I've just come back from a foray to my favourite delicatessen where I was actually quite restrained! In amongst my purchases, I have a gorgeous slab of Norwegian Brown Cheese... I first encountered this when I visited a friend in Oslo for a long weekend in '99 and became more than a little fond of the cheese. Its a very sweet cheese, with only a tiny hint of savoury to it. If you've ever had a Caramac chocolate bar, its quite like that but fudgier. It is very rich, hence you can only (realistically) eat it in thin slices slivered off with a cheese plane.
I like it on oatcakes or rye crispbreads at breakfast, but Marit (my Norwegian friend) melted some into a venison stew which was just incredible! One day I'll have to bribe her for the recipe. Of course, I'll have to (a) persuade Dave that there is nothing unnatural about a sweet cheese and (b) convince him that venison is nice!
If you spot some in a shop, I urge you to try it! I'm told that its generally a "love or hate" thing (like Marmite!), but I absolutely adored it from the very first bite.
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Hi Angela!
How fun to read about your appreciation of the goat's cheese I introduced you to. There are several varieties of this cheese, both with and without the addition of cow's milk. The less cow's milk, the stronger the taste, generally.
And actually it wasn't venison I served, it was reindeer, but I don't think I had the heart to tell you that you were eating Rudolph at the time. :)
Here's a simple recipe for "Finnbiff" (loosely translates to "Sami beef")
It features reindeer and brown cheese along with juniper berries (optional, or substituted with lingonberries or other not too sweet wild berries and is a traditional Norwegian recipe:
Ingredients:
500 g reindeer meat (I buy it frozen and chopped into small slivers, but you can use any other game, and cut it into thin slices/slivers)
8 - 10 fresh mushrooms or one tin of mushrooms
2-3 tbs butter
3 dl water
1 1/2 tbs flour
4 tbs sour cream
1 dl milk (whole/skimmed)
3 slices of brown cheese
5 crushed juniper berries /lingonberries
1/2 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1. Defrost the reindeer meat in room temperature for about 1 hour (as a substitute venison or other game should work well, cut into small slivers)
2. Fry the meat and mushrooms quickly on high heat and transfer to a casserole. Cook out the frying pan with some of the water to release the meat juices and tip into the casserole with the meat and mushrooms. Pour in the rest of the water and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Dissolve the flour in some cold water and use to thicken the stew. Everything should simmer another five minutes to remove the floury taste before adding sour cream, milk, brown cheese, herbs and salt. Add salt and pepper to taste. I tend to use a lot of freshly ground pepper when making this dish.
4. Traditionally served with boiled potatos, brussel sprouts (or broccoli) and lingonberries (either whole berries or jam)
Enjoy!
1. Posted by Marit on November 19, 2007
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Hi Angela!
I just wanted to chime in after reading your post (and the follow-up from your friend Marit with the recipe). I was recently introduced to Brown Cheese (on Norway's Independence Day - May 17, 2004) and have formed what I call a "strange obsession" with the creamy and very flavorful (and unique) cheese. Now I'm hooked (despite finding out later that it is a "full fat" cheese, which is kind of scary!) :)
Anyway, thanks for listing your story and thanks to Marit for posting the recipe! YUM (I'm excited to try something like that!)
2. Posted by Jennifer on November 19, 2007
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Hei Marit! I forgot to thank you for the recipe :) Still haven't tried it, but I will as soon as venison is back in season!
Hi Jennifer! I haven't needed to worry about it being a full-fat cheese as yet. Its so flavourful that I can't eat very much in one go :) I do think its a good obsession - think of all the calcium and the benefit to your bones!! Why yes, I can indeed justify almost any food :)
3. Posted by Angela on November 19, 2007