
The tasting of surströmming - type0
https://matija.suklje.name/the-tasting-of-surstromming
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rags2riches
There are so many mistakes made with surströmming, I hardly know where to
start.

Although it comes in a can, it should be stored cold. If you open it and it
looks something like mushed up tuna, as I have seen in some Youtube challenge
videos, something has gone terribly wrong. Don't eat it!

Unless you have a can of filets, you should gut and clean out your strömming.
Keep the roe if you get a lady fish, the rest of the innards you don't want. I
have never seen a properly gutted strömming on Youtube. And of course you get
the bones out. Unlike pickled herring, where the acidity softens the bones,
the spine of a surströmming is not pleasant to eat.

Eating it indoors is fine. You don't need a bucket of water to open it in. A
napkin to protect against spray due to the pressure is fine. Pros just tilt
the can slightly and open it without even a napkin. The smell is admittedly
potent but it's not a chemical weapon. All the crazy stories about how the
smell is impossible to get rid of are told by people who don't eat it
themselves, in my experience.

The taste is obviously quite strong. A little bit goes a long way together
with plenty of bread and potatoes. It is also very salty, so you will probably
want to drink something.

And most importantly, expectations matter. Presentation matter. The reactions
of people around you matter. If you have brought a can of the most disgusting
food in the world, a bucket to barf in and your mates are giggling and ready
to record your reaction, you will most likely not enjoy surströmming.

However, if you come to a set table, where the strömming is presented as
actual food, you can feel how the other guests are enjoying themselves and you
are also there to do the same, you are much more likely to actually do so.

I have been present several times when people have had surströmming for the
first time. Some people liked it, some people didn't. Most make a comment
about the smell. But they have all tasted it without hesitation. Not a single
one gagged the slightest. None of them were in it for the thrill or the
challenge. They were just guest there to enjoy a dinner with friends.

~~~
Symbiote
I ate it here in Denmark with a friend from Luleå, in far northern Sweden.

1) He bought fillets, because that was easier to find in Malmö, but said the
real northerners wouldn't approve. Hence he hadn't tried the fillets before,
but said the taste was the same, and it saved the annoying gutting. So buy the
fillets.

2) We went outdoors; it makes for a nicer party without worrying about someone
spilling the brine. Open the can, then _rinse the fillets in water_. I'd eat
it in a house, I'm not sure I'd eat it in an apartment outside Sweden.

3) Have prepared all the rest: flatbread (tunnbröd), crushed small new
potatoes (almond potatoes if you're in Sweden), finely diced red onion,
chopped fresh dill, chopped fresh chives. Crème fraîch is optional, but a good
idea for first-timers to mask the taste a little.

5) Serve bread + potatoes + a little fish (3cm cut up and spread around) +
optional cream + dill + chives.

I've done this three times now, with the Swede and later alone. I/we haven't
forced anyone to try it, and almost everyone has eaten at least one whole open
sandwich. Several came back next year, which — as you say — helps normalize
it.

I think it tastes like an extremely strong hard cheese. Once a year is enough,
however.

~~~
amarant
Please don't eat it in an apartment, not even in Sweden. That shit is neighbor
cruelty

//Concerned Swede

~~~
rags2riches
I've never had a single complaint, nor have anyone I know. Have you ever had
reason to complain about the smell of surströmming from a neighbor?

~~~
amarant
I don't think any of my neighbors ever tried, at least not since I moved to an
apartment. That move did coincide with me moving to Stockholm though, and it
seems this atrocious tradition has less foothold here then back home in
Dalarna(and I would guess, northern sweden too). I have had reason to complain
about neighbors eating it while living in a villa, but it seemed unfair to
complain so I used incense instead :)

i guess maybe I'm just sensitive

------
dcminter
I've tried it (at the Herräng dance camp as it happens, an experience in
itself).

I'd describe the texture as being a little sponge-like compared to, say,
tinned tuna. The flavour is strong and slightly acid. The smell was pungent
but not particularly awful.

On the whole I think people exaggerate; it's no more revolting than a strong
cheese might be, and the "rotting herring" description you sometimes hear is
about as indicative as "rotted milk" would be for cheeses.

On the other hand we had it outside and they do say it's much worse indoors.
It was noticeable that the moment the tin was opened it attracted flies
though!

Our host opened the noticeably swelling tin without a bucket of water, but he
was an old hand at it.

~~~
cangencer
I also think the "disgusting" aspect is way overrated. It's basically
fermented fish. The smell is very concentrated because it's been canned. A
good video on how to eat it:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGRyr8yIo9w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGRyr8yIo9w)

~~~
dkersten
> It's basically fermented fish

I’ve personally only ever heard it described as exactly that: fermented fish.

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alkonaut
The important things:

1\. the smell varies from can to can (age etc). That’s why people have very
different experiences when opening one.

2\. The smell is not like the flavor. It tastes like salty anchovies with a
bit more punch.

3\. Other than a few hardcore fans, people generally don’t eat the fish
alonelike you would e.g with pickled herring (the other Swedish herring
staple). You have it (sometimes quite little, depending on how much you like
it) on a huge piece of hard bread together with lots of other things like
potatoes. The exact combination of things on the sandwich is the cause of
family feuds. It’s like anchovies on a pizza vs eating a can of anchovies...

4\. If you meet a Swede they will most likely have tried it, but probably
don’t like it. It’s only commonly eaten in the northern half of the country,
while most people live in the south.

~~~
legulere
Isn’t tunnbröd also often soft?

~~~
alkonaut
Both kinds exist, but I think the hard version is more common in the north,
meaning the combination soft+surströmming would be less common (If it’s not
criminal, it should be :)

~~~
amarant
You're right, I'm from what people usually call the North of Sweden, and while
we have plenty of soft tunnbröd eating it with surströmming is just wrong.
Surströmming goes with tuttul(local hard tunnbröd variant) sourcream,
potatoes, dill, and chopped red onions. I don't enjoy it though, mostly
because my tummy didn't agree with it, and I was farting that less than lovely
smell of freshly opened can, almost constantly for a week! I'm not likely to
eat it again, even though my family does at least a couple of times a year

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robin_reala
It’s not surprising that the cashier in Malmö didn’t have any suggestions:
surströmming is from the other end of the country, and all the southerners
I’ve spoken to about it have got that “those crazy norrlännings” expression on
their faces.

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Torkel
When I lived in a dorm in Uppsala there was a girl there, an exchange student
from China, and she purchased surströmming for cooking, thinking it was
regular fish. So she opens up the can and, boom, smell. Still thinking it is
fish (”Sweden is a strange place, maybe they don’t get the fresh stuff
here?”), she proceeds to rinse it it under the faucet and then makes a chinese
dish with surströmming as the fish ingredient.

Surströmming is great - in small amount together with fresh potatoes and
melted butter, on thin crispy bread.

~~~
cm2012
Almost anything is great in a small amount with fresh potatoes and melted
butter on thin crispy bread. Why not just use regular pickled herring? Or
something similar that doesn't taste and smell bad?

~~~
rags2riches
The taste really is special. It's the most savory, salty, fishy food I have
ever had. It's something like anchovies with parmesan and tuna cranked up to
eleven.

Pickled herring is not really the same kind of taste at all.

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XparentX
A funny true story with surströmming:

A relative attended a school in in London during the 60s, living in a
dormitory. One of the students didn’t wash his socks. So my relative and his
friend opened a tin of surströmming and placed it in this guys trash bin.

The guy with the smelly socks friends entered the dormitory and smelled the
surströmming thinking it was his socks. So they throwed them away.

Well now my relative and his friend had to swiftly remove the tin with
surströmming, so they placed it outside in a tree.

Then the school directors 2 poodle dogs came along and found the surströmming
ton and eat it up.

The directors wife was a piano teacher and had a lesson with a student when
the dogs entered the piano room. The directors wife shouted something like “O
my dear dogs, where have you been..” and having no clue what it was. Well, she
gave this dogs a good bath.

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jabl
As a Phd student me and a couple of office mates did this at work one day. The
fish, the white crispy bread (whatever it's called in English?), potatoes etc.
for a proper "klämma" sandwich. Once you get over the smell, it's quite good
actually.

Oh, the smell. We did chase everybody else out of the coffee room when I
opened it (using the bucket trick, yes). A bit later the lab engineer called
me:

\- I got some complaint about the toilet drain malfunctioning, and that you
might have something to do with it?

\- Uh oh...

Sometime later one of my co-conspirators moved on to do a post-doc in another
country, where he eventually repeated our stunt. Except he forgot the bucket
thing, and sprayed the foul smelling bile on some poor bystander.

~~~
Symbiote
> The fish, the white crispy bread (whatever it's called in English?)

Flatbread in general, there isn't a word for the specific Swedish type.
("Swedish flatbread.")

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XparentX
I have to eat surströmming once a year, preferably close
surströmmingspremiären, which is the 3d Thursday in August.

Living in Stockholm, you call friends and relatives who like surströmming and
set a date and time.

If you have neighbours from other cultures, it is adviced to set up a notice
in the entrance. Otherwise they maybe will call for a plumber.

Everything that is present during a meal with surströmming will probably catch
the smell. Therefore it is advised to not have your finest suit on. And the
best way is to eat outdoors.

Eating outdoors could bring along insects to the table. To mitigate this you
could pour some of the brine in a coup or two and set them some meters from
the table and the insects gravitate to them instead.

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oger
I once made a client bring a can from a visit to Sweden. Luckily it did not
explode on board - I keep thinking what would have happened if the airline
presented him a bill worth several millions with a nice letter stating that
they tried every option to get rid of the smelly leftovers without any
success... ;-) We had a very funny evening (including some Aquavit) and built
a good friendship on top of it. Surstromming actually does not taste foul,
only strong.

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fencepost
Clive and friends did some sampling of surströmming recently, as on
[https://youtu.be/4vjT_fFUFLs](https://youtu.be/4vjT_fFUFLs) starting at 4:15
if you want the experience of 3 folks not previously exposed to it but
appropriately prepped.

The rest of the channel tends more towards the disassembly of electronic
devices and analysis of their construction.

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dawhizkid
I’ve watched this buzzfeed clip a few times...pretty funny.
[https://youtu.be/_haw_YDC_zo](https://youtu.be/_haw_YDC_zo)

~~~
Symbiote
But as many others have said here, it's completely the wrong way to eat it.

This is what American YouTubers and Danish students on initiation rituals do;
it's not how Swedish people eat it.

