[Sca-cooks] Icelandic Food Question

[Mark S. Harris]

Daniel Raoul asked:
> Is Nana onboard?  I've an Icelandic food question that oddly enough came
> from my boss at work.  Could she or for that matter anyone else in the know
> 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
> 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".   Any information regarding folk customs involved in
> its consumption would be appreciated as well.


If I remember correctly this dish is talked about in Nanna's latest book.

Here is a bit of info from this file in the FOOD-BY-REGION section of
the Florilegium:

fd-Iceland-msg    (75K)  1/11/02    Food of medieval Iceland. Recipes.

> It is just boiled in salted water (I´m not sure how long because I always
> buy it ready-made nowadays), then cooled and placed in fermented whey for a
> couple of months. Or years. It takes on that sour taste peculiar to
> whey-preserved foods, which doesn´t go well with spices anyway. It is
> usually eaten as a part of a platter or buffet of similar traditional
> Icelandic food (like sheep´s head and head cheese, whey-preserved meat and
> blood and liver sausages, dried fish, whale blubber (but that is impossible
> to get now), fermented shark and so on. Usually accompanied with lots of
> Black Death (potent Icelandic schnapps) or vodka. Usually served at feasts
> during the month of ?orri (Jan. 20th to Feb. 19th, Old Icelandic calendar).
>
> Nanna


Okay, from Nanna's book:

Hákarl, fermented shark, usually buried for months to allow certain

unhealthful substances to leak out, then air-dried. 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.

--
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris            Austin, Texas          stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****