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
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
- 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
- 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.
- 1 cup barley flour
- 1 egg
- enough whey to make a kneadable dough
- 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:
Coming next, our Saxon meal.
Source: https://www.5acresandadream.com/2025/12/cuisine-of-my-ancestors-viking.html
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