Swedish 'Danish' beer

At a social gathering with my work I noticed this gem of dubious labelling: "Dansk Fadøl" (Danish draught beer).

Regarding it's Danishness, I will just say that I have NEVER seen this beer outside of Sweden. And as for a can of 'draught beer'.. well, I guess I don't really need to comment on that.

To be avoided.

Beans - Re-revisited

Before moving to Sweden, I was worried bout the availability of black beans here (having been really disappointed with options last time I looked around for beans in Danish supermarkets).

As it turns out, I needn't have worried at all. The Swedes apparently are much more up on exotic foods than the Danes.

After buying my first bag of black beans in Sweden, I saw just how different beans can be - unlike the black beans I bought in Geneva, these black beans needed only a little over one hour of boiling (after overnight soaking).

Ironically, I might not have to boil dried beans here, as it appears canned beans are again available at a more reasonable price relative to the dried ones...

Milk lids

A majority of dairy products here in Sweden are sold in TetraBrik-containers from TetraPak (not surprising given that TetraPak is indeed a Swedish invention).

Initially we were a little disappointed with the most commonly used carton here: it is not possible to close it again after opening it. While this annoyed me on a practical level because it meant I couldn't shake my favourite breakfast fermented dairy products before pouring them without spray-painting the kitchen, it was more a question of principle for my significant other: more specifically a question of germ control.


As it turns out, there exists a small, cheaply available unitasker to solve the problem. As the picture indicates, the makers (or sellers, anyway) of the product seem to be thinking more in line with Mrs. Throat-Erator.

(Asian) Fish soup

For my birthday this year, Mrs. Throat-Erator gave me dried curry and kaffir lime leaves - and then things got a little hectic, so I didn't have a lot of time to think about ways to use them for a couple of months...

But I thought they might add a nice touch to a fish soup - more specifically, I was thinking of some of the nice Asian fish soups I've tried, which I would like to emulate, so I tried it out.

Ingredients:
- oil
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 hot chillies, finely cut
- 2 fillets of pangasius, cut in chunks
- 2 fillets of tilapia, cut in chunks
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 leeks, cut in rings, white and green parts separated.
- 2 L (¹/₂ gallon) fish stock
- 0.5 g^[1] dried curry leaves
- 0.5 g^[2] dried kaffir lime leaves
- 250 g (¹/₂ lb) sunchokes, diced
- 3 tomatoes, diced coarsely
- 24 prawns

A little oil was heated in a large pot, and crushed garlic and finely cut chillies were sautéed for half a minute before adding chunks of fish.

After a couple of minutes, the diced onion and the white leek rings (white rings only) were added and after an additional couple of minutes, the fish stock and the dried leaves were added.

After adding diced sunchokes and large chunks of tomato, the pot was brought to a boil. The heat was reduced, the pot was covered and allowed to simmer for 10 minutes. The prawns and the green leek rings were added, and the pot was brought back to a boil and simmered for a final 5 minutes.

I was very happy with the result - the combination of of chillies, curry leaves and kaffir lime leaves resulted in exactly the fresh kind of taste I was going for, and although perhaps not traditional in Asian cuisine (although I admit I don't know) I thought the sunchokes added a really nice nuance to the flavour.

^[1] As much as you see in the picture..
^[2] ..more than you see in the picture!

Systembolaget - Part II / Swedish Beer - Part I

On my first trip to Systembolaget, I decided to start with the basics and got what I reckoned to be fairly standard, perhaps even classical, Swedish beers.

To be fair, I had only heard of Pripps Blue (a big Swedish brand - infamous amongst some Danes) and Spendrups Old Gold (because I'd seen it sold at Ikea in Switzerland). The rest was based on intuition.

But I like to think I wasn't far off the mark. Most of these were fairly similar pilsners.

Starting on the left, Three Towns (TT) was actually the biggest disappointment to me: very drinkable, but lacking in taste and character and ultimately - to my taste at least - boring. Perhaps a good place to start for those favouring cheap American beer.

Spendrups Old Gold on the other hand was the most extreme in the other direction - although perhaps not as extreme, the first beer it brought to mind was the German king of bitterness: Jever.

The rest of them are much more alike. I got a very favourable first impression of Wisby, bot not so much that I'm sure it really is significantly better than the others. Åbro Sigill is branded as an organic beer, but apart from that I couldn't tell any difference between that and Åbro Original.

If you look closely at the picture, you might notice that Anderssons says "starköl" on the label - although this translates as strong beer, this does not mean it is in a league of its own here (all beers pictured are 4.5-5.2% ABV). Rather it's a curious consequence of the 3.5% ABV limit for supermarket sales: all beers above this limit appear, by definition, to be "starköl" (which is ood to me, having grown up in Denmark where a standard pilsner is 4.6% ABV).

Minty beef wok

Last year when we had a lot of mint on the balcony we talked about trying this recipe from figs, lavender, and cheese. Before we got round to that we went away on vacation and effectively killed our herbs with negligence and then the summer was running out. As we have recently gotten started on growing mint again we decided it was about time we try the idea.

Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 head broccoli (separated into smaller bouquets)
- 250 g (~ ¹/₂ lb) rice noodles
- oil
- 1 red onion (cut in thin boats)
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1 red chilli, finely diced
- 200 g (~ ²/₅ lb) beef, thin strips
- fresh mint
- fresh basil

At first the sugar was dissolved in the soy, fish, and oyster sauce - this combined sauce was set aside for later use.

The broccoli bouquets were boiled in lightly salted water, then drained, and set aside. Likewise for the rice noodles.

A wok was placed on high heat, coated with a thin layer of oil and the onion was added - after stir frying for about a minute, the crushed garlic and the chilli was added. After an additional 30 seconds or so the strips of beef were added and stir fried till browned on all sides. Finally the combined sauce (see above) was added together with whole leaves of fresh mint and basil. I used more mint than basil - mainly because I had more mint, but I quite liked the result.

After a final 1-2 minutes the wok was removed from the heat and the minty beef was served on the noodles with broccoli on the side - and a beer.

New herbs

Having decided to make the most of our kitchen window sill during the period of long days we were considering ways to maximise our herb collection.

Mrs. Throat-Erator read up on the subject and learned that both basil, mint, and thyme should be able to sprout new roots if freshly cut stems are placed in a glass of water. We decided to try it out.

In the course of a couple of weeks all did as predicted, and they were planted in their own pots and are doing well several weeks later.

Garden cress

The new residence has east-bound windows and thus the herbs in the kitchen window sill can take full advantage of the 4 am sunrise we enjoy this time of year. Amongst other things we have been growing garden cress: A small tray was lined with cotton pads on top of which were placed seeds of garden cress. The cotton was watered daily and over the course of two weeks the seeds sprouted and grew to some 1-2 inches.


We generally use the cress for sandwiches, and a particularly classic combination is with boiled eggs on rye bread (and butter or a favourite substitute).

Bregott

Bregott (literally 'spread well' in Swedish) is very similar to a product which was introduced in Denmark when I was a child (the Danish one is called Kærgården which does not tell you anything about what the product is).

Bregott (like Kærgården) is a modern consumer product that maximises convenience and experience. You know the problem: butter is really hard straight out of the fridge and the altermnative products made from vegetable oils just do not taste the same. By mixing the two (as is done here) you get a material that is readily spreadable straight from the fridge and actually tastes good. I am not going to claim that it tastes exactly like butter, but it sure is a lot better than a product I tried in the US - let's call it I-can't-believe-it's-called-'I-can't-believe-it's-not-butter'...

Swedish 'Danish' rye bread

As regular readers here will now, I have been going on about whole grain dark rye bread repeatedly on this page.

For the first time in years, I am now living in a place where I can buy freshly baked rye bread (yes, so far I have been too lazy to try my own luck with it), which I've always considered a special treat.


Many things Swedish are much like things Danish... with a twist. So also for the rye bread which - despite being sold as 'Danish rye bread' - is actually a little sweeter than the original. The Swedes do like putting molasses in their breads. I have been buying one of these almost every week since moving to Sweden, and I am still enjoying them immensely.

Systembolaget - Part I

In the 19th century, having seen alcoholism as the scourge of mankind, the state of Sweden introduced to the world the concept of alcohol monopolies: the first was in Falun but other local monopolies soon followed. By 1955 all the local monopolies were united into a national alcohol monopoly: Systembolaget.

Systembolaget's monopoly isn't 100% - f.ex. rare wines and whiskies are sometimes sold at auctions, and supermarkets can sell anything with an alcohol content up to 3.5% ABV. I can't tell you why the limit was set at 3.5%, but I can tell you how I know the limit is at 3.5%: In supermarkets one sees all kinds of otherwise familiar beers (e.g. Carlsberg and Pilsner Urquel) that are suddenly only 3.5% ABV (or even less).

In times when the exchange rate was different many people in southern Sweden going to Denmark to buy alcoholic beverages, but currently the traffic is going in the opposite direction (as dictated by the current exchange rate). Supposedly Systembolaget used to be a very drab experience: more like going to the pharmacy and requesting specific items, but in recent years the stores have changed into much more customer friendly boutiques: one can walk the aisles and take a good look at everything. The goods are usually really well described and the staff is friendly.

Had I lived in Sweden 10 years ago I would have undoubtedly been frustrated with the lack of any cheap beers for mass consumption - but these days (being perhaps more mature) I appreciate the wide selection of quality products (and having moved on from student aid to something reminiscent of a real pay I can also much better abstract from the details of prices).

Hot dogs

No, there is nothing wrong with colours of your monitor: these sausages really are bright red.

I don't know why there's a tradition for bright red sausages in Denmark, but kids do seem to love them (I know I did). When I recently went to Denmark for a short trip one of my new Swedish colleagues - who is from Scania in south-western Sweden and therefore has been to Denmark several times - asked me to bring back some red sausages because he missed them so.^[1]

Since I was at it, nostalgia got the better of me and I decided to get a pack for myself and make some good old-fashioned hot dogs. I'm not sure what the colouring agent used is, but is has some water-solubility as the water I boiled them in was nicely red by the time they were done.

For the hot dogs I used ketchup, remoulade, roasted onions and cornichons - had I been in the mood for spending a little more time on it, I would have added finely diced raw onion and substituted the cornichons with home-made cucumber salad. Many next time

^[1] Since that I have discovered that a supermarket close to where I live actually does sell these, so hauling them back from Denmark seems silly...

Danish Beer - Part IV (Nørrebro Bryghus)

Over the past years, I've heard a number of good things about Nørrebro Bryghus in Copenhagen, but as it has only come into existence since I stopped living in Denmark (as a consequence of the relatively recent surge in micro-breweries in Denmark), it wasn't till recently that I had a chance to visit it myself.


When you enter you have the choice of going upstairs (restaurant) or downstairs (bar) - as I came mainly for beer I chose downstairs. I was happy to see that they have a good number of beers that they make themselves (I think 8), but from the way the menu was written I suspect there's isn't quite the same rotation of beers as certain other places I like (although clearly there was some rotation).

I went for a 4-beer sampler and had Ravnsborg Red (ale), Golden Spike (IPA), Globe Ale, and La Granja Stout. While I quite liked both of the first two, I didn't find the taste of the Globe Ale as interesting as the concept (an environmental impact conscious beer) .. and the stout was clearly a mistake on my part. If I had read the description more carefully, I would have surely noticed that it contains coffee - which I don't like. If you want a coffee stout, by all means, check it out. For snacking I had some beer-roasted almonds - which turned out to be hotter than the name suggested as they also contained chilli.


The night ended with Stuykman Wit and Vårsaison ('spring season') both of which were in the Belgian style. Would I return to this place? Yes, indeed I would.

Chunky Potato Salad

As I have been alluding to in several posts over the past couple of months another move was impending. As you might have guessed the recent lack of posts coincided (more or less) with the actual time of the move: Now I'm in Sweden and things are very similar to what I grew up with in Denmark and yet oddly - sometimes surprisingly - different. I'm sure I'll have more to say about that.

When I lived in Denmark I never really gave much thought to the differences between yoghurt and what is known as tykmælk ('thick milk'), which I used to consume on a regular basis. Then I moved to the US and realised I had only the option of yoghurt - and still didn't give much thought to it. I have to say that there were times when I missed a milk product similar to tykmælk - the taste and the texture being different from yoghurt - but I got by with yoghurt.

Now that I'm in Sweden, I'm realising that tykmælk is common Scandinavian tradition. The taste and texture is due to the different bacterial cultures used for fermenting the milk. Here in Sweden it's called filmjölk or simply fil. To my delight I can also get A-fil, which appears highly similar to the Danish product A38 (an old favourite of mine) in that it's fermented with lactobacillus acidophilus - in the following recipe I used A-fil, which as these things goes might be difficult to get if you're not in the Scandinavian countries, but for substituting I would choose a plain yoghurt, preferably a less viscous variety.

Ingredients:
- 8 potatoes, large chunks, boiled
- 2 eggs, hard-boiled, quartered
- 1/2 cucumber, cut in large chunks
- 3 tomatoes, cut in boats
- a hand-full of caper berries
dressing:
- 3 dL (a little more than 1 cup) A-fil^[1]
- 1 tbsp mustard
- salt
- pepper
- fresh basil, chopped
- one onion, finely chopped

The potatoes were rinsed and cut into largish chunks and boiled till tender - the water was discarded and the potato chunks were allowed to cool.
The eggs were boiled hard, cooled, then peeled and quartered.
The cucumber and tomatoes were cut in similarly large chunks.

For the dressing, mustard was stirred into the A-fil, then added salt, pepper, freshly chopped basil and finely diced onion.

Everything was mixed in a large bowl.

Served with fried lamb sausage, mustard, and ketchup.

UPDATE: It's actually better after having stood overnight in the fridge..

^[1] Lactobacillus acidophilus-fermented milk.

Roast with redcurrant jelly

My parents' garden always had (and still has) a number of different trees and bushes. Amongst the latter there is one or two redcurrant bush(es). Going through the garden as a child, picking fruits and berries and eating them taught me that redcurrants are notably more sour than the majority of other things found in my parents garden. Oddly enough, I remember it as if I didn't like them all that much - which is mainly odd because I loved a host other strongly sour things I could lay my hands on in that garden, such unripe apples and unripe gooseberries.

My mother would prepare redcurrants in a couple of different ways, but all of them were used as sides to meat dishes - something I found particularly odd as a child and which I have only grown to appreciate much later in life.

When my parents visited me last summer, they brought me a small jar of redcurrant jelly - the making of which would justify a post all of it's own if I ever get around it - which has been sitting in my kitchen pantry waiting for me to cook a proper roast to serve it with..

Ingredients:
- oil
- 1 small roast (beef)
- salt and pepper
- several small onions
- raw peanuts
- potatoes
- lettuce
- grape tomatoes
- mushrooms
dressing:
- grainy mustard
- oil
- red wine vinegar

The roast was seasoned with salt and pepper, then seared on all sides in a little oil on a hot pan.

An oven proof tray was filled with a layer of halved small onions, added enough water to almost cover the onions, and the pan-seared roast was placed on top before roasting in the oven at 200 C (400 F) for an hour.

While roasting the beef, raw peanuts were roasted in a large pan and then set aside in a small bowl (and I guess at least half of them disappeared as snacks while the rest of the meal finished).

The potatoes were boiled till tender in lightly salted water.

A simple salad was made from lettuce and grape tomatoes - a dressing was stirred from grainy mustard, red wine vinegar and oil.

A few minutes before it was time to take the roast out of the oven, rinsed and sliced mushrooms were roasted in a pan - when the roast came out of the oven, it was placed on a cutting board to rest for some minutes before slicing it and the water and onions were mixed with the roasted mushrooms.


Served with redcurrant jelly, now that I'm old enough to appreciate this combination..

Bier für Freunde

The German title translates as Beer for friends ^[1] and I guess it is the slogan for Wartmann's in Frauenfeld (Switzerland).

I can't say that I had very strong reasons for choosing Wartmann's for my beer shopping cart, but I was certainly not disappointed with this wine-size No.4: the Blanche Grand Cru. The little folder of information coming that came with the bottle compares the style to German Weissbiers, but it has a lot more in common with the Belgian beers mentioned on the homepage. Either way: A very flavourful and well-crafted beer.

Now, I would like to taste No.1, 2, and 3...

^[1] Appropriately I gave two of the three bottles I bought to a friend.

Sesame crusted köfte & cabbage salad

Many years ago, when I was still a child and my parents were encouraging (strongly) me to help with the cooking at home, I read somewhere about sesame crusted meat balls and was allowed to try to make them - although I seem to remember my parents being very sceptical about the concept. The final result didn't make a lasting impression on me (and the fact that we never made them again also speaks for their having not been received so well), but the concept was still somewhere in my head when recently faced with the challenge of using yet more sesame seeds before the impending (and dreaded) move.. In the end, an advertisement in a food magazine lead me to try out this version.

Ingredients:
yoghurt sauce:
- 3 dL (~ 1 1/4 cup) plain yoghurt
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp sambal oelek
- 1 tbsp orange juice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp cardamom
köfte:
- 640 g (~ 1.4 lb) ground lamb
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 20 g (2/3 oz) fresh mint, chopped
- 2 small onions, finely chopped
- 3/4 dL (1/3 cup) bread crumbs
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp allspice
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 egg
- 50 g (1.75 oz) white sesame seeds
- 50 g (1.75 oz) black sesame seeds
cabbage salad:
- 1 head red cabbage, finely sliced
- 1 small onion
- 3 tomatoes, diced
- 20 g (2/3 oz) fresh coriander, chopped
- 285 g (10 oz) corn kernels
- 2 raw pepperoncini, finely diced

First yoghurt sauce was made by stirring all the ingredients together. Then it was covered and stored in the fridge while making the rest.

For the köfte all the ingredients except for the sesame seeds were mixed and rolled into balls approximately 2-3 cm (1 inch) in diameter, then coated by dipping them into a mixture of black and white sesame seeds. The coated meat balls were lined up on a baking sheet and baked in the oven at 200 C (400 F) for 18 minutes.

The cabbage salad was made simply by stirring the ingredients together.

Served while the köfte were still hot from the oven.

I liked the result, and I seriously doubt that the meatballs I made in parents kitchen many moons ago were anything near as good.

Altes Tramdepot

On a recent trip to Bern, we decided to lunch at Altes Tramdepot, which turned out to be a large open room with long benches and hearty country-style food (which was quite welcome in our case as we were there on a cold day). The Old Tram Depot is also a small brewery - with four house beers on tap the selection isn't particularly wide, but the quality was good. We started with the 'helles' and 'märzen' (pictured below) and later had a round of the seasonal Canadian red ale. All in all we were quite pleased with everything, so if you find yourself thirsty in the capital of Switzerland, I suggest that you head down to the bear pits to visit Altes Tramdepot - on a warmer day, it would be perfect to sit on their terrace and enjoy the view over the river Aare and the historial town centre.

Lentil Salad

Looking for new ideas to use the last bit of lentils, I turned again to google for inspiration.. and landed (again) on food network. As a bonus, the recipe also requires red wine vinegar and bay leaves - two things I have way more of than I can reasonably use before moving. I won't claim that I've really added anything to Alton's recipe here, but it's brilliant, so it bears repeating..

Ingredients:
- 225 g (1/2 lb) brown lentils
- 2 small onions, quartered
- 1 glove garlic, whole
- 2 bay leaves
- salt
- pepper
- 4 slices thinly sliced bacon, fried and chopped
- 1/2 dL (1/4 cup) red wine vinegar
- 1/4 dL (1/8 cup) olive oil
- 1 tsp grainy mustard
- 10 g (1/3 oz) fresh thyme

The rinsed lentils were placed in a pot with water, onion, garlic, salt, and bay leaves. It was brought to a boil, covered, and let simmer for half an hour. The bay leaves were picked out (but I left in the onion and the garlic as I saw little point in removing them), and drained off excess liquid. The boiled lentils were allowed to cool off a little while preparing the rest.

The vinegar, oil, mustard, pepper, and thyme was whisked together in a large bowl.
The bacon was fried, and then chopped.

At last everything was stirred together - served immediately with a big of dark bread (although it was also delicious cold after hours in the fridge).

Krušovice Dark

Some months ago a new store opened up close to here - this store carries a curious blend of goods, including quite a number of specialities from eastern Europe.

I was quite happy to see that this includes a good number of Czech beers - something I've had far too little of since my trip to Prague many moons ago.

For reasons I can't quite divine I chose to pick a couple of Krušovice Dark. A deliciously smooth and balanced dark beer - of which I have to say 1 litre went down surprisingly fast...