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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Vestland
Sheep’s head salted, smoked and dried, steamed and served with potato and rutabaga puree. It’s a tradition of Voss and Hardanger, in Vestland, eaten mainly in the weeks before Christmas.
Traditional dish from Vestland
Also known as: sauehode, smalahovud
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Smalahove — Vestland, Norway
Smalahove is a whole sheep’s head prepared by salting, smoking and drying, then steaming or boiling in water. Each serving is half a head.
It’s a tradition of Voss and Hardanger, in Vestland. The origin lies in frugal cooking: when food was scarce, nothing of the animal was wasted. For a long time it was everyday food, considered too humble for celebrations, and over time it became a dish for special occasions.
In Voss the skin is left on before drying; in other areas, such as around the Sognefjord, the head is skinned. The tradition is kept mainly in the weeks before Christmas, when many families and restaurants in the west serve it.
It’s accompanied by boiled potatoes and rutabaga puree, and beer and akevitt are commonly on the table; in the past, fermented milk was drunk. Those who prepare the dish in Voss recommend first removing the pupil and the ear cartilage; the softest part, they say, is the jaw. First-time tasters often compare the flavor to smoked lamb ribs, another Christmas recipe from the west.
Vestland
A tradition of Voss and Hardanger, in Vestland.
Salted, smoked and dried sheep’s head; potatoes and rutabaga for the puree.
Half a head per person, served hot, with boiled potatoes and rutabaga puree. It’s eaten with fork and knife, mainly enjoying the meat of the jaw.
Mainly in the weeks before Christmas, in Voss and other parts of western Norway.
Your questions
A sheep’s head salted, smoked and dried, steamed and served with potato and rutabaga puree.
It’s a tradition of Voss and Hardanger, in Vestland, in western Norway.
Mostly in the weeks before Christmas, in homes and restaurants in western Norway.
Flavors of Norway
Norwegian potato-based spirit flavored with spices, especially caraway and dill, and aged in oak barrels. It has European geographical indication as Norsk Akevitt; linjeakevitt barrels cross the equator by ship before bottling.
Stew of bone-in lamb and cabbage, layered with whole black peppercorns, slowly cooked and served with potatoes. It was chosen as Norway’s national dish in a popular vote in the 1970s and reaffirmed in 2014.
Creamy fish soup from Bergen, made with a fish-bone broth, vegetables cut into thin strips, fish meatballs and cream. A touch of vinegar and sugar gives it a slightly sweet-and-sour flavor that sets it apart from other Norwegian fish soups.
Large roll of sweet fermented dough with butter, cinnamon and sugar, topped with more sugar after baking. It’s a specialty tied to Bergen’s Hanseatic history.
Sámi stew of reindeer meat with potato, carrot and onion, slowly cooked in broth. It is the Sámi people’s celebratory dish, served at weddings, confirmations and other celebrations; the name comes from Northern Sámi.
Stew of klippfisk, the air-dried, salted cod, with tomato, potato, onion, pepper and olive oil. The recipe reached the coast of Møre og Romsdal through the cod trade with Spain and Portugal, and it is a festive dish in Kristiansund and Ålesund.
Sponge cake covered with meringue and almonds, sliced in half and filled with vanilla cream. It originated in the 1930s at a café in Harstad, Troms, and was voted Norway’s national cake; it is also called verdens beste, “the best in the world.”
Clear broth of lamb and beef with cubes of meat and meatballs, seasoned with ginger and nutmeg, served with potato and carrot. It is a festive dish of Trøndelag; the version Festsodd fra Trøndelag has a Norwegian geographical indication.
