Cuisine of My Ancestors: Viking

Continued from Cuisine of My Ancestors: Norman French.

The term "Viking" is a broad term that I'm using to describe the Danes and Northmen (Norsemen) who show up on my family tree between the 700s to 900s AD, when they raided and conquered lands in Britain and Ireland. Their modern nationalities are Danish and Norwegian. 

When I researched what the Vikings ate, I found a lot of information because they are popular with living historians. What I couldn't find was actual recipes from the time period because they don't exist. Viking cooks didn't write down and swap recipes. But many recipes have been developed based on descriptions of Viking culture, including farming, hunting, fishing, and foraging. 

What did Vikings eat? Scandinavia has a relatively cool climate, which would affect what ancient Scandinavians could grow and forage. As settlers in Britain, they had a somewhat milder climate and richer soil. 

• Meat: fish, goat, cow, chickens, pigs, ducks, sheep
• Grain: primarily barley, which tolerates cool weather well. Also oats and rye. Very little wheat.
• Dairy: milk, butter, cheese, skyr (cultured milk)
• Eggs
• Vegetables: turnips, cabbage, nettles, docks, cresses, white carrots, onions, leeks, peas, beans, mustard, lamb quarters.
• Herbs and spices: dill, mint, thyme, parsley, cress, horseradish
• Fruits: foraged berries, cherries, lingonberries, wild strawberries
• Beverages: milk, ale, mead, buttermilk, whey
• Sweetener: honey

Cooking Methods

• Open fire
• One pot meals cooked in cauldrons, such as barley porridge and ‘skause,’ a boiled meat and vegetable stew. 
• Unleavened flat breads were baked on flat stones

Menu

Skause (Viking stew) 

Osyrat Kornbröd (barley flatbread) 

Ale

Recipes

Skause (Viking stew)

This is a surprisingly popular recipe on the internet, with many variations. The ingredients for all of them are pretty much the same: meat, root and other cool weather vegetables, broth, ale, sometimes berries, and usually barley. I adapted my recipe from two others:

• Skause Recipe: A Viking Stew with History on Every Spoonful from Eats History
• Medieval Skause Stew: A Recipe To Connect with the Past from Forgotten Skillz

Ingredients

• 1 pound meat, cubed (I used pork)
• I cup onions, chopped
• 2 tbsp butter
• 7 cups liquid (I used a combination of bone broth and ale)
• 1 cup pearl barley
• 1-2 cups chopped root vegetables (I wanted turnip but had to settle for rutabaga)
• 1/4 head cabbage
• garlic
• thyme
• rosemary
• sage
• salt to taste
• 2 cups lambs quarter
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

Instructions

• Brown cubed meat in butter. 
• Add onions and continue to brown. 
• Add liquid
• Add barley, veggies (except lambs quarter), and herbs
• Simmer 2 - 3 hours or until barley and veggies are done
• Half-hour before serving add lambs quarter and blueberries

Recipe Notes

• Variations are endless! Use whatever meat and vegetables you have on hand. 
• Scandinavians foraged lignonberries, which I don't have, so I substituted blueberries.
• Berries could be dried
• Barley ale would have been more authentic, which I couldn't find. I used wheat ale instead.

Osyrat Kornbröd (barley flatbread) 

My recipe is adapted from Tjurslakter Kookboek, a free online PDF cookbook of Viking and Anglo-Saxon recipes. I used the recipe for shardbread, substituting barley flour for the wheat. Barley was a commonly grown grain in Scandinavia, while wheat was not. This is a bread best eaten fresh, so I adjusted the amounts for just two persons. 

• 1 cup barley flour
• 1 egg
• enough whey to make a kneadable dough

Shape into balls and press flat. Cook on ungreased skillet for several minutes on each side until browned. Serve immediately. 

What did we think?

• We loved the skause. The addition of blueberries gave it a unique and interesting flavor. Browning the meat in butter was new for me, but it smelled wonderful and added to the overall flavor and satiety. I think other grains could be tried, and of course, different meat and vegetables would guarantee different flavors. Dried fruit could be used, so I'll have to dehydrate some blueberries just for this.
• The flat breads were so-so. On the other hand, I didn't have high expectations for them. I have better ways for making bread, so while skause will be often on our winter menu, the flat bread will probably not.

Lastly, here's the link to my Viking post in last year's holiday series:

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Viking 

Coming next, our Saxon meal.

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Viking © 2025

by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com