Yesterday I had dinner at the lunch room in the main university library building in Lund. Going behind the scenes in buildings is always interesting but yesterday the focus was not on the building but rather on the menu. The dinner was the traditional northern Swedish dish of Surströmming (literally Sour Herring).
The dish is considered a delicacy but this is hard to believe since the smell will blow your mind away.
The herring is caught in spring and is fermented in barrels for one to two months, the fermented fish is then tinned where the fermentation continues. About six months later the gases caused by the fermentation makes the tins bulge into a more rounded shape. One idea for the origins of the method of fish preservation is due to the high cost of salt so fermentation was used and less salt could be used.
The tin cans are opened outside (because of the smell) and served with bread, butter, potatoes, onion and gräddfil (fat fermented milk). The meal is best savored with beer and schnapps.
As an experience it was definitely great – as a culinary experience it must be an acquired taste and it does not make my top ten but it was fun. The smell was the worst part and I have been getting flashbacks all morning.