Fermented Baltic herring, as seen here, a Swedish delicacy so smelly that the tins are best opened outdoors with a pinched nose, will be the focus of a new museum dedicated to the specialty(AFP/LEHTIKUVA/File)
Posted on 05/17/2005 7:44:32 PM PDT by martin_fierro
Smelly Swedish herring gets museum all its own
Tue May 17, 1:14 PM ET
STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Fermented Baltic herring, a Swedish delicacy so smelly that the tins are best opened outdoors with a pinched nose, will be the focus of a new museum dedicated to the specialty.
The museum will open on June 4 in Skeppsmalen, just north of the northern town of Oernskoeldsvik, and will give visitors a historical, cultural and culinary overview of the dish, as well as an opportunity to taste it if they dare.
Fermented Baltic herring is a specialty from northern Sweden, dating back to the days when herring was preserved in brine.
The herring is caught in late spring, then placed in the salt mixture in wooden barrels for several days before being moved into the sun for several months to ferment. It is then shipped to stores in small tins.
Traditionally eaten in mid-August, surstroemming, as the herring is called in Swedish, is known for the dreadful odour that comes out of the tin when it is opened.
Only a fraction of Swedes claim to actually enjoy the dish, which is served with boiled new potatoes and accompanied by aquavit or beer.
According to Swedish news agency TT, the museum has received a total of 10 million kronor (1.37 million dollars, 1.08 million euros) from the European Union in start-up money.
Fermented Baltic herring, as seen here, a Swedish delicacy so smelly that the tins are best opened outdoors with a pinched nose, will be the focus of a new museum dedicated to the specialty(AFP/LEHTIKUVA/File)
Ko!
I get the same grief over kim chee.
Martin, I think you're, um, trolling--or at least netting here, Chum. Why bait us FReepers like this? We're not all fullabalone like you are.
Mom used to serve a pickled herring in a kind of white sauce -- not bad, as I recall.
Speak up.
I'm hard of herring.
I should probably clam up on this subject, but I think it serves a higher porpoise. Yes, I know I'm floundering here, and that brevity is the sole of wit, so that lox it up for me.
I don't even want to know whats in the "Something Smells Rotten (Museum)" in Denmark.
Hold muh nose and watch this!
A new place to play.
Aw, knock it off with the carping. What have you been puffin?
Hey, you bass turd, watch it. I never claimed to be a brain sturgeon, but I won't be musseled off of this thread.
Freeper Freepun' Ping! Got a great topic to share here--let's not be shellfish. You don't have to yell your puns, either...
I'm not hard of herring.
"I'm not hard of herring."
Dammit, fierro beat me to that one...I suppose when I have one fall flat as a mackerel, it's generally just a fluke, though.
I knew I smelt an opportunity with this subject. I've been perched at the keyboard, waiting for a grouper you Freepers to chime in.
Listen Squid, don't get sushi with me or I'll r-eel back and give you a whale of a walleye, or maybe wallop you with wasabi. You're no angelfish, you're so full of yourself that you need an....anemone.
(ow, that would HURT!) ;^)
I'm sure this will ruin your evenings, but this masterful radio bit must be posted before anyone gets the idea they're being original on this topic. It's narrated in a vaguely Mike Hammer way.
Wet Dream - Kip Adotta
It was April the 41st, being a quadruple leap year
I was driving in downtown Atlantis
My Barracuda was in the shop, so I was in a rented Stingray, and it was overheating
So I pulled into a Shell station
They said I'd blown a seal...
...I said, "Fix the damn thing and leave my private life out of it, okay pal?"
While they were doing that I walked over to a place called the oyster bar -- a real dive
But I knew the owner, he used to play for the Dolphins
I said, "Hi, Gil!!!"
You hafta yell, he's hard of herring
CHORUS:
Think I had a wet dream
Cruisin' through the Gulf Stream
Oooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Wet dream...
Gil was also down on his luck
Fact is, he was barely keeping his head below water
I gullied up to the sandbar
He poured the usual
Rusty snail, hold the grunion, shaken, not stirred
With a peanut butter and jellyfish sandwich on the side -- heavy on the mako
I slipped him a fin -- on porpoise
I was feeling good
I even dropped a sand dollar in the box for Jerry's Squids -- for the halibut
Well, the place was crowded
We were packed in like sardines
They were all there to listen to the big band sounds of Tommy Dorsal -- what sole
Tommy was rockin' the place with a very popular tuna -- "Salmon Chanted Evening"
And the stage was surrounded by screaming groupers
Probably there to see the bass player
One of them was this cute little yellowtail
And she's giving ME the eye
So I figure, this is my chance for a little fun
You know -- a piece of Pisces
But she said things I just couldn't fathom
She was too deep, and seemed to be under a lot of pressure
Boy, could she drink
She drank like a... she drank A LOT...
I said, "What's your sign?"
She said, "Aquarium"
I said, "GREAT!!! Let's get tanked!"
CHORUS
I invited her up to my place for a little midnight bait
I said, "C'mon baby, it'll only take a few minnows"
She threw me that same old line
"Not tonight -- I got a haddock"
And she wasn't kiddin' either, 'cuz in came the biggest, meanest looking haddock I'd ever seen come down the pike
He was covered with mussels
He came over to me, he said, "Listen shrimp -- don't you come trolling around here"
What a crab
This guy was steamed -- I could see the anchor in his eyes
I turned to him, I said, "Abalone -- You're just being shellfish"
Well, I knew it was going to be trouble, and so did Gil, 'cuz he was already on the phone to the cods
The haddock hits me with a sucker punch
I catch him with a left hook
He eels over
It was a fluke, but there he was, lying on the deck, flat as a mackerel...
...Kelpless
I said, "Forget the cods, Gil, this guy's gonna need a sturgeon"
Well, the yellowtail was impressed with the way I landed her boyfriend
She came over to me, she said, "Hey big boy, you're really a game fish"
"What's your name?"
I said, "Marlin"
CHORUS
Well from then on, we had a whale of a time
I took her to dinner
I took her to dance
I bought her a bouquet of flounders
And then I went home with her
And what did I get for my trouble?
A case of the clams
CHORUS
This thread is rapidly becoming the Falun gong show.
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