Fårikål

Norway's national dish: mutton and cabbage layered in a pot with whole black peppercorns and water, and nothing else at all

Origin: Oslo & Norway

From the journey of Cabbage.

Fårikål means sheep in cabbage, and the recipe is the name. Bone-in mutton and thick wedges of white cabbage are layered in a heavy pot with whole black peppercorns and a little salt, water is added to a depth of a few centimetres, and it is covered and cooked for two to three hours until the meat leaves the bone and the cabbage has gone soft and translucent. There is no browning, no onion, no stock, and no thickening. Norwegian cooks who add anything are told about it. It was voted Norway's national dish in a public poll run by the state broadcaster NRK in 1972 and again in 2014, when it defeated a challenge from pizza grandiosa, a frozen supermarket pizza that Norway eats in extraordinary quantities. The last Thursday in September is Fårikålens festdag, the dish's own feast day, and it marks the point in the year when the sheep come down off the mountain pasture and the new cabbage is in. The peppercorns are the only seasoning and they are left whole. Some households tie them in muslin and some leave them loose to be found on the plate, which is regarded as part of the experience rather than a flaw. A few cooks add a spoonful of flour between the layers to thicken the liquor and this is the one addition that has any general acceptance; the rest of the pot is a matter of principle. The simplicity is not poverty of imagination but a consequence of what the dish is. Mutton on the bone, cooked long and slow with a vegetable that sweetens as it cooks and a liquid that becomes both broth and sauce, needs nothing else, and adding aromatics would only get in the way of a sheep raised on mountain grass.

Ingredients

Meat

1.5 kg mutton or lamb shoulder and neck on the bone, in thick pieces

Cabbage

1.5 kg white cabbage, in thick wedges through the core

Seasoning

2 tbsp whole black peppercorns
2 tsp salt

Liquid

400 ml water

To thicken

2 tbsp plain flour, optional

To serve

1.2 kg boiled potatoes, to serve

Method

Cut the cabbage into wedges through the core so that each piece holds together, rather than shredding it.
Layer the pot starting with the fattiest pieces of meat fat side down on the base, then a layer of cabbage, then meat, and so on, seasoning each layer with salt and scattering the peppercorns through.
The fat on the bottom is deliberate. It renders first and everything above it cooks in mutton fat rather than in water.
If you want a thickened liquor, dust a little flour over each layer of cabbage as you go.
Pour in the water. It should come no more than a third of the way up; the cabbage releases a great deal as it cooks and the pot must not be flooded.
Bring it slowly to the boil, then cover tightly and cook on the lowest heat for two to two and a half hours.
Do not stir and do not lift the lid more than you must. The cabbage above the water is steaming rather than boiling and the layers should stay as they are.
The dish is ready when the meat comes away from the bone with no effort and the cabbage is translucent and soft enough to cut with a spoon.
Taste the liquor and adjust the salt; it will have taken a good deal from the meat.
Rest the covered pot off the heat for fifteen minutes before serving.
Serve in deep bowls with a piece of meat, several wedges of cabbage, plenty of the liquor, and boiled potatoes on the side.
Warn people about the peppercorns, or tie them in muslin before cooking if you would rather not.

Notes

Wedges rather than shreds, and no stirring. Fat side down on the base. Very little water. Whole peppercorns and nothing else, unless you take the flour option, which is the only widely accepted addition. Mutton is correct and gives a far better pot than lamb, which is done long before the cabbage is. It is agreed across Norway to be better reheated the next day, and households cook a pot large enough to guarantee it.

The Gastrographer

Name: Fårikål
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 2 h 30 min
Total time: 2 h 50 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Oslo & Norway
Ingredients: 1.5 kg mutton or lamb shoulder and neck on the bone, in thick pieces; 1.5 kg white cabbage, in thick wedges through the core; 2 tbsp whole black peppercorns; 2 tsp salt; 400 ml water; 2 tbsp plain flour, optional; 1.2 kg boiled potatoes, to serve

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control