Hangikjöt (; lit. "hung meat") is a

traditional A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

festive food in Iceland, served at

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

Etymology and history

This

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic smoked

lamb Lamb or The Lamb may refer to: * A young sheep * Lamb and mutton, the meat of sheep Arts and media Film, television, and theatre * ''The Lamb'' (1915 film), a silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in his screen debut * ''The Lamb'' (1918 ...

mutton Lamb, hogget, and mutton, generically sheep meat, are the meat of domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries''. A sheep in its first year is a lamb and its meat is also lamb. The meat from sheep in their second year is hogget. Older sheep meat is mutton. Gen ...

, or

horse meat Horse meat forms a significant part of the culinary traditions of many countries, particularly in Eurasia. The eight countries that consume the most horse meat consume about 4.3 million horses a year. For the majority of humanity's early existen ...

is usually boiled and served either hot or cold in slices, traditionally with potatoes in béchamel sauce and green

pea The pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the flowering plant species ''Pisum sativum''. Each pod contains several peas, which can be green or yellow. Botanically, pea pods are fruit, since they contain seeds and d ...

s, or in thin slices on bread such as ''

flatkaka Flatkaka (, lit. "flat cake") or flatbrauð (, lit. "flat bread") is an Cuisine of Iceland, Icelandic unleavened rye bread, rye flatbread. ''Flatkaka'' is soft, round, thin and dark with a characteristic pattern from the pan. Traditionally, ''fla ...

'' or ''

rúgbrauð ''Rúgbrauð'' () is an Icelandic straight rye bread. It is traditionally baked in a pot or steamed in special wooden casks by burying it in the ground near a geyser, in which case it is known as ''hverabrauð'' or "hot-spring-bread". Modern ''r ...

'' or ''

laufabrauð (, "leaf bread"; sometimes also called "snowflake bread" in English) is a traditional kind of Icelandic bread that is most often eaten in the Christmas season. Originating from northern Iceland but now eaten throughout the country, it consis ...

''. It takes its name from the old tradition of smoking food in order to preserve it by hanging it from the rafters of a smoking shed. Sometimes, bits of string are present in the meat, having been tied around the meat to compress it and hold it together as it is being smoked; the strings are not eaten. There are several types of hangikjöt. The meat can come from various parts of the

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...

, but the most common is the hind legs. A whole leg on the bone, with an adequate layer of fat, is by many considered the best of all, although others prefer the convenience of a boned roll of meat or want most of the fat trimmed off.

Commercial form

In recent years other types have become available, such as ''tvíreykt'' ("twice smoked") hangikjöt, i.e. lamb or mutton that has been smoked for a longer period of time and is more like the old country hangikjöt which often hung high above the kitchen fire for many months. This is usually served raw in thin slices, sometimes in a manner similar to the Italian ''

prosciutto ''Prosciutto crudo'', in English often shortened to prosciutto ( , ), is Italian uncooked, unsmoked, and dry-cured ham. ''Prosciutto crudo'' is usually served thinly sliced. Several regions in Italy have their own variations of ''prosciutto crud ...

'', with

melon A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a " pepo". Th ...

. Modern commercial hangikjöt is usually fairly lightly smoked. The two main types are either smoked with Icelandic

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains ...

or with dried sheep dung. A recent survey established that around 90% of all Icelanders eat hangikjöt at least once over the holidays.Icelandic cuisine
Iceland TV. Retrieved 27 November 2013 Smoked mutton is known as macon in the UK, but is not common.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hangikjot Icelandic cuisine Lamb dishes Christmas food Smoked meat Christmas in Iceland

Etymology and history

Commercial form

See also

References