[Sca-cooks] Icelandic Food Question

[Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir]

Daniel Raoul asked:


>> give me the low down on hackla, at least that is what it sounds like when
he
> pronounced it.  It is a shark meat dish which is reputedly "processed" by
> burial in volcanic sand.  I need the low down on how it is indeed prepared

Hákarl is fermented shark (Greenland shark) that is cut into large chunks
and usually buried for months to allow certain unhealthful substances to
leak out, then air-dried. It is not buried in sand, though, but rather in
gravel, usually on or just above the beach. Some say it was often buried in
the cow byre but that is probably not true, it just smells like it. I'm not
too sure about these unhealthful substances - ammonia, probably, judging
from the smell. Many believe there is cyanice in fresh shark that has to be
cured out of it or it will be lethal or at least dangerous to eat but that
is not the case. The cyanide, I mean.

I have never cured hákarl myself but I can probably find a good
description - it is a fairly simple procedure and has not changed much for
centuries. The shark is usually hung up to dry for quite some time, the
longer the better, although I don't quite believe the stories of the 12-year
old hákarl of Langanes - there was a giantess involved in most of these
anyway so they are not quite credible. But I've eaten a year-old shark and
can vouch for the merits of a long curing.

In my childhood home, it was cut into 1 cm thick slices and placed on the
dinner table along with other Icelandic treats. Nowadays it is usually
served in bite-size cubes and washed down with ice-cold brennivín. It is
divided into two types, glerhákarl (glass shark), the part closest to the
hide which is chewy and semi-opaque, and skyrhákarl (skyr shark), soft and
tender inner parts. Both can have a pretty strong taste, not quite
dissimilar to a very strong well matured cheese.

> and what is traditionally drunk when it is consumed.  He said that what is
> drunk when it is consumed is a blackberry alcoholic drink euphemistically
> referred to as "death".

Brennivín is a caraway-flavored schnapps, there are no blackberries
involved. It is commonly referred to by its nickname svartidauði, or "black
death". The reason for the name is that when brennivín began to be produced
again in Iceland in 1935 after a 20-year prohibition, the label on the
bottle was made as sombre and uninviting as possible - black label, simple
white lettering - you could almost sense a skull or XXX or the word "Poison"
on the top of the label - someone began calling the schnapps "The Great
Plague" which almost immediately changed into "Black Death" and the name has
stuck ever since.

  Any information regarding folk customs involved in
> its consumption would be appreciated as well.

No real folk customs that I can recall. You usually pop a cube into your
mouth, chew on it to savor the taste or try to swallow as quickly as
possible, depending on how you really like the taste, and wash it down with
a mouthful of brennivín, preferably straight from the freezer. It is mostly
eaten in winter, especially during the Þorri feasts in late January/early
February.

Nanna