

300 g smoked salmon
3 eggs, hard-boiled
2 tbs mayonnaise
4 tbs sour cream
Dill
Aromat or Accent (may be left out)

Chop the salmon very finely, e.g. in a food processor, but do not process into a paste – there should be tiny pieces of salmon in the spread. Mash the eggs with a fork and mix together the eggs, salmon, mayonnaise and sour cream. Add a little Aromat and dill. Chill and serve with crackers or slices of white baguette.

Brauðterta – Icelandic style sandwich loaf: Tuna & egg

3 layers of bread (refer to the first sandwich loaf post for more information)

200 g mayonnaise
100 g sour cream
5 hard-boiled eggs
200 g canned tuna
1 medium onion
Aromat or Accent (may be left out or replaced with garlic powder)

Mix together mayo, cream and Aromat. Mash the eggs with a fork and drain the tuna well. Chop the onion very finely. Mix everything together and layer between the bread slices. Also put some spread on the ends and sides of the loaf and decorate with tuna, egg slices, and salad leaves.

Brauðterta – Icelandic style sandwich loaf: Salmon and egg

I had planned to post a sandwich loaf recipe much earlier, but since I rarely make them and when I do I don’t use a recipe, I had to find a set recipe first. I finally did find it, in fact several of them, which I will be posting in the following weeks.

Sandwich loaves, or ‘bread cakes’ as they are called in Iceland, are an enduring presence at Icelandic celebrations where cakes are served. While not an Icelandic invention (I think they may have originated in the USA), they have been popular here for at least 50 years and there seems to be no stopping them. While the fillings change according to fashion and whim and we don’t use half as much mayonnaise in them as once was the case they continue to be a vehicle for cooks to display their talents with garnish, and a savoury palate cleanser in between nibbles of all the sweet cakes usually served at traditional birthday parties.

They are generally made from white bread, and you can buy the bread pre-cut for the purpose.

There are two kinds of sandwich cake bread available. One is basically a pan-baked loaf of white sandwich bread that has been sliced lengthwise, like this (for a bit of a laugh at the expense of yesterday’s cookbook authors, keep clicking the “next” button until you get to the end of the pictures).

The crusts are removed, leaving between 4 and 6 long slices of bread.

The other kind are rolls. These are big, thin slices of bread that look like the cake layer of a jelly roll before it's rolled up. They can either be rolled up or layered to make large sandwich cakes. In a pinch, the other kind can be used instead, but care is then needed when rolling them up.

These cakes can be made using any sandwich filling or anything you will find as a topping for Danish smörrebröd, but certain fillings are more common than others.

The most common are:
Ham and asparagus
Ham and egg
Shrimp salad (shrimp, egg, ham or shrimp, ham and pineapple)
Roast beef (roast beef with French-fried onions, remoulade sauce, and either sliced pickled cucumber or slices of canned peaches or apricots)
Tuna spread (tuna and egg and sometimes either chopped onion or sweet corn)
Salmon and egg

Traditionally, the fillings are held together with mayonnaise, and here arises a problem: Commercially made Icelandic mayonnaise is like no-other kind I have tried. It is not only thicker, but it is not as vinegary-tasting. I have on several occasions tried to make these kinds of fillings (in small portions suitable for sandwiches) with imported mayonnaise, but the only time it has worked out was when making tuna spread, and then only because I not only drained the tuna thoroughly, but I actually squeezed out all the juice before making the spread. Still, the flavour wasn’t as good. When I tried making shrimp salad with Hellman’s mayonnaise, the mayonnaise turned soupy and ruined the salad.

These days, a mixture of mayonnaise and sour cream is generally used, and sometimes the mayonnaise is dispersed with and cream cheese is used instead.

I never, ever use a recipe myself, but when you have never made one of these before a recipe is a good starting point. I rarely get the opportunity to make sandwich loaves, but I plan to take photos whenever I get the chance and will add them to show how these creations can be decorated. This and the other sandwich loaf posts are therefore going to become rerun posts, so if you leave comments, I will append your comments to the bottom of the appropriate post whenever I refresh it and bring it back to the top because Blogger erases the comments when you repost a blog entry with a new date.

And now for today's featured sandwich loaf:

Salmon & egg sandwich loaf
This is a delicious variation on the traditional salmon and egg salad loaf. A traditional loaf includes mashed hard-boiled eggs, but this uses scrambled eggs instead.

3 layers of sandwich bread

Salmon spread:
300 g smoked salmon, thinly sliced
5 eggs, hard-boiled
200 g mayonnaise
100 g sour cream

Keep back some extra slices of salmon

Chop the salmon and eggs into small pieces and mix well with the mayo and cream. Chill.

Scrambled eggs with salmon:
4 eggs
3 tbs cream
100 g smoked salmon
Salt and pepper to taste

Lightly whip together the eggs and cream and season with salt and pepper. Purée the salmon in a food processor and add to the egg mixture, stirring lightly together. Fry the scrambled eggs until well done and set aside to cool.

Put 1/3 of the salmon spread on the bottom layer of bread, top with the second bread layer, then the scrambled egg, then more bread and end with salmon spread. Smooth the remaining salmon spread on the ends and side of the loaf. Decorate with thin slices of salmon (or cover the whole thing with salmon slices) and garnish with vegetables, e.g. tomato roses, slivers of red bell pepper or cucumber. Egg slices are also suitable decoration.

Cod with roe and liver

Fresh cod roe becomes available in late winter, and is a lovely addition to the fresh seafood available year round.

My mother would serve roe with cooked cod's liver, cooked cod or haddock, and potatoes, sometimes with melted sheep's tallow (with cracklings) or butter, and rye bread on the side.

To cook the roes, drop them into boiling salted water and cook for 15 to 45 minutes, depending on their size. The roe is cooked when firm and of an even pale pink colour all the way through.

Drain well and serve warm or cold. Cold roe can be sliced and used as a topping for bread.

To cook cod liver, soak in cold water for about 30 minutes, to allow any nematodes to crawl out (this is why I do not eat fish liver). Remove the membrane from the liver, drop into heavily salted boiling water and cook for about 10 minutes. Some like to cook the liver, fish and roe together, but as the liver imparts a strong flavour to the cooking liquid, I recommend cooking it separately.

If the roe is to be served with fish, the fish may be cooked in the same pot. Filleted fish may be cut into pieces about 5 cm wide and cooked with the roes for the last 7-10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish pieces.

Cooked, fermented shark – Hákarlsstappa

I have no idea whether people still use this recipe, but I am publishing it here as a historical curiosity.

The shark is fermented as instructed here.

Remove the skin from the shark piece. Cook in boiling water until firm and cooked through. Remove and allow the liquid to drip off over night. Cut into pieces and mash in a cooking pot. Add sour butter (I never said this was good) or stale tallow. Serve hot with potatoes, or cold as a topping for rye bread.

Steikt síld - Fried herring

This recipe also works with mackerel and other fish of the herring family, just adjust the cooking times according to the size of the fish.

Serves 2:
2-4 fresh, whole herrings (depending on size)
1 medium onion
40 g butter or margarine or equivalent in vegetable oil
3-4 tbs rye flour or wheat bran
1/2 – 3/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 lemon
Parsley for garnishing

Clean the herrings (or get your fishmonger to do it): remove all innards and membranes from the body cavity, remove the spine and bones from the insides, cut off the tail and fins, scrape the slime from the skin. Remove the head if you would rather not have it on, but don‘t fillet the fish.

Peel and slice the onion. Mix together the flour or bran and the salt and pepper. Melt and heat half the butter and fry the onion in it until slightly browned. Set aside.

Put the remaining butter in the pan and heat. Roll the herrings in the flour mixture and put in the pan. Brown at medium-high temperature, lower the heat and continue frying for 3-5 minutes on each side. Remove and set aside.

Reheat the onion and spread over the herrings. Arrange lemon wedges around the fish and garnish with parsley.

Serve with boiled potatoes.

Oven-baked fish in cream sauce

This is a nice fish dish that my mother sometimes makes. I make no claims about its traditionality.

Serves 2:

400 g fish fillets (mom uses cod or haddock, but try plaice, sole, flounder or other white fish)
1/2 tsp salt
25 g butter or margarine
50 ml cream
100 ml milk
1 tbs breadcrumbs (Paxo crumbs look nice and colourful, but home-made ones are fine)
2 tbs grated cheese (mom uses Gouda, but I imagine Cheddar or a mixture of Mozzarella and some stronger cheese would be good)

Set the oven temperature to 175°C. Butter or oil a shallow oven-proof dish. Cut the filleted and boned fish fillets into pieces and arrange in the dish. Sprinkle the salt over the fish and dot with butter.

Put the dish into the heated oven and bake the fish for 8-10 minutes.

Mix together the milk, cream and cheese and pour gently over the fish. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs evenly over the top and continue baking for 15 minutes. Serve in the dish, with potatoes or rice and a fresh salad on the side.

Curried fish, 2 varieties

This is basically the same recipe with one ingredient replaced with another.
As I mentioned earlier, Icelanders embraced curry powder as an exotic new cooking ingredient when it arrived in the country and there are numerous recipes for food that call for curry powder.

Here are two that I like:

Serves 2:
400 g fish fillets (tradition calls for cod or haddock, but any lean white fish can be used)
1/2-1 apple OR 1 medium onion
25 g butter or margarine (or equivalent in the frying oil of your choice)
1/2 tsp mild curry powder
1/2 tsp salt

Remove the skin and bones from the fish fillets if necessary (or just buy them boned and skinned to save you the work). Cut into 4 even pieces.

Peel and grate the apple, if using. If you are making the onion version, peel and finely chop the onion.

Heat the pan and turn the heat down to low. Melt the butter (or heat the oil). Add the apple or onion and fry gently for a minute or so.

Add the curry powder and mix well. Top with the fish pieces and sprinkle the salt over the fish. Close the pan tightly and allow to gently cook over low heat for 10-15 minutes. Serve in the pan.

Sides: Cooked potatoes or rice, and a fresh salad.

Traditional Icelandic fish soup (halibut soup) - Fiskisúpa (lúðusúpa)

This soup is among the oldest recorded Icelandic recipes. It's sweet-sour taste is unusual for fish-based soups.

Traditionally, the recipe is given for halibut, but you can also use salmon, trout, wolf-fish or lumpfish, or other fatty fish.

1 1/2 kg fresh fish with bones, cut into pieces to fit in the pan
1 1/2 litre water
2 tbs white vinegar
2 tsp salt
2 bay leaves

50 g flour
100 ml cold water

1/2 lemon
20 prunes
1-2 tbs sugar
200 ml water

potatoes
parsley

If the prunes are dry, soak them in water for an hour or so, or cook them in a little sugar-water with the zest of the 1/2 lemon until soft. Keep them whole.

Put water, salt, vinegar and bay leaves in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the fish. skim off the scum when the liquid boils again. cook the fish until it loosens from the bones. Strain the cooking liquid into another saucepan, leaving a little in the pan with the fish to keep it moist.

Mix together the flour and cold water into a smooth paste. Bring the strained cooking liquid to the boil and pour in the flour paste in a thin stream, stirring constantly. Cook for 5-10 minutes.

When the soup is fully cooked, add the lemon juice and prunes, and if they were cooked, the prune cooking liquid with them.

Arrange the fish on a serving dish and surround with boiled potatoes, sprinkled with chopped parsley. Serve on the side with the soup.

Boiled lamb, mutton, veal or fish with curry sauce

My mother used to make this dish several time a year when I was growing up, and I liked it then, but now that I have learned to appreciate genuine Indian and Chinese curries, I never make it, simply because I detest pre-mixed curry powder (the only thing I use it for is sauce for marinated herring). The curry used is the mild type, but I imagine that a medium hot curry powder would be good with mutton, which has a stronger flavour than lamb or veal.

This is a relatively new but still traditional Icelandic dish. I think curry powder first appeared in Iceland in the 1940s or 50s, and this dish has been part of the Icelandic everyday diet ever since. Lamb or mutton is generally used, but this recipe is also suited to veal.

750 g lamb, mutton or veal
800 ml water
2 tsp salt
2 carrots

Curry sauce:
2 1/2 to 3 tbs flour
1 tsk curry powder
150 ml cold water
400-500 ml meat cooking liquid or stock


100 g rice
1 liter water
1 tsp salt

A cheap cut like shoulder can be used in this dish. Meat should be in small pieces, about 2-3 mouthfuls each piece.

Bring the water to the boil and drop in the pieces of meat. Skim and salt. Lower the temperature to simmer and cook under a lid until it is soft and just beginning to come off the bone (about 40 minutes to an hour for lamb, 1-2 hours for mutton). Clean and slice the carrot and cook with the meat for the last 10 minutes. When the meat is cooked, remove from the saucepan and keep warm while you make the sauce.

To make the sauce, sift together the flour and curry powder. Mix with the water to make a paste.

Strain the cooking liquid from the meat, return to the saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the salt. When the liquid is boiling, pour in the flour/curry paste in a thin stream, stirring constantly. Keep stirring until the sauce boils again. Simmer gently for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cook the rice according to the instructions on the packet.

To serve with fish:
Poach the same amount of cod or haddock as there is meat in the above recipe, leaving out the carrots. Instead of cooking liquid from meat, make the sauce with the cooking liquid from the fish, fish stock or milk. Serve with rice.