Smörgåstårta


HISTORY

Scandinavian cuisine is based on a simple cooking style, full of flavor but not very spicy. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are the main meals of the day all over the Scandinavian Peninsula. Although most European countries consider lunch the main meal of the day, Scandinavian countries place more importance on dinner, which is the most consistent meal of the day nowadays. Many of the cooking styles and dishes used by the Vikings are still present in the Scandinavian cuisine today, and Scandinavians are proud of their Viking heritage, a fact that is also noticed in the way they preserve the authenticity of such foods.

The Scandinavian Cuisines consist of:-


      Norwegian – The cuisine is characterized by a sense of practicality and economy. Norwegians love their meat, whether it is Pork, Veal or fish meat.
      Danish – The cuisine of Denmark is characterized by high levels of meat and animal fat and a rather low level of plants and vegetables. The long winters from the Scandinavian Peninsula shaped the face of the Danish cuisine. 
      Swedish- In both major inhabited regions of Sweden – Gothenburg on the west coast and Stockholm on the east – the abundance of fish, mainly Herring, had its influence on traditional cooking. Although the salted Herring, which was used as trading goods hundreds of years ago, is not part of modern Swedish dishes, we will still find it in several cookbooks as one of the national food elements.


Definition

Smörgåstårta in Swedish means "sandwich cake" is a dish of Swedish origin popular in Sweden, Estonia ,Finland  and Iceland.In Sweden it is called “Smörgåstårta”,In Finland it is called “voileipäkakku”, In Estonia it is called “võileivatort”, and In Iceland It is called “brauðterta”.



 It is a savory cake that is similar to a sandwich, but with large amounts of filling and garnish, similar to a layered cream cake.
 A smörgåstårta is normally made up of several layers of white or light rye bread with creamy fillings in between.
     It is a standard dish at family gatherings such as birthday parties, weddings, or funerals.
Components



Smörgåstårta consists of five main components to build the cake:-
Ø  Breads
Ø  Fillings
Ø  Adhesive
Ø  Garnish
Ø  Cheese

Breads
      Four grain types dominated in the Nordic countries: barley and rye are the oldest; wheat and oats are more recent
       The loaves were oblong in shape, made from ground whole rye, leavened with sour dough and sometimes sweetened with malt syrup.
      The loaves weighed up to 15–16 kg. They were baked once a month, as heating the oven was both time-consuming and used a lot of firewood
      Rye flour is mostly used in the making of the breads for the Smörgåstårta
      Some of the names of the bread made from rye flour are hiivalepa, ohraleipa, ruisleipa
      Another bread used in smorgastarta can be  soda bread, white bread, brown bread etc.



Fillings
Filling can be of various categories:-
Ø  Meats
Ø  Fish, Shellfish
Ø  Pickled Vegetables and salads
Ø  charcuterie products



Meats
      The are various meats preperation in scandanavian countries are used cold in smorgarstarte. Some of the meats are cristmas ham, roast chicken, roast turkey, roast beef, roast pork etc
      These meats are prepare hot but are then cooled  and sliced thin to decorate on top or in the savory cakes.



Fish and Shellfish
      Scandinavian countries consist of a huge fishing industry. Most of the protein consumed here is from the seafood that is caught
      Some of the seafood used in these cakes are shrimps, prawns, lobsters, eels etc. these can be either pickled or smoked.
      Fishes such as cod, herring, haddock, salmon, and trout are also used in the making of this cake  

Adhesive
      The cream is used is used as a spreads and as well as a icing on the cake. Few of the creams used in the spread and the icing are Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, sour cream, cream cheese, whipping cream.
      For the filling it can be mixed with different fresh herbs such as chives and parsley.
      Greek yogurt, mayonnaise ,and whipping cream are mixed together to ice the cake.



Cheese
Ø  This plays a very important role as it gives a different kind of texture to the cake. These cheeses also give a hint of spiciness to the cake also due to the pinch of red paprika  powder added  to it.
Ø  Some of the cheeses are:-
Ø  Carlsberg cheese- Hard cheese, holes present in  them, originated from Norway




      Gudbrandsdalsost- Hard cheese, made from both cow and goats milk, sharp and strong flavor.
      Snøfrisk cheese- white creamy semi soft cheese, name translates as “snow fresh”, first introduced in the Winter Olympics 1994
      Ridder cheese- Made from cows milk, semi hard  creamy cheese, invented by cheese maker Sven Fenelius from Norway


Garnishes
Garnishes can be classified into four types:-
Ø  Cured and smoked meats
Ø  Cured and smoked fish
Ø  Pickled vegetables
Ø  Salad vegetables
Ø  Egg and cheese



Ø  Cured and smoked meats :
These meats are cured or smoked and are generally sliced very thinly. They can be later rolled into different shapes and sizes and used as a garnish Example thinly sliced pork belly.
Ø  Cured and smoked fish :
These fishes are also cured or pickled or smoked. Some of the fishes are herring, salmon, cod, haddock. Caviar is also added as a garnish.
Ø  Pickled vegetable :
These vegetables have specific names in the Scandinavian cuisines which are Agurkesalat (pickled cucumber), rødbeder(pickled red beet slices), rødkål(sweet and sour cabbage)
Ø   Salads :
Some of the salads used are Russian salad, German potato salad. Even grapes are used as they are an important part of the smorgatarte
Ø   Egg :
Hard boiled eggs are used as a garnish. They can be either sliced, quartered, sieved etc.                         
  



  
Charcuterie
      As Scandinavian region has a very cold climate they usually preserve the meats and fish for further use.
      This preservation also provides a different flavor to the smorgastorte
      These products can also be used as a garnish
      Some of the meat products are pickled ham, cured ham, smoked turkey, smoked chicken, pork sausage, blood sausages
      Fish products such as cured salmon, smoked salmon, smoked eel, pickled herrings, smoked cod, Danish herring



Classification
The classification of smorgastarta are :
Ø  Covered
Ø  Un-covered
Ø  Tart



Ø  Covered :
This smorgastarte is covered with a mixture of Greek yogurt, mayonnaise ,and whipping cream. It is layered first with the filling and then covered with the icing. When cut all the layers should be visible.
Ø   Uncovered :
This cake is not iced and is only filled with the filling. This filling should be visible and be attractive to look at
Ø   Tart :
In this the bread is cut out in a tart shape and is also filled with the filling. It is not iced and is covered by the garnish.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

BREAD BUFFET