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There are so many mistakes made with surströmming, I hardly know where to start. Although it comes in a can, it should be stored cold. If you open it and it lo
by rags2riches 8y ago
There are so many mistakes made with surströmming, I hardly know where to start.
Although it comes in a can, it should be stored cold. If you open it and it looks something like mushed up tuna, as I have seen in some Youtube challenge videos, something has gone terribly wrong. Don't eat it!
Unless you have a can of filets, you should gut and clean out your strömming. Keep the roe if you get a lady fish, the rest of the innards you don't want. I have never seen a properly gutted strömming on Youtube. And of course you get the bones out. Unlike pickled herring, where the acidity softens the bones, the spine of a surströmming is not pleasant to eat.
Eating it indoors is fine. You don't need a bucket of water to open it in. A napkin to protect against spray due to the pressure is fine. Pros just tilt the can slightly and open it without even a napkin. The smell is admittedly potent but it's not a chemical weapon. All the crazy stories about how the smell is impossible to get rid of are told by people who don't eat it themselves, in my experience.
The taste is obviously quite strong. A little bit goes a long way together with plenty of bread and potatoes. It is also very salty, so you will probably want to drink something.
And most importantly, expectations matter. Presentation matter. The reactions of people around you matter. If you have brought a can of the most disgusting food in the world, a bucket to barf in and your mates are giggling and ready to record your reaction, you will most likely not enjoy surströmming.
However, if you come to a set table, where the strömming is presented as actual food, you can feel how the other guests are enjoying themselves and you are also there to do the same, you are much more likely to actually do so.
I have been present several times when people have had surströmming for the first time. Some people liked it, some people didn't. Most make a comment about the smell. But they have all tasted it without hesitation. Not a single one gagged the slightest. None of them were in it for the thrill or the challenge. They were just guest there to enjoy a dinner with friends.
- etblg 8y agoDamn this makes an incredible amount of sense. I'm rethinking all the times I've seen someone eat it and barf on youtube now.
- Symbiote 8y agoI ate it here in Denmark with a friend from Luleå, in far northern Sweden. 1) He bought fillets, because that was easier to find in Malmö, but said the real northerners wouldn't approve. Hence he hadn't tried the fillets before, but said the taste was the same, and it saved the annoying gutting. So buy the fillets. 2) We went outdoors; it makes for a nicer party without worrying about someone spilling the brine. Open the can, then rinse the fillets in water. I'd eat it in a house, I'm not sure I'd eat it in an apartment outside Sweden. 3) Have prepared all the rest: flatbread (tunnbröd), crushed small new potatoes (almond potatoes if you're in Sweden), finely diced red onion, chopped fresh dill, chopped fresh chives. Crème fraîch is optional, but a good idea for first-timers to mask the taste a little. 5) Serve bread + potatoes + a little fish (3cm cut up and spread around) + optional cream + dill + chives. I've done this three times now, with the Swede and later alone. I/we haven't forced anyone to try it, and almost everyone has eaten at least one whole open sandwich. Several came back next year, which — as you say — helps normalize it. I think it tastes like an extremely strong hard cheese. Once a year is enough, however.
- amarant 8y agoPlease don't eat it in an apartment, not even in Sweden. That shit is neighbor cruelty //Concerned Swede
- nemetroid 8y agoIf you're familiar with your neighbours, and tell them beforehand, it's fine (at least in northern Sweden).
- rags2riches 8y agoI've never had a single complaint, nor have anyone I know. Have you ever had reason to complain about the smell of surströmming from a neighbor?
- amarant 8y agoI don't think any of my neighbors ever tried, at least not since I moved to an apartment. That move did coincide with me moving to Stockholm though, and it seems this atrocious tradition has less foothold here then back home in Dalarna(and I would guess, northern sweden too). I have had reason to complain about neighbors eating it while living in a villa, but it seemed unfair to complain so I used incense instead :) i guess maybe I'm just sensitive
- convexity 8y ago> And most importantly, expectations matter. Presentation matter. The reactions of people around you matter. If you have brought a can of the most disgusting food in the world, a bucket to barf in and your mates are giggling and ready to record your reaction, you will most likely not enjoy surströmming. Overexaggertion is an Internet currency. Everyone probably has a personal experience with this. For example, someone on reddit exaggerating the severity of weather patterns in the town you grew up in (you know it ain't that bad), tastiness of Nutella, painfulness of stepping on Lego bricks etc. I personally found the Youtube videos of people overreacting (playing up to camera) to benign food I grew eating laughable and eye-roll worthy.
- zakk 8y ago> Overexaggertion Overexaggeration is not a word, you are overexaggerating... oops... exaggerating.
- taneq 8y agoAre you saying there's no appropriate level of exaggeration to exceed?
- leoc 8y agoThere is no possible level of exaggeration which could ever be enough.
- walkingolof 8y agoIt’s posdible that the poster is Swedish, where the direct translation of “overexaggeration” is “överreaktion”
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- jwandborg 8y agoOver-reaction would be the direct translation. Over-exaggeration would translate back to Swedish as överöverreaktion.
- nas 8y agoI enjoyed this video a lot (how to eat it properly): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDr0Kbbw6D0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDr0Kbbw6D0 I love his voice and his accent. I've never tried it myself but I would be willing to if I could buy some. Eating it straight out of the can seems like eating horse radish straight from the jar. Of course it is going to taste awful.
- kbart 8y agoExactly. I have eaten it several times and doing it right, that's nothing like you see on these infamous videos (most of them are grossly exaggerated anyway to get more views). Eating rare steak or raw sushi is probabbly more extreme if you take food poisoning into account.
- michaelg7x 8y agoIs this the same as lűtfisk? I was once administered this at my then girlfriend's parents' place at Christmas. They'd bought me some ham as a backup for when they'd stopped laughing at my expression! I love Sweden and the Swedes, though, and watching adults do the raketen around a pole at mid-summer is wonderful.