Ingredients
The lompe
- 600 gfloury potatoes
- boiled and riced
- about 120 g plain flour
- 1 teaspoonsalt
- plus flour, to roll
The sausages
- 6wienerpølse
- or good frankfurters
- water, to poach
To fill
- sweet brown mustard
- ketchup
- crispy fried onions
- or raw sliced onion
Sometimes added
- potetsalat
- potato salad
- shrimp salad
- sliced cucumber
Directions
- Flour is a small proportion only. That makes it soft and tender. Boil the potatoes in their skins. Peel them and rice them while hot. Let the riced potato cool and steam off. The potato must be cold before flour goes in. Warm potato absorbs flour badly. Cool the potato completely first. Never use a food processor on it. Keep the water below a simmer.
- Boil the potatoes in their skins. Skin-on boiling stops them waterlogging. Boil them until tender right through. Peeling them is done while still hot. Peel them as soon as you can handle them. The skins slip off warm potatoes easily. Rub them off with your thumb instead. Ricing them hot is the next step.
- Spread the riced potato out on a tray. Let all of it cool completely. Give it at least one full hour. Add the flour and salt to the cold potato. Work it together with a light hand. Do not knead the dough at all.
- Squeeze a piece of it in your palm. It should hold together smoothly. Add a little more flour if it sticks. Add it in a spoonful at a time. Too much flour ruins the texture. Divide the dough into small pieces. Make them about the size of an egg. Keep every one of them the same size. Flour the whole surface generously. Roll each piece out very thin.
- Roll them as thin as you can manage. About two millimetres is right. Flour the surface and the pin well. Work gently and quite slowly at it. About eighteen centimetres across. Heat a dry griddle over medium heat. Too hot and they scorch before cooking.
- Use no oil or butter on it at all. Lompe is cooked on an entirely dry pan. Oil makes it greasy and stiff. Brush any loose flour off the pan. Cooking them takes about a minute.
- Lay a lompe on the hot griddle. Give it about forty full seconds. Brown blisters appear underneath. The surface starts to look dry. Turn it and give thirty more seconds. Overcooked ones go dry and brittle. Take them off while still soft. Keeping them soft is essential.
- Stack them under a damp cloth. The steam keeps them soft and flexible. Stack them up as they come off. Bring a pot of water to a simmer. The water should barely move at all.
- Take them out as soon as they are hot. Lay a lompe flat on your hand. Set one hot sausage on top of it. Set it slightly off the centre. It also stops it falling right out. Squeeze mustard along the sausage. Add tomato ketchup if you like.
- Scatter crispy fried onions over it. Some people take both together. Fold the lompe around the sausage. Bring one side over the sausage. Hold the bottom closed as you eat. Spread a little potetsalat on first. Serving it is always done immediately. Warm them briefly to soften them.
Technique
- The lompe is mostly potato with only about one part flour to five of potato by weight, which seems like very little but is correct — too much flour makes it tough. The whole trick is drying the potato: boil them in their skins, rice them hot, then spread the riced potato out to cool completely and steam off, or better still refrigerate it overnight. Wet potato needs far more flour.
- Never use a food processor on the potato: it breaks the starch cells, releases starch and makes glue, and the lompe comes out rubbery beyond recovery. A ricer is best and a masher acceptable. Work the flour in with a light hand and do not knead, which develops gluten and toughens it.
- Cook them on a dry griddle with no oil at all — oil makes them greasy and stiff — and take them off while still soft, since they cook in about a minute and overcooked ones go brittle. Stack them under a damp cloth as they come off, since uncovered they dry within minutes and a dry lompe cracks when rolled.
Substitutions
- A good frankfurter stands in for wienerpølse, a mild smoked Norwegian pork sausage; poach either below a simmer, since boiling splits the skins, and take them out after about six minutes since long soaking makes them watery.
- Sweet brown mustard is closest to the Norwegian kind, which is sweet and mild rather than sharp.
Variations
- Roll them about two millimetres thick and almost translucent, flouring the surface and pin well — potato dough has almost no gluten and tears readily, so work gently.
- Crispy fried onions are the common kiosk version and raw sliced onion the sharper alternative; both are genuinely used and some people take both.
- Potato salad spread inside a potato wrap sounds excessive but is genuinely done, as is shrimp salad — both are standard Norwegian kiosk choices.
History
The Norwegian kiosk and 17 May national day snack, lompe being a thin potato lefse round.
Frequently asked questions
What is Pølse med lompe?
Pølse med lompe is a street food from Norway: boiled sausage wrapped in a soft potato flatbread with mustard. The Norwegian kiosk and 17 May national day snack, lompe being a thin potato lefse round.
How long does Pølse med lompe take to make?
Pølse med lompe takes 30 minutes of preparation and 25 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 6. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Pølse med lompe?
Yes, within limits. A good frankfurter stands in for wienerpølse, a mild smoked Norwegian pork sausage; poach either below a simmer, since boiling splits the skins, and take them out after about six minutes since long soaking makes them watery. Sweet brown mustard is closest to the Norwegian kind, which is sweet and mild rather than sharp.
What is the most important thing to get right in Pølse med lompe?
Flour is a small proportion only. That makes it soft and tender. Boil the potatoes in their skins. Peel them and rice them while hot. Let the riced potato cool and steam off. The potato must be cold before flour goes in. Warm potato absorbs flour badly. Cool the potato completely first. Never use a food processor on it. Keep the water below a simmer.
