Hot & Wet Naked Viking Meat (#94)
Our August film was Naked Gun. This ridiculous comedy is a lot of fun, but kind of a difficult theme. There are a lot of foods referenced in the film, but most of them, like hotdogs, are things that we had done several times before. Then, I came across a simple one-liner where the main character mentions a place that makes great Viking food. Such a ridiculous things to say, as Viking restaurants aren't really a thing. Right? Well, that became the theme. I was going to make Viking food. Later, I also found the scene about boiling a roast and asking "How hot and wet do you like it?" For me, this confirmed that I was going to making a Viking dish that strongly featured meat, and that I would probably make it "hot and wet" in the sense that I would slow cook it in broth or stew.
Immediately, I started researching different foods that Vikings were accustomed to eating. I was surprised to find that they had a pretty diverse diet, with lots of meat and fish, fruits and vegetables. I wanted the meat to be something wild and exotic. At first, I planned on doing venison, but ultimately went with elk. It was similarly priced online and felt more exotic. I bought it as precut stew meat. I really wanted to make it feel and taste rustic, so here's what I did:
First, I made a marinade for it. I decided as the base of my marinade, to use some homemade apple cider wine that I had left over from a year or two ago. Apples are one of the fruits they would eat, so I thought this would act as good base to soften and sweeten the elk meat. To keep it from being too sweet, I added pepper, rosemary, and Worcestershire sauce. I know that Worcestershire is English and not Nordic, but it is a condiment made primarily of fermented anchovies so I thought it would add some good acid and fish flavors. I didn't measure anything here. I just added things until I felt it smelled flavorful. I marinated the elk stew meat in the fridge overnight.
The next day, a little before noon, I took the meat out of the marinade and smoked it in a pellet smoker for an hour. During that time, it got a lot of flavor and color. I decided not to let it go longer, because I didn't want the meat to be completely cooked. The plan was for it finish cooking in the broth over the next several hours.
I was originally planning of using a crockpot, but it wasn't big enough for the amount of food that I was preparing to make, so instead I used a 12 qt cast iron dutch oven, which I heated on the stove top on the lowest setting. It took a while to heat up, but just as I expected, it retained the heat well. Another benefit of the dutch oven, is that cooking with cast iron can add to the rustic flavor of the dish. For the broth, I used was left of marinade and add some addition flavor of onion and garlic powders, salt, and when I realized that it was still way to watery, about 4 tablespoons of butter. I decided not to cook it in any beef broth, which is what you would typically do with a stew, because I didn't want the elk to taste like beef.
To the pot, I added carrots and potatoes. I know. I know. Vikings didn't eat potatoes. I don't know what to tell you. They did eat root vegetables, and I am simply not a fan of turnips and the rest, so I did potatoes. I let everything slow cook at the lowest setting, stirring only every once in a while. I did leave the lid on the dutch oven, to prevent the liquid from evaporating over the next several hours. I tasted the broth every so often to season more when necessary.
Ultimately, I decided the broth was good for giving flavor to the meat and vegetables, it was not good eating with a spoon. It was simply too much seasoning and flavor. Smacked you in the face when you ate. Also, it was a bit oily. With that said, it reminded me a bit of the seasoned olive oil some Italian restaurants have out to dip your bread in. I decided that we should eat this meal the same way, enjoy the meat and veggies and then dip the broth with a hearty bread.
I tried my hand at making a Viking era flatbread, but had trouble getting it to rise. Pictured here is one of only two that rose successfully. I was using a recipe I found here. I'm not sure what I did wrong, but as I mentioned, most of them failed to rise. My guests said even the hard ones that didn't rise were still good, but I am not convinced that they weren't just lying out of politeness. Thankfully, I had prepared for this contingency and had already asked a friend to bring a loaf of rustic bread in case mine had failed.
During dinner, I served homemade mead, which I had started fermenting a month earlier. I use a fast acting yeast that allows you to grow wines and meads fairly quickly. For this batch, I decided to keep it simple. I used 3 lbs of organic butter, about a gallon of water, a cup of raisins, and some lemon balm and lemon juice to add citrus notes. I was very proud with the flavors it produced.
For dessert, a different friend offered to help. I couldn't find much in the movie that would work with dessert, but did find a scene where they are snacking on red pistachios. I told my friend this and she provided pistachio ice cream and a fruit tart.
Overall, I would say the night was a success. The meal wasn't the best that I had ever made, but it did meet my expectations, which I do set pretty high.
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