Norwegian Cuisine 101

Norwegian cuisine is a bit of a mystery to me. My mother-in-law was born in Norway, emigrating with her family as a young girl. Some dishes are family favorites. My beloved geek (the hubby) can eat dozens of Norwegian pancakes coated with butter and sugar or bowls full of meatballs. Besides that, there's not much in the way of Norwegian cuisine that  has made its' way over to our house. That is all about to change.

I love to cook, and I love cookbooks. The ones on my shelf are old friends, with mad notes scribbled in the margins, and lots of calorie-rich memories attached to them. Recently, I've been cooking a lot from The Pioneer Woman's two cookbooks. She's a meat and potatoes kinda recipe-writer, which is exactly how my beloved geek prefers to eat. I made extra meatballs and brought them over to my in-law's house the other day, and my mother-in-law started talking about Norwegian meatballs and Norwegian cuisine in general. I left with these:

Vintage Norwegian cuisine cookbooks!

 She has more, but this will make an interesting start. The biggest one is called "Fireside Favorites", published in 1975 by the Hillside Mission Circle of Hillside Lutheran Brethren Church is Succasunna, New Jersey. I would call it more Norwegian-American cuisine, but the recipes look interesting and fun.

The next one is called "Scandinavian Recipes" by Julia Peterson Tufford. It was published in 1973, as a 26th edition- updated from 1940. These recipes will be interesting to translate into modern form. They are definitely from the old country. There are recipes in here that scare me half to death (blood pudding, anyone?) and some that look delicious (Spun Sugar, for one). It should be fun to experiment with this one. I will definitely be kicking it old school, Old Country style, and making porridge.

The last is called "Scandinavian Smorgasbord" recipes by Karen Berg Douglas and published in 1991. The recipes are more modern, and include such interesting things as Danish Wine Cooler, Scandinavian Spiced Mead Honey Wine, open-faced sandwiches, and the traditional Smorgasbord. These recipes will be the most simple and easy to fit into our modern American life.

I will try my best to take pictures and document my adventures through Norwegian cuisine, if you promise to be gentle. This will be a fun adventure in the new year.