Finally a new potato
It's finally time for new potatoes! This important and nutritious ingredient can be used in all kinds of cookery and is both cheap and durable. When fresh, it's a meal in itself. Here are some traditional and new potato recipes.
From the early 1800s, the potato was the most important vegetable for many households in Nord-Troms. Every family eventually had a small potato field. This important vegetable was easy to grow in the north. What's more, it was full of vitamins and was both cheap and durable. Potatoes were stored in root cellars and could be used all year round for most types of cooking. Natural fertiliser was used, and fish waste was also used as fertiliser. This was also called kraks.
For many, the potato became an important source of income or they exchanged it for other foods. Many could have up to two acres of potato land, and needed help during the recording period. The work was often paid for with a few buckets of potatoes.
In the past, the most common potato varieties were rose and sweet potato. Eventually, other varieties were added, such as almond. The potato was an important ingredient for dinner, but was also used in flatbread and lefse.
Sometimes the Sea Sami fried potatoes on the embers. Such fried potatoes taste better than boiled potatoes. Half-grown boys in particular were very diligent about frying potatoes on embers or in hot ashes.
Andres Larsen, About the Sea Sami
In the past, potatoes were always planted and harvested during the growing season. Then the potato would be fresh, juicy and not shrivelled up in the bin. These rules are still followed by some, including in Skardalen.
Hear Ruth Larsen from Skardalen talk about potato harvesting
Particularly during the war, potato flour was made here. It was a painstaking process. A bucket of potatoes yielded about 1kg of potato flour. Common uses: To fry cleaned, sliced raw potatoes with meat in a pan. Eaten with bread. Children used to fry raw potato slices directly in the pit in the barn while they waited for their parents to finish. Boiled potato scraps were used to make potato cake or potato tea.
From Food traditions in Skibotn, Traditional food from North Troms, 2018
Sometimes there was so little fish that there wasn't enough for dinner. Potatoes then became the main course. Dried cod heads were boiled together with the potatoes. It was also common to boil sheep's tallow, stuff it into a sheep's stomach and hang it up to dry. Then I cut pieces of it and pan-fried it to add flavour to the potatoes. This is called «budetbáidna».
From the booklet Holmenes sjøsamiske gård
Here are some traditional and new recipes with potatoes from North Troms:
Potato pudding
750 gr potatoes
7 dl milk
2 tablespoons butter
3-4 tablespoons potato flour (egg powder)
3 tablespoons of sugar
almond drops
Grind the freshly boiled potatoes 1-2 times in a grinder or crush finely with a mallet. Bring the milk and butter to the boil and add the potato mixture. Stir well until smooth, then add the potato-flour mixture and stir well. Then take the pudding off the hob and add a little egg powder if you have it. Eggs can be added to make the pudding better.
Flavour with sugar and almond drops. Pour the pudding into a bowl or mould. Sprinkle with a little sugar to prevent the pudding from becoming stringy and vault the pudding.
Potato tea (Nordreisa)
100 gr. boiled potatoes
100 grams of flour
100 grams of marrow
Grind or crush the potatoes and work well together. Leave it to cool for a while before rolling it out. The loaves should not be thicker than 2-3 mm. Prick the loaves well and cut them out to the appropriate size. The tarts should be light-coloured all over, and just before serving, fill them with fruit puree and sprinkle with icing sugar or cream. Bake in a medium-hot oven.
Potato and leek soup
1 large leek
4 potatoes
7 dl chicken stock/chicken stock
Salt and pepper
Garnish with fresh herbs
Put some oil in a large saucepan or pot. Fry the potato and leek for two or three minutes. Add the stock and cook until the vegetables are tender. Use a hand blender and blend until completely smooth. Add salt, pepper and fresh herbs.
This soup can be served with fish, prawns, ham, chorizo or bacon.
Potato soup
1 ½ litres of water
½ kg potatoes
2 onions
2 tsp butter
3 dl milk
1 tbsp sago
¼ tsp pepper
Water, salt, sliced potatoes and onion are boiled until the potatoes even out. Strain through a colander, add to the pot together with milk, fat, sago and cook until the sago is ready.
Risk
1/2 kg raw potatoes
35 g barley flour
1 teaspoon of salt
fat
a little sugar
Grate the peeled potatoes, stir in the flour and salt and leave to stand for a while. Heat the pan and place small patches on top. Smooth out the batter and fry the rice until it is slightly crispy. Eat freshly fried with sugar or fried pork.
Potato flour (Årviksand)
potatoes
flour
Peel the potatoes, grate them on a grater. Take the pulp in a sieve over a vessel. Drain the water through the pulp and stir it a little at the same time. Discard the potato pulp, but keep the water. Leave the water to stand for a couple of hours. Carefully turn off the water and top up with clean water. Leave it until the next day and drain the water.
Sources
Booklet Mat og tradisjoner i Nord-Troms, 1997
About the Sea Sami, Anders Larsen, National Library of Norway
