Norwegian

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Brunost (Brown Whey Cheese)

The Norwegian brown cheese, made by boiling the whey left over from making an ordinary cheese until the water is gone. The cheese pages on this site set out three ways to set milk — acid, a calcium salt, rennet. Brunost is not on that list, because nothing in it is set at all. Not a drop of coagulant goes in, and it is made from the thing all three of them throw away. The colour and the sweetness are the lactose browning against the whey protein, which is why it tastes of caramel rather than of cheese.

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Lefse (Thin Potato Flatbread)

Norway's paper-thin potato flatbread. There is one rule and it decides everything: the flour goes in only after the potato is completely cold. Worked into warm potato, whose starch is still holding its water, it takes about twice as much flour to come together — and that flour is what makes lefse tough. Potato riced and left overnight, with the least flour you can manage, rolls out thin enough to read newsprint through.

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Krumkake (Cone Wafer Cookie)

The Norwegian wafer baked thin in a patterned iron and rolled around a cone while it is still hot. The trick is not in the batter but in the timing: a wafer off the iron stays pliable for about ten seconds and then sets like glass, and bending it after that shatters it. So the cone has to be in your hand before the wafer comes off, and you can only bake one at a time. Nothing in it leavens anything — the thinness and the iron do all the work.

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Fårikål (Lamb and Cabbage)

Norway's national dish, and it has four ingredients: lamb on the bone, cabbage, whole black peppercorns and salt. Nothing is browned, no stock goes in, no aromatics are softened first. It is layered into a pot with a little water and left alone for two hours. Not stirring is the only technique in it, and it is what keeps the cabbage in pieces rather than collapsing. The pepper goes in whole and is eaten whole.