Norwegian Food For Santa Claus

The Norwegian "Nisse" is not like his American relative Santa Claus. The Norwegian "Nisse" differs from both Santa Claus and St. Nicholas. In modern Norway we have really two types of "nisser".

The name "Nisse" probably derives from St. Nicholas. But "nisser" - which are elves (or gnomes) are old figures which existed long before the birth of Christ. There are several types of "nisser" in Norway. The most known is the "Fjøsnisse" which is a "nisse" who takes care of the animals on the farms. The "Fjøsnisse" is very short and often bearded and lives in a barn or a stable. He wears clothes of wool and often has a red knitted hat. The "Fjøsnisse" often plays tricks on people. Sometimes he will scare people by blowing out the lights in the barn or he will scare the farm dog at night. You can hear the dogs bark! He can become very friendly with the people that live on the farm, but one should never forget to give him a large portion of porridge on Christmas Eve - or else he will play tricks for example move the animals around in the barn, braid the horses' mane and tail, and other tricks like that.........

The Norwegian Santa Claus "Julenisse"

Of course we also have a Christmas nisse (julenissen) which in most homes is more or less identical to Santa Claus. The "Julenisse" brings presents to all the nice children on Christmas Eve. He is not as shy as Santa though, since the "julenisse" delivers the presents himself. He does not come down the chimney in the middle of the night.

Christmas pork ribs (juleribbe) from Norway

INGREDIENT:
0,5 kg pork ribs pr person

DIRECTION:
Saw through the bone so the ribs can be pulled apart for serving. Score the rind. Rub with salt and pepper 1 or 2 days before roasting. Pour 2 dl (3/4 cup) water into the roasting dish, and cover the ribs with foil. Roast in the middle of the oven at 230°C for 30 - 40 minutes. Remove the foil and lower to 200°. Roast spare ribs for a further 1 1/2 hours and midribs for a further 2 - 2 1/2 hours. Leave for 20 minutes before carving.
Serve with pork sausage patties, Christmas sausages, the juice, apples, prunes, red cabbage, red whortleberries and any other family favourites.

"Pinnekjøtt" - salted lamb ribs

Pinnekjøtt is rib of lamb, which has been either salted and dried or salted, smoked and dried. Pinnekjøtt has a good deal of bone fat, so it is best to allow about 500 g per person if it is served on its own; if it is served together with sausages, allow 350 g per person.

Separate the salted ribs from each other with a sharp knife and leave them in cold water overnight
Go out in the woods and find enough fresh branches from a birch tree (finger thick) to cover the bottom of your pot. Remove the bark.
Put the branches in your pot and and fill it with enough water to cover the branches
Place the ribs over the branches and cook until the meat loosens from the bone (apprx. 2 hours)
Be careful so the pot doesn't cook dry - refill water as necessary
Before serving, give the ribs a few minutes under the grill of your oven.
"Pinnekjøtt" is normally served with mashed kohlrabi (turnip) or rutabaga, boiled potatoes and mustard. Don't forget the aquavit and cold Christmas beer.
Mashed rutabaga

Approx. 1 kg rutabaga, water, pepper, salt, cooking juices from the "pinnekjøtt"

Peel and slice the rutabaga and cook it until tender in lightly salted water. Drain off the excess water. Pour 1/4 cup of cooking juice from the "pinnekjøtt", add salt and pepper and mash the rutabaga. You can use milk instead of cooking juices, then you should add a tablespoon of butter, too.

Lutefisk

About 2 kg lutefisk
1 l water
3/4 dl salt
Put the fish pieces in the boiling salt water and boil. Watch carefully so as not to overcook; lutefisk cooks quickly. Opinions differ on what to serve with lutefisk. One delcious suggestion is pease-pudding, small pieces of fried bacon, the hot bacon fat, French mustard, and always piping hot boiled Ringerike potatoes

Rice Cream (creamy rice pudding/porridge)
(serves 4)

3/4 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups rice porridge
Serve with red fruit sauce on top. Rice Cream is often served with an almond hidden in it. The person who finds the almond gets a prize - usually a marzipan pig or a delicious Norwegian chocolate

Gingernuts

250 g butter
125 g light syrup
250 g icing sugar
1 dl cream
400 g wheat flour
2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon cinnamon
100 g finely chopped almonds
Bring the butter, syrup, cream, and icing sugar to a boil. Cool and stir in the remaining ingredients. Knead the dough thoroughly and roll unto cylinders about 3 cm in diameter. Put in a cool place until the next day. Cut thin slices of the dough and bake at 175 C for 10 minutes.

Norwegian Doughnuts


3 eggs
250 g sugar
5 dl sour cream
1 1/2 dl milk
4 teaspoons horn salt
2 teaspoons cardamom
750 g wheat flour
Beat the eggs and sugar. Whisk the sour cream. Blend all the ingredients gently. Leave the dough until the next day. Roll into 1-cm thick sheets, Cut out doughnuts and deep fry in lard.

Cones


3 eggs
150 g sugar
150 g butter
150 g wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
Beat the eggs and sugar stiff. Add the melted and cooled butter and flour mixed with cardamom. Let the dough rest for 1 hour. Put a teaspoonful of dough at a time on a "krumkake" iron and bake until golden. Roll each cookie at once into a cone or shape of a cup for a bowl shape. Cones can be filled with whipped cream and berries

Sand Cakes


1 egg
100 g almonds
200 g butter
250 g wheat flour
100 g sugar
Blanch and grind the almonds. Crumble the butter and flour together. Add the almonds, egg, and sugar. Mix the dough and let it rest for an hour in the refrigerator. Press into "sandkake" tins. Bake at 175 C for 10-15 minutes and leave to cool a little before turning out of the tins.

Gingersnaps



150 g syrup
100 g sugar
1 1/2 dl cream
100 g butter
450 g wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon aniseed
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon horn salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
Bring the syrup, sugar, and cream to a boil. Add the butter and cool the mixture until lukewarm. Sift in the dry ingredients. Keep the dough cold until the next day. Roll the dough thin and cut out the snaps and lay them on a greased tin. Put half a blanched almond on each. To give the cookies a gloss, they can be brushed with egg white. Bake for about 5 minutes at 175 C.

Serina Cakes


250 g wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
150 g butter
100 g sugar
1 egg
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and vanilla sugar, and crumble the butter in. Add the sugar and beaten egg. Knead thoroughly and roll into a cylinder. Cut slices and shape into small balls. Place on the baking tin and press down gently with a fork. Brush with egg and sprinkle with chopped almonds or coarse sugar. Bake at 175 C.

Goro


1 3/4 l cream
125 g sugar
1 egg
500 g wheat flour
2 teapoons cardamom
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
225 g butter
100 g lard
1. In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until thoroughly blended. Mix in the cream and melted butter. Sift together the flour, cinnamon and cardamom; stir into the egg mixture. Refrigerate dough for at least an hour.
2. Heat goro iron and lightly coat with grease. On a floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into circles to fit your goro iron using a paper pattern. Place onto heated iron, close and cook, turning once, until golden. Carefully remove from the iron, and cut into thirds while still warm.

Norwegian children always remember a little gnome Nisse at Christmastime. He guards all the farm animals, and he plays tricks on the children if they forget to place a bowl of special porridge for him.
Norway has its gift-bearing little gnome or elf. Known as Julebukk or "Christmas buck," he appears as a goat-like creature. Julebukk harkens back to Viking times when pagans worshipped Thor and his goat. During pagan celebrations a person dressed in a goatskin, carrying a goat head, would burst in upon the party and during the course of evening would "die" and return to life.

During the early Christian era, the goat began to take the form of the devil, and would appear during times of wild merry-making and jubilation. By the end of the Middle Ages, the game was forbidden by the Church and the state. In more recent times the goat has emerged in the tamer form of Julebukk.

A favorite holiday cookie is called a sand kaker is made by mixing 2 cups of butter and sugar, 4 cups of flour, and 1 cup of chopped almonds. This pressed into a tin, baked until golden brown, and cut into squares.

In the dark afternoons, in the Viking tradition, children go from house to house asking for goodies.



Norwegians eat lye-treated codfish, and wash it down with boiled potatoes, rice porridge, gingerbread, and punch.

Morten Sundbeck.

THE LAND OF THE VIKING`S!

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Norwegians are very close to the North Pole!



Norwegians strongly hope for the magic of snow for the holydays! Christmas in Norway begins with the Saint Lucia ceremony on the 13 December. At the crack of dawn, the youngest daughter from each family puts on a white robe with a sash, a crown with evergreens and tall-lighted candles, accompanied by the other children, the boys dressed as star boys in long white shirts and pointed hats. They wake their parents, and serve them coffee and Lucia buns, lussekatter. The custom goes back to a Christian virgin, Lucia, martyred for her beliefs at Syracuse in the fourth century. The Saint Lucia ceremony is fairly recent, but it represents the traditional thanksgiving for the return of the sun.

The Christmas tree, juletre, spruce or pine tree usually, are often decorated with candles, apples, red harts, cornets, straw ornaments, balls of glass and tinsels, all depending on what you like. The homes have a scent of resin, hyacinths, red tulips, spices and tangerines.

Some children, especially in the country still believe in and remember a little gnome or elf, fjøsnissen at Christmas time. He is told to guard all the farm animals, and he plays tricks if the children forget to place a bowl of special rice porridge, risengrynsgrøt, in the barn or outside for him. This is old superstition. Norwegians also love to eat this porridge on the 23 December, lillejulaften, and then it holds a magic almond inside. The one who finds it gets a prize. Some eat the rice porridge for lunch on the 24th. Perhaps in the evening they have some gløgg, it is a spicy drink (you can add some red wine if you like), with raisins and chopped almonds. Julaften, on the 24 December, a lot of people go to church service before they gather at home around the table for a nice Christmas Eve dinner. The dinner can consist of a rib with a good crackling, ribbe, (served with "cabbage à la norvégienne", surkaal, potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, sprouts, prunes and brown sauce), salted and dried ribs of mutton, pinnekjoett, (served with potatoes, carrots and mashed swedes), or lye-treated codfish, lutefisk (served with potatoes, bacon and pea stew). For dessert: rice blended with whipped cream served with a red sauce, riskrem, caramel pudding, cherry mousse, or whipped cream blended with multer (orange, wonderful berries found on the mountain - looks like rasberries).



In the evening Santa Claus, julenissen, arrives with gifts. Often it is snowing. In the days between Christmas and New Years Eve, romjulen, the children sometimes go from house to house in the afternoon asking for sweets, this tradition is called "Christmas buck", julebukk. The tradition harkens back to the
Viking times when pagans worshipped Thor and his goat, but just a few children keep up the tradition today.



On Christmas Day a lot of people have a big brunch at noon or dinner in the afternoon for friends and family. It is done the Italian way and can last for several wonderful hours!

Traditional cakes and cookies made at Christmas can be julekake (with raisins), kryddekake, delfiakake, rosettbakels, fattigmann, smultringer, goro, silkekaker, pepperkaker, kokosmakroner. Different nuts, fruits, figs, dates and sweets also belong to the celebration. God Jul! (Merry Christmas!)