Finnmark Local Custom Tips by Rusket

Stock fish

Drying fish is an old norwegian method of preservation that is becoming popular again. The difference between "tørrfisk" (stock fish) and "klippfisk" (cliff fish) is that tørrfisk is hung on "hjell" (the wooden construction you see in the picture), while klippfisk is salted and dried on cliffs. Klippfisk is used for the famous spanish dish bacalao.

Tørrfisk is mostly made from the big cod that is caught during "Lofotfisket" in march. At that time of the year weather conditions in Troms and Finnmark are ideal for the drying process, which takes a couple of months. Tørrfisk is watered for at least a week prior to use, the water has to be very cold and must be changed daily. The fish can be prepared in different ways, and especially the italians have a lot of very good tørrfisk recipes. The following is an italian recipe of "Peperoni ripieni di stoccafisso" translated from norwegian by me:

Ingrediences:
400 g watered dry fish
2 onions
4 paprika
75 g rice
100 g bacon
1 garlic boat (or clove?)
5 spoons olive oil

Cut the top of the paprika and clean them.
Cook rice until almost finished.
Clean the fish, cut it in small pices and boil it in water.
Chop bacon and onion and fry it in heated oil, add boiled fish.
Add salt, pepper, chopped garlic and the pre cooked rice and mix.
Fill paprika with the mass and pour some oil over.
Bake in warm oven.

A traditional norwegian way to prepare tørrfisk is the lutefisk (lye fish), which in many parts of Norway is eaten for Christmas. Many people find it delicious, but I must admit I am not fond of it. It looks like a transparent, shivering mass of jelly, and tastes like ink. But then, I don't like oysters either ;-)

Tørrfisk is also sold in small pieces as a snack. Kind of dry and salty taste, but healthier than chewing gum ;-)

Norwegian dried fish is exported to Italy, Nigeria, Croatia, Sweden and USA.

Linked below is another italian recipe written in english.

Website: http://starchefs.com/features/stoccafisso/html/recipes_01.shtml

National costumes

The following text is my translation (shortened / rewritten) of some of the text on the linked page (lower link), which also contains pictures of both the male and the female costumes.

The sami population in Finnmark have different costumes according to their origin.

The norwegian population descends from settlers from southern Norway, thus there is no traditional norwegian costume from Finnmark. The existing costume was reconstructed in the 1950-s and 1960-s. Since Finnmark was more or less burned in 1944, the reconstruction had to be based on litterary sources and pictures found in museums outside the county.

Åsnestakken is similar, and an alternative, to a national costume.

Kven is a name used for descendants of finnish immigrants, and a kven costume based on material from 1880 to 1920 has also been reconstructed.

Website: http://www.finnmarksbunaden.no/

Meet the locals

In the coastal areas people have the habit of taking a stroll on the wharf when boats arrive. Especially in small communities where boats bring goods and news. In these modern times when everybody have access to internet, the need to update oneself about what is going on in the world by talking to sailors and visitors / homecoming friends is not the same, but the habit has survived. A nice way to meet the locals!