Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Rotting shark meat...yumyum

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about an Icelandic "specialty" dish:

Hákarl (Icelandic for "fermented shark") is a food from Iceland. It is a Greenland or basking shark which has been cured with a particular fermentation process and hung to dry for four to five months. Hákarl is an acquired taste and has a very particular ammonia-rich smell and fishy taste, similar to very strong cheese slathered in ammonia. The shark itself is poisonous when fresh due to a high content of uric acid and trimethylamine oxide, but may be consumed after being processed. Those new to it will usually gag involuntarily on the first attempt to eat it due to the high ammonia content.

Hákarl is traditionally prepared by gutting and beheading a Greenland or basking shark and placing it in a shallow hole dug in gravelly-sand, with the now-cleaned cavity resting on a slight hill. The shark is then covered with sand and gravel, and stones are then placed on top of the sand in order to press the shark. The fluids from the shark are in this way pressed out of the body. The shark ferments for 6–12 weeks depending on the season in this fashion.

3 comments:

  1. So THAT'S what Sharon, my freshman year roommate, was microwaving in our dorm!

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  2. And what wine would you recommend with this?

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  3. I would definitely recommend a wine with a HIGH alcohol content.

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