Norwegian Cuisine - Meat and Game

Meat and Game

High cuisine is very reliant on game, such as moose, reindeer, mountain hare, duck, rock ptarmigan and fowl. These meats are often hunted and sold or passed around as gifts, but are also available at shops nationwide, and tend to be served at social occasions. Because these meats have a distinct, strong taste, they will often be served with rich sauces spiced with crushed juniper berries, and a sour-sweet jam of lingonberries on the side.

Preserved meat and sausages come in a bewildering variety of regional variations, and are usually accompanied by sour cream dishes and flat bread or wheat/potato wraps. Particularly sought after delicacies include the fenalår, a slow-cured lamb's leg, and morr, usually a smoked cured sausage, though the exact definition may vary regionally. Due to a partial survival of an early medieval taboo against touching dead horses, eating horse meat was nearly unheard of until recent decades, though it does find some use in sausages.

Lamb's meat and mutton is very popular in autumn, mainly used in fårikål (mutton stew with cabbage). Pinnekjøtt, cured and sometimes smoked mutton ribs that is steamed for several hours, is traditionally served as Christmas dinner in the western parts of Norway. Another Western specialty is smalahove, a smoked lamb's head.

Because of industrial whaling, whale meat was commonly used as a cheap substitute for beef early in the 20th century. A study by Fisheries Research Institute of Norway found that now whale meat has an “old-time” image and was considered to be an exclusive product rather than a commonly eaten food stuff. In 2011 Norwegian whaling season, only 468 minke whales out of the quota of 1286 were taken. While not common, eating whale meat is not controversial in Norway.