Fårikål

Norway’s national dish: lamb or mutton on the bone stewed in layers with white cabbage and whole peppercorns.

Eaten in: Norway

Prep: 20 min
Cooking: 3 h
Total: 3 h 20 min
Servings: 6

About the dish

Fårikål, ‘sheep in cabbage’, is regarded as Norway’s national dish and has been voted as such. The recipe is simple: pieces of mutton or lamb on the bone are layered in a pot with large wedges of white cabbage, sprinkled with salt and whole black peppercorns, moistened with water and stewed slowly for several hours. The meat and cabbage release their juices, creating a fragrant, gently peppery broth. It is an autumn dish, eaten when the lambs come down from the mountain pastures and the cabbage is fresh. It is served with boiled potatoes, and many households mark the last Thursday of September as fårikål day.

Main ingredients

mutton or lamb on the bone
white cabbage
whole black peppercorns
salt
potatoes

More: Wikipedia (en)

Recipe

Fårikål

https://foodmap.ominuvo.com/dish/farikal

Ingredients

6 servings

1.5 kg mutton or lamb on the bone (shoulder, neck, breast) in pieces
1.5 kg white cabbage
2 tbsp whole black peppercorns
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp plain flour (optional)
400 ml water
1 kg potatoes to serve

Method

Cut the cabbage into large wedges, leaving a bit of core on each so they hold together.
Put a layer of meat, fatty side down, in the bottom of a large pot, then a layer of cabbage. Sprinkle each layer with salt, peppercorns and a little flour.
Repeat the layers until everything is used, finishing with cabbage.
Pour in the water, bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for 2½–3 hours, until the meat is coming away from the bone. Do not stir; just shake the pot now and then.
Towards the end, boil the potatoes in salted water.
Serve the fårikål on hot plates with the potatoes and a little of the broth from the pot.

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