Cookalong with Frida and Ciana tonight. They in Frisco, Dallas Texas, USA and me here in Sollentuna Sweden. Today we made a really traditional Norwegian dish, Norwegian ”Fiskepudding” which is a Fish Loaf.
The recipe for Fiskepudding is from my mothers recipebook and was on the menu in february 1957. She was a Chef and cooked for hundreds at a time. This recipe can be used for Fiskeboller (Fishballs) and Fiskekaker (Fish Cakes) as well. My mothers recipe for Fish Loaf was for 325 people and the ingredients were 60 kg fishfile. In the minced fish mix it was also 100 eggs, 40 l milk and cream, 4 kg flour, 4 kg margarine, 2 tbs nutmeg, salt to taste. In addition she had Fish Soup made from 60 l broth, 1, 8 kg flour, 15 kg cauliflower, 10 eggs, 2 l kefir (buttermilk/sourmilk/yoghurt), 2 l cream, 1,8 kg margarine, 6 kg carrots, 2 kg celery, 2 kg leek, sugar and salt to taste. She used 60 kg potatoes, 6 kg margarine, 6 kg carrots, 3 lemons as well for the other side dishes. All of this to a cost of 0, 72 NOK (8 cents) per person. That is about 11 NOK (1,30 USD) today.
I needed my mathskills to recalculate the recipeJ
Last night we ate it with boiled potatoes, a carrot stew and a green pea guacamole. Green peas are very common with fish dishes in Norway. Here I made it with a twist as Green Pea “Guacamole” with red onion, garlic and chili. The Fish Loaf we made from Cod filés. My Cod is from Norway and I have saved it for special dishes that need real quality fish.
It looks and tastes perfect. It even has this thin skin on top which it is supposed to have. My kitchen smells like memories of Norway and I again admire my mothers cooking skills. It is not easy to make fishcakes, fish loaf or fish balls and succeed. I have tried and failed. However this attempt I had decided to have the best quality fish and really study how to do every step right. It is hard though since my mother never wrote instructions. She wrote the quantities only. She knew how to do everything. So now I am writing instructions as I make her recipes and post them on my website. I feel so happy about the result. The Fish quality makes all the difference I am sure of that. In Norway she had access to the best fresh fish in season. And this year she lived in Bergen, a city on the west coast of Norway. They are famous for their fishmarket https://en.visitbergen.com/things-to-do/fish-market-in-bergen-p822253 And february is the season for amongs other cod. The best fish for Fiskepudding is Haddock, called Hyse in Norwegian. However I have not been able to get a hold of that here in Stockholm.
When making Fiskepudding it is important to keep all the ingredients cold until you mix them together. Also if you use frozen fish you need the egg in the mince. If you use fresh fish some people don´t add the egg since the fish will bind without. However that requires really good quality. So if you want to be sure add the egg. My Fish Loaf turned out a little better than Fridas and Cianas and I am sure the difference is the fish quality. Mine was fresh big filés directly from Norway, their´s were frozen blocks from Walmart. So now after I think they could have added two eggs.
Fiskepudding (Fish Loaf)
Ingredients:
- 500 g haddock or cod fillet
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tablespoons potato flour
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 dl whipped cream
- 3 dl whole milk
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
Instructions:
Cut the haddock/cod fillet into smaller cubes before it is ground in the food processor.
Add salt, nutmeg, egg and potato flour and run the mince until the mass is tough. Add the milk and cream a little at the time while stirring until the mince is smooth but quite loose. Do add the liquid slowly so it is absorbed before you add more. Test the consistency so it is not too loose and not too hard. Since you are going to make Fish Loaf it can be a little looser than if you want to make fishcakes or fishballs.
Empty the fish mince into a well-greased breadpan. Dunk the pan against the kitchen counter to get rid of bubbles.
You are going to bake the Fish Loaf in a waterbath, so set your oven to 120 Celsius Degrees. Fill a large deep baking tray half with water. Than you are going to place your Fish Loaf Pan inside the larger pan in the water. Bake for 1 hour.
After one hour I turned up the heat of my oven to 200 to get color on the top of my Fish Loaf. I left it like that for a few minutes until I saw it started to get a little golden, than I turned on the grill on top for a minute before I took it out. Time for this is hard to tell. It depends on your oven. It is just supposed to be nicely golden on top.
I was very happy with mine because it had the thin golden skin on top as it is supposed to have.
Carrot Stew
Ingredients:
- 3 carrots
- 3 spring onions
- 1 tbsp flour
- 2 tbsp margarine
- 3 dl milk
- 1 dl cream
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions:
Cut up the carrots and Spring onion in thin slices.
Heat the butter in the pan and lightly fry the vegetables in the butter before 1 tablespoon flour is sprinkled over.
Stir and pour in the milk a little at the time. Stir and see how the stew thickens. Then add the cream, stir and bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper.
Green Pea Guacamole
Ingredients:
- 250 g green peas, thawed
- salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lime, the juice
- 0, 5 red onion
- about 0, 5 red chili fruit
- 1 pot fresh coriander
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tomato
Instructions:
Mix the peas with salt, olive oil and lime juice.
Finely chop the red onion, chili and coriander and grate the garlic.
Remove the core and cut the tomato into small pieces.
Mix the mixed green peas with the other ingredients. Season with more salt if necessary.
Serving Fiskepudding:
We did eat a portion at once after making it with the stew and Green Pea Guacamole. Since the Fish Loaf was yet hot it was a bit hard to make the nice slices. However it tasted wonderful.
Fiskepudding can be eaten in many ways. Common is also just with white sauce and potatoes.
Overnight my “Fiskepudding” cooled and it was now perfect to cut in slices.
I love to fry slices of Fish Loaf in butter and eat on toast, or just plain sliced and cold on sandwiches.
Fish Loaf can also be great with Pasta. And I used a few slices that I cut in small cubes and made a pasta dish. Simple sauce with yoghurt, salt and pepper, some garlic and any herbs you like.
Bj's Live Kitchen 