Europe Trip 2023 Part 2: Sweden

 Hello sausage lovers,

Immediately following my late September trip to Germany to visit my old friend Armon and attend Black Hole Fest Germania, I planned to spend a week in Stockholm, Sweden, staying with my paternal grandfather.

The last time I had visited Stockholm in 2019 was during the time between graduating college and trying to find a job.  It was very nice to escape from the difficult reality of trying to find a good-paying tech job right after college, and my farfar, having worked in the Swedish unemployment office for over 20 years, was great to talk to about job hunting.  

It also gave me the chance to try various Swedish sausages that I knew of from doing online research and reverse-engineering them by studying their ingredient lists and nutritional statements.  

I was very surprised that my recipes for Falukorv, Cognacsmedwurst, fläskkorv, and varmkorv were pretty much spot-on.  I also got to try rökt ren (smoked reindeer ham), Gustafs granrökt hästkött (spruce-smoked horse ham), and Gustavskorv (large horse sausage hot-smoked over spruce), which instantly became my personal favorite sausage of all time.

Hötorgshallen

This time around, I had no real plans besides seeing farfar Leif again, visiting some Saluhall (Swedish boutique deli counter hall), try some Swedish sausages and meats I had not tried yet, visit Skansen again, and eat a kebabpizza.  I started off by visiting a Saluhall in Hötorget called Hötorgshallen.  

I had been dying to try rackabajsare (throat shot) and timmermanskorv (wood-worker's sausage) for many years now and I finally got the chance.  I also picked up some björnkorv (bear sausage) and torkad rökt renkött (dried smoked reindeer meat).

Timmermanskorv, rackabajsare

Timmermanskorv was very unique: smoky, sour, very fatty, and a rich earthiness that I could only describe as "chocolatey".  The ingredients list which named Möllers Chark as the producer, states that it contains pork, beef heart, and beef lung meat.  Maybe this factors into the earthy richness.  Farfar approved.

Rackabajsare was the smokiest sausage I have ever eaten in my entire life.  It was so smoky it left a campfire aftertaste in your mouth for 10 minutes.  Farfar did not like this one.  

I am not saying this is bad by any means, and I have been experimenting combining both liquid smoke in the meat batter in addition to long cold-smoking in order to recreate this incredibly smoky sausage.  Smoke aside, it's pretty much just a mildly hot Hungarian kolbász.  Möllers Chark is also credited for manufacturing this one.

Farfar Leif

The björnkorv was OK, it was pretty much over-dried ölkorv that had mostly pork, but did in fact contain some bear meat as the next ingredient.  It tasted a little gamey, but overall not bad.  Farfar again did not like it.

The torkad rökt renköt was incredible, worlds apart from my attempt to recreate that style of preserved meat with beef in the past.  The fact that it is just lean reindeer meet, salt, smoke, and cold arctic air is amazing.  Truly a wonderful product that demonstrates the traditions and respect for the animal by the Sámi people.

There was also the requisite Gustafskorv and Falukorv eaten on buttered polarkakor (thick flatbread from northern Sweden).

I would move to Sweden just to eat this every morning

Then came the time to have my Kebabpizza.  Kebabpizza is a Swedish cultural icon, hilariously so since neither kebab nor pizza are native to Sweden.  It's just a regular tomato sauce and cheese pizza but it is topped with spiced kebab meat and the regular kebab fixings like onion, tomato, pickled pepperoncini, and a garlic/yoghurt/mayo sauce that in reality tastes pretty much like ranch.  

The kebabpizza is also served with a side salad made of shredded cabbage, oil, vinegar, salt, and black pepper.  It's a good palette cleanser after eating an entire pizza to oneself.

Kebabpizza

Then it was time to visit Skansen.  Skansen is a large open-air zoo/historical Swedish lifestyle park.  The park sits on the top of an island in Stockholm called Djurgården that is full of museums, an amusement park, and various cultural buildings.  

Besides being home to Swedish wildlife, Skansen is full of old Swedish buildings from various time periods as well as different places in Sweden.  Workers walk around in historical dress and perform various old-time tasks like baking flatbread and such.  Fun for all ages.

Mikael at Skansen

Reindeer at Skansen

On another day, I set out to find another saluhall in östermalm, an up-scale part of Stockholm with a lot of bustling yuppie-types.  Fitting the area where it was in, östermalshallen was more focused on restaurants and seafood, and had a lacking selection of meats and deli items.

Lots of time was spent with farfar regaling me with stories of old.  He dug up some old pictures of when he was doing his compulsory service around 18 years old.  

"Brännvin and Bayonets"

On another day I took a trip to the old Stockholm observatory.  I wasn't able to enter it, but it had a very nice panoramic view.

Stockholm

When I was in Gamla Stan (old town) doing some shopping at the tourist trap stores, I stopped to eat the nystekt strömming (fried herring) at the corner shop.  Delicious, as usual.

Nystekt strömming

I also visited some museums that I have never been to in my previous trips, such as stadsmuseet (Stockholm city museum) and armemuseet (military museum), and Livrustkammaren (the royal armory), which was probably the coolest since it was a bunch of flashy suits of human and horse armor.

Livrustkammaren

I have spent 3 trips now hanging out in Farsta/Hökarängen area and have grown very fond of the ICA supermarket in Farsta Centrum.  Besides having a fantastic selection of Swedish food, they have this adorable permanent display set up above the cheese fridges.

ICA Farsta Centrum

The trip was finished off with a final kebab dish, the kebabtallrik (plate).  Cheap and good enough to satisfy a hungry stoner.

Kebabtallrik from Hökis Grill in Hökarängen

My flight left at 6 AM so we scheduled a taxi to come pick me up and take me to Arlanda airport.  I did not get that much sleep that night, needless to say.  In a teary exchange I bid farfar farewell, vowing to visit him again very soon.

I ended up seeing him again in April 2024 along with my father, sister, and her 3 year old son, which will have its own post.

Until next time!

-Korv Mikael