Sviðasulta

Ingredients

Meat

• 2singed sheep’s heads, split, or 1.5 kg lamb neck and cheek
• 2onions, halved
• 2bay leaves
• 1 tbspblack peppercorns
• 2 tbspsalt
• water, to cover

To season

• 1 tspground black pepper
• ½ tspground allspice
• salt, to taste

To serve

• flatkökur and butter
• mashed swede

Directions

1. Wash the heads thoroughly and soak them in cold water for two hours to draw out the blood, which otherwise leaves the jelly cloudy and grey.
2. Put them in a large pot with the onion, bay, peppercorns and salt, cover with cold water and bring slowly to a bare simmer. Skim the grey foam off in the first twenty minutes.
3. Simmer for two and a half to three hours, never letting it boil, until the meat falls away from the bone. A boil emulsifies the fat and gives a cloudy, greasy set.
4. Lift everything out and cool enough to handle. Pick all the meat, skin and fat off the bones — the tongue and cheek are the best of it — and chop it coarsely. Discard the eyes and any gristle.
5. Strain the stock and boil it down hard until a spoonful chilled on a saucer sets firm within a few minutes. This test is the only reliable way to know it will hold, and skipping it is how sviðasulta ends up as soup.
6. Season the chopped meat with pepper, allspice and salt, tasting hard — cold jellied meat mutes seasoning badly.
7. Pack into a cloth-lined mould or a loaf tin, pour over just enough reduced stock to bind, press under a weight and refrigerate overnight.
8. Turn out and slice thin. Serve cold on buttered flatbread with mashed swede.

Technique

• The saucer test decides everything. Reduce until it sets, then reduce a little more.
• Over-season while it is warm. This is the second most common mistake after not reducing enough.
• Singed heads are sold ready-prepared in Iceland. Lamb neck and cheek make a very good substitute and are far easier to find.

Substitutions

• Lamb neck, cheek and a trotter for the gelatine, which is much more approachable than a whole head.
• A little powdered gelatine as insurance if the stock will not set.

Variations

• The traditional keeping version is submerged in sour whey through the winter, which is a preserve the atlas gives no method for.
• Svið — the whole singed half-head, boiled and served hot — is the same ingredient without the pressing.

History

Made from the meat of singed sheep heads and sliced cold onto flatbread at Þorri feasts.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sviðasulta?

Sviðasulta is a charcuterie & cured from Iceland: sheep head meat pressed into a terrine, often soured in whey. Made from the meat of singed sheep heads and sliced cold onto flatbread at Þorri feasts.

How long does Sviðasulta take to make?

Sviðasulta takes 1 hour of preparation and 3 hours, plus overnight setting of cooking. The recipe makes serves 8. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Sviðasulta?

Yes, within limits. Lamb neck, cheek and a trotter for the gelatine, which is much more approachable than a whole head. A little powdered gelatine as insurance if the stock will not set.

What is the most important thing to get right in Sviðasulta?

Wash the heads thoroughly and soak them in cold water for two hours to draw out the blood, which otherwise leaves the jelly cloudy and grey.