SC - Dishes made by the whole family Was: US bars UK

[Decker, Margaret]

- -----Original Message-----
From: Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir [mailto:nannar at isholf.is]
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2000 7:33 PM
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: SC - Dishes made by the whole family Was: US bars UK



Adamantius wrote:
>
>My wife's theory is that to some extent these dishes help keep families
>together (bearing in mind that to her and her culture of origin, family
>unity is more important than air).


A good example of this would be Icelandic laufabrauð, which is only made for
Christmas. Laufabrauð (literally: "leaf bread" but sometimes translated as
"snowflake bread") are extremely thin, round cakes that are deep-fried.
Before they are fried, each cake is cut with a sharp knife or a special
roller into various intricate patterns. This is more or less impossible to
manage for one person because the dough will dry out very quickly, and
difficult enough for two or three. It is essentially a (extended) family
affair and is a unmissable part of the Christmas preparation for those who
grew up with it. This is a custom from my home region in the North but has
spread all over Iceland (although there are some indications that laufabrauð
used to be made all over Iceland in the 18th century and earlier). You can
see a description, a recipe and some photos here:

http://jol.ismennt.is/english/laufabraud-joe.htm

Cutting patterns into laufabrauð was probably the only thing remotely
related to cooking that I ever saw my father involved in during my
childhood. It is something that involves all the family; children as young
as three or four can take part, as well as great-grandfathers who have been
cutting for the last 80 years or so, and it is all very enjoyable. Besides,
it wouldn´t be Christmas without laufabrauð to eat with the smoked lamb.

Nanna




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