Last weekend I was invited to the Raptus festival in Norway and every night they served traditional Norwegian food for us.
The first and third night I was so excited about the food. It all tasted great and I was having a blast. The cured meat was a dream, the potatoes were unusually delicious, the fish was like nothing else and they had the best butter I’ve ever tasted.
But on the second night they served us raspeballer and I was so confused and upset. The potato balls tasted like soggy cardboard and the meat was so salty it hurt my gums, and I usually eat food so spicy Indians tell me to take it down a notch. And I wasn’t alone. The other guests had to excuse themselves too, except the one American who loved it.
So sorry Norway, I like your food overall but I’ll never be a fan of raspeballer.
I’m an American-born Indian. Before the whataboutisms ensue, I heartily understand that the countries of my heritage and nationality have much to be criticized for. I live in Northern Europe now, to join my wife from there.
The native “cuisine” of the cultures in this region is damn near insulting.
You all don’t have to eat like this.
Uhmm… you can put some pepper on the boiled potatoes if you want to? Spice it up a bit.
_
sounds almost like the Acadian dish “Poutine Rapeé” (not to be confused with the Quebecois dish “Poutine” aka Cheese Fries with Gravy).
Poutine Rapeé is a big potato dumpling made with salted pork and onion inside a mixture of grated potato (with most of the starch removed) and cooked potato. Form into balls the size of two fists and boil until the ghosts of your ancestors tell you they’re done. Delicious!
Since potatoes originated from South America, they really can’t be a traditional food to any European.
Potatoes have existed in Europe for centuries at this point, they absolutely are part of traditional European recipes by now.
Good news everyone, escargot is an American delicacy now!
This is a weird hill to die on.
I can’t die on the hill if I jump into the ravine first.
Ok?
Norwegian here, absolutely hate the stuff! Your description is spot on from my experiences.
Seconded. Never liked raspeballer myself.
It’s worth noting that it should be made with pork rinds (Alternatively bacon) inside
What? Never had it growing up, so didn’t try it before I moved down south to study. Love it. And still fascinated is all the names for it.
The only name we Indians know it by is “over-salted, over-boiled, shit”.
Now you made me curious …
Anyone has an authentic raspeballer recipe at hand?
1kg raw potatoes, minced through a meat grinder
300g coarse flour
Mix into a homogeneous fough, then shape into balls and drop in near-boiling stock
Optionally put pieces of fatty meats inside of the balls while shaping them, or have it on the side
Leave it near-boiling (not boiling, as bubbles can knock them around and make them fall apart) for about an hour,
serve straight out of the pot, with butter and sugarAnd how much salt?
Whatever your neighborhood can muster
au gusto
No salt, except for however much is in the stock
Whoa, cool stuff. I’d like to add the link to my community’s Webcomix collection if that’s okay?
I wish I could draw stuff like this lol, just sharing one of my favourite under apprciated web comics. Im sure the creators of it would have zero issue with you adding a link given they encourage fan art of it.
Ah, thanks for replying! Even if you’re just a fan and link sharer like myself, hehe.
We don’t have a Norwegian / Nordic webcomic on the list yet, other than Sweden’s Poorly Drawn Dinosaurs so I’m excited to add this one. I’ll try to round up some of the best of these and make an introductory post over at EGN.
It’s from the “Scandinavia and the World” comic, drawn and written by Humon, a Danish artist.
Amazing comic, I’ve been following it for years. The creator is responsible for some other high quality work, too.
