this entry is much shorter and more narrowly focused than the first, i'm afraid. i'm just here to tell you about scandinavian breakfast.
i got a wild hair up my ass a few weeks ago and decided i wanted to drink some aquavit, which if you've never heard of it before or had a chance to taste it, is this rightgeously strong (in both alcohol content and flavor) vodka-ish liquor that scandinavian people drink just morning, noon, and night. my dear aunt mary gave me my first taste a few years back and friends, on that day i can tell you that i truly knew what it meant to be norwegian. or danish, maybe. or finnish. lithuanian? okay so i'm a little fuzzy on my EXACT ethnicity, but there have been suggestions of scandinavia and at some point you just have to pick something, right? besides, even a cursory glance at my furrowed brow, set shoulders, and hearty, healthy demeanor would scream "norse thunder god" at anyone, wouldn't it?
anyway the wikipedia article that i linked to above has a wealth of information about the stuff, more than i really care to try and summarize here, except to point out that aquavit is consumed in two ways, primarily:
1. with pickled herring, at breakfast, and
2. chased with beer.
so i thought why not combine these two time honored rituals and have a little scandinavian feast (not exactly a smorgasbord, i know, but i'm trying) for my first meal today? i had to substitute sardines for the pickled herring (well i didn't HAVE to exactly, i just saw some sardines at the grocery store the other day and i'm lazy...it's close enough fer crissakes) but everything else is pretty straightforward - you've got your aquavit. aalborg brand, in case you're curious. it was really hard to track a bottle down, especially considering i work at a freaking liquor store, but it's pretty cheap and not awful for the price. you've got your pickled herring, or other somehow preserved fish. and you've got your beer, in this case leinenkugel's, the national beer of wisconsin, which my parents were kind enough to bring a whopping 2 cases of down with them when they came to visit last week. so check this out. it's kind of like a tequila shot. 3 steps.
1. chew up a good portion of the fish. well, not a LOT, but maybe like a good pinch in between your finger tips. i would advise rinsing your damn hands off immediately afterwards because, at least for the sardines i had, the stuff that they're preserved in (salted soybean oil in this instance) just stinks all to hell. chew it up and swallow most of it but don't worry about cleaning every speck off of your teeth with your tongue or anything, in fact try to leave a little if you can. you'll see why later.
2. take your shot of aquavit up in your hand there, and exclaim "SKOL!" in a loud, booming, gregarious voice if you're alone, or if you're with a partner, make sure to use whatever appropriate toast comes to mind while maintaining eye contact for the entire duration of the toast until you take the shot. it's how they do it in scandinavia and there's a lot to be said for the solemnity that it gives the whole ritual. sounds ridiculous, i know, but it's true. shoot the shot.
3. IMMEDIATELY take a swig of beer - only a swig kids, this is breakfast after all. we took this whole process for a dry run the night before and i found out that you really only need a swig to cover the first splash of the taste across your tongue, and any more than that threatens to rinse out your mouth TOO much, because, here comes the kicker. the salty bits of sardine left in your mouth come into play, complementing the strongly herbal flavor of the aquavit and the thin but definitely noticeable hops flavor from the beer, and you get this wonderful mixture of tastes and sensations, along with a nice kick from the aquavit (80 proof, after all) all of which proceeds to set off a small but delightful fire in your mouth, stomach, and brain.
the hardest part was chewing up and swallowing some of the sardine first thing in the morning. it's gross, there's no getting around it, and while i didn't have much a problem getting it down on our dry run the night before i was also fairly loosened up by that point, whereas at 7:45 am it seemed a lot less appealing, but if you can stomach it there really is nothing quite like the combination of tastes and textures and feelings - it's like a salty, dry, herbal, smooth, tingly blast that gets you ready to go out and carve a longboat out of a single tree or design some ergonomically intelligent furniture or something. they flavor the aquavit with caraway, anise, fennel, and all these other herbs that linger in your mouth for quite a while after you've taken the shot, and i can tell you from experience it's a lot to handle just by itself, or even with a beer chaser (although it's doable with the right kind of beer to wash it down, just not the same flavor explosion as with the fish too) but as i said, if you're truly one of the brave of palate it's a pretty singular experience, and i promise you will want to charge forward into the day like the viking warriors of old - i know i did.
that'll do it for this installment of the oh dear god why taste test, i'll be brainstorming for what to try next and am always open to suggestions (booze is always a fave, followed by exotic fruits and veg...i'd like to avoid weird meat as much as i can but if i have to take it there in the name of science i will...menudo anyone?) but until then remember..."how bad could it be" are famous last words
take care all
d
