The Susanne

My first meet­ing with Steamy Kit­chen res­ul­ted in some pretty spec­tac­u­lar Asian spare ribs. They were so mouth­wa­ter­ingly (oh I’m sure it’s a word) deli­cious that I have since exper­i­mented with the recipe and found my own favour­ite version:

For the glaze, you’ll need

• 5 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tsp minced ginger
• ½ oinion, minced
• 7 tbsp Worcester­shire sauce
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp sambal oelek
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 dl water

Set the oven to 150 degrees Celsius, then pre­pare the glaze:

In a sauce­pan, heat the olive oil and add the onion and garlic. Sauté for a few minutes until soft but not brown, and add the remain­ing ingredi­ents. Let it simmer until it has thickened.

Pre­pare the ribs:

Brush on a layer of the glaze on both sides of the ribs, place them in a non-​stick oven dish. Cover with alu­minium foil, and then pop them in the oven for about three hours. Every 30 minutes, take the ribs out and brush on some more glaze. After 3 hours, take the ribs out and pop on the grill in the oven. Take off the alu­minium foil and brush on the remain­ing glaze, and put the ribs back in the oven until the glaze car­a­mel­izes and looks bubbly and yummy.

Take the ribs out before the glaze burns, and serve! With a salad, some coleslaw or onion rings or even plain old boiled pota­toes, these ribs will amaze you with whatever dish you choose to accom­pany them!

To make the per­fect Rote­mos, all you need is some swede, car­rots, butter, salt, pepper and water!

this feeds four:

• 1 kg swede, peeled and chopped in 2 cm pieces
• 2 car­rots, peeled and chopped in 2 cm pieces
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 3 tbsp butter or margarine

Boil the veget­ables until tender, then drain over a bowl to keep the water.

Mash the veget­ables with the butter and a little of the water from the cook­ing. Only use about 1 dl water or just enough to give the mash a lovely con­sist­ency. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

If you’re also making Pinnekjøtt, an altern­at­ive could be using cook­ing juices from the meat in the mash instead of the water from the veget­ables, but be care­ful so it doesn’t become too salty.

The swede is one of my favour­ite root veget­ables. Prob­ably the favour­ite in fact. Mostly because of its taste, but I must admit it prob­ably also has some­thing to do with the fact that the Eng­lish name for it is so hil­ari­ous! Astrid Lind­gren, the amaz­ing Swedish author of children’s books, the most famous of them prob­ably about Pippi Long­stock­ing (Långstrumpa), has also writ­ten about a little boy named Emil who is a very curi­ous little boy that gets into a lot of trouble and is sent to the shed (snick­ar­boden) as pun­ish­ment when he’s been caught in his wrong­do­ings. Once, he hoists his little sister Ida to the top of the flag­pole, and is con­sequently sent to Snick­ar­boden, hop­pfallera. Little Ida has a song which I love. She sings

‘Lille ko, lille ko,

(Little cow, little cow,)

lille söte koa.

(cute little cow,)

De va ho, de va ho,

(it was her, it was her)

Ho som sket på broa.

(her that shit on the bridge)

Lille jag, lille jag,

(little I, little I,)

lille söte Ida

(cute little Ida)

Jag vill ha, Jag vill ha,

(I would like, I would like,)

Rote­mos til midda.’

(Rote­mos for dinner.’)

Rote­mos is so deli­cious. Mashed swede and car­rots, with butter, salt and pepper. Will post the recipe. Yum!

Yeah, that’s right. It’s called stick meat. It has its name from the method of cook­ing, which is that it’s steamed by pla­cing birch sticks, in cross­ing layers in the bottom of a pot and pla­cing the meat on top, and filling with water until just below the meat. The sticks can be bought ready made, but it feels really good to col­lect your own — I think it makes the Pinnekjøtt taste extra deli­cious as well. In Pinnekjøtt, you use the dry cured side of mutton, although some people prefer using lamb which has a milder taste. I prefer mutton because it’s much tastier.

To feed 4:

2 kg dry cured side of mutton

birch sticks

Divide the meat along each rib. Then place in plenty of water at room tem­per­at­ure for about 24-30 hours depend­ing on the thick­ness of the meat.

Layer the birch sticks in the bottom of a large pot, and fill with water so it is level with the sticks.

Place the ribs on top, making sure they’re not in the water. Let it cook on a low heat for about 3 hours, refilling the water as needed.

If you want you can place the Pinnekjøtt under the grill for a few minutes just before serving to give it that brown touch.

Serve on warm plates with Vos­sakorv (tra­di­tional Nor­we­gian saus­age), pota­toes, mashed swede, mus­tard and a reduc­tion from the cook­ing juices.

Fårikål is the Nor­we­gian national dish, pos­sibly the Nor­we­gian coun­ter­part to the Irish Stew. It is made from large chunks of mutton which are layered in a large pot with cab­bage and pep­per­corns. It is so simple and so deli­cious! Although I sup­pose it’s one of those dishes that people either love or hate… Enough people love it that there is in fact a National Fårikål day on the last Thursday in Septem­ber, when it is cus­tom­ary to make an enorm­ous pot of Fårikål and invite loads of friends. Served with boiled pota­toes and Aquavit, and maybe some good wine or beer, everything’s set for a great party. Or as we Nor­we­gi­ans call it, Fårikålfest.

To feed 4:

• 1 ½ kg mutton, in chunks with the bones still on
• 1 ½ kg cabbage
• 3 dl water
• 4 tsp peppercorns
• 2 tsp salt

Cut the cab­bage into quar­ters, and layer in a large pot with the mutton. Sprinkle pep­per­corns and salt between each layer, and add the water. Bring to a boil, cover and then reduce the heat, let­ting it simmer on a low heat for about 2-3 hours or until the meat falls off the bone. I like to start cook­ing in the morn­ing and then let it simmer all day long, as this is def­in­itely a dish which gets better the longer it’s been ‘in the making’.

Serve piping hot with boiled pota­toes and a cold beer or ice water to drink!