Fermenting herring prompted gas leak call

upi ^ | Sept. 9, 2012

[JoeProBono]

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, - A suspected gas leak in a Stockholm, Sweden, neighborhood turned out to be fermenting herring, fire officials said.

Stockholm fire fighter Bjorn Hornsten told national radio station SR that fire trucks and police vehicles were sent to the neighborhood Saturday after someone reported what smelled like gas in a stairwell.

Instead of a gas leak, emergency crews found surstromming, fermented herring that is a foul-smelling, traditional Swedish delicacy, and herring fermenting parties are held in the fall, Swedish news agency TT reported.

"I guess somebody didn't know what surstromming smells like," police officer Sven-Erik Olsson said.

[JoeProBono]

Surströmming (pronounced [sʉ̌ːʂtrœmːɪŋ], Swedish "soured (Baltic) herring") is a northern Swedish dish consisting of fermented Baltic herring. Surströmming is sold in cans, which may bulge after prolonged storage, due to the continued fermentation. When opened, the contents release a strong and sometimes overwhelming odour; the dish is often eaten outdoors. A Japanese study has shown that the smell of a newly opened can of surströmming is the most putrid smell of food in the world, beating similar fermented fish dishes such as the Korean Hongeohoe or Japanese Kusaya.

[DManA]

No lutefisk jokes.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

“No lutefisk jokes.”

These aren’t jokes they’re facts.

[DManA]

Who hid the halibut on the poop deck?

\http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRV03zQkBas

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Thanks, but no thanks! I’ll stick with the tripe and chicken feet I had in Chinatown today.

[null and void]

Did they compare it to stinking tofu?

[Krankor]

Ha! When we were kids, my Dad used to make me and my sisters eat herring on New Years Eve. And if that wasn’t bad enough, during the summer, he made us pull out the dandelions in the lawn one at a time. He was one tough customer.

[bigheadfred]

"I guess somebody didn't know what surstromming smells like"...

MY take.....

If there was ever a chance for FReeper all for free, this would be it.

[DManA]

I’m not a big fan of pickled herring but fresh herring is wonderful.

[Kenny Bunk]

Lutefisk is the wimpy Norvegian cousin of Surstremming, which is actually a Swedish excuse to drink liters of frozen akvavit. After about 10 thimblesfull, the smell becomes somewhat less obnoxious.

Burning an old Pirelli Cinturato off a '67 Volvo in the room improves the "pungency" a bit, as does throwing a road-kill skunk on the burning rubber. BTW, tastes great on a rye cracker, or old roof shingle!

[DManA]

The old guys used to say the lutefisk needs something to swim in.

[300winmag]

Ping for lutefisk.

[Calvin Locke]

Meteorite Men did an epi or two in Sweden.

They were getting help from a Swede and his daughter. The daughter pulls out a can of Surstremming, and the British half of MM had to leave the table when he got a whiff of the contents.

He didn't appreciate the what a delicacy it is.

Of course, the Romans thought dormice were a delicacy. Even raised them for consumption.

Surstremming would made great bait for crabs and lobbies.

[DFG]

bookmark

[DManA]

The Romans also had their own rotten fish sauce -garum.

Dumped it on everything. It was like Roman ketchup.

[RatSlayer]

My favorite moment of Master Chef this season, was when they made them pick out their favorite ingredients and then made them swap with each other. So Monte, the Puerto Rican lady, ended up with Christine’s, the Asian lady’s, Vietnamese Fish Sauce.

It was funny as hell watching Monte tasting the fish sauce and saying, “Fish sauce?, What the hell is fish sauce? And why does it taste like death?”

Personally, I love the Vietnamese fish sauce that they use for dipping spring rolls in, but I do admit it’s smells like hell and thinking about how it’s made makes it even worse.

But it seems that these types of fermented fish sauces are actually pretty common. For instance, I just recently learned that Worcestershire sauce is also a fermented fish sauce.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

To help figure out what Nordics like what variety of rotting fish, this vertical comic is helpful. Various countries are represented by their flags on shirts. A tad NSFW, due to a modestly rude word.

http://satwcomic.com/nordics-like-fish

[JoeProBono]

[JoeProBono]

[blueunicorn6]

“Herring fermenting parties”? I’ thinking there might be a few party poopers at those parties.