SC - Re: Substitution - Response Phlip

[Stefan li Rous]

On Mon, 24 Apr 2000, Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir wrote:

> Skyr is a cultured milk product - you use warmed milk, non-homogenized or
> skimmed (cow´s or ewe´s milk, but these days it is always cow´s milk), add
> starter (a bacterial culture) and rennet, let it cool, then pour it into a

Is the stuff sold in stores in Iceland live? Or can one purchase the
culture in a more stable form? In other words, what ways would I have of
obtaining a way to make the real thing?

> I´m not convinced you can make authentic skyr without a starter but there
> are several recipes floating around the web somewhere that use a substitute.

One I saw -- and have used extensively -- was to use yoghurt (in Sweden
yoghurt is like the Greek stuff, but with less fat -- 3% unless you buy
the tasteless low fat versions -- and more pourable in consistency), and
strain it overnight. The result has a consistency a bit like cream
cheese, and have a tart, yoghurty, flavour. How close would this be?

> in recipes) but the traditional skyr is much more tart and and thicker, so
> it can be cut with a knife - it is usually diluted with milk or water and

Are you talking thick as in hard cheese, or as in cream cheese? Would it
still be spreadable? Since t is mixed I presume the latter.

> most people do. I, however, use unsweetened traditional skyr for lots of
> things - cakes, bread, dips and sauces, soups, stews - oh, and it is very

Any period (or at least perioid) recipies featuring it? I recall
mentions from the sagas of it being eaten, and of Grettir encountering a
maid carrying a skin full of it, but never a recipie.

> Berjaskyr - skyr mixed with bilberries and crowberries - is actually my

Crowberries as in Empetrum nigrum? I have a slight aversion to them
after subsisting to a large extent on them and iceland lichen (Cetraria
islandica) for a week a few years ago, but yes, the flavour could be
nice here. And V. myrtillus is *nice* in such contexts. I need to pick
some E. nigrum this summer and freeze. Definitely.

> favorite food ever. And hræringur - skyr mixed with cold oatmeal
> porridge -is one of the very few foods I really dislike. Unfortunately, my

This will have to be tried. It sounds interesting, and not nessesarilly
bad at all. If it turns out well I can see a cold lunch in SCA camps (is
it documentable? Pretty please with wildflower honey on top tell me it
is?). Would other porridges than pure oatmeal ever be used?

/UlfR

- -- 
Par Leijonhufvud                                      parlei at algonet.se
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