My wife and I wanted to experience the flavors and ingredients that the Vikings used in their meals. So we chose to experiment with a Viking-inspired meal on a February Saturday evening. After some research, we settled on making a turnip and salmon stew and hazelnut treats for dessert.

We also recorded the dinner, have a look here:

The dish we made was a turnip and salmon stew. The components used were butter, scallions, turnips, salmon, fish stock, and egg yolks. We added some dill and coriander when serving the stew. We used wooden bowls and some hand-made pottery to create the right atmosphere.

viking food, salmon stew

We couldn't find a salmon with its skin and bones, which meant we couldn't make our own fish stock and we used a blender to grind the hazelnuts, which was not the traditional method, but it worked well. Despite this, the food turned out excellent and tasted amazing.

When the dinner was ready and while eating we realized that even with only a few ingredients and spices, a dish can still taste delicious. The turnip and salmon stew was simple but flavorful, and the hazelnut treats were the perfect sweet ending to the meal.

Cooking Viking-inspired food is not as difficult as one might think. While the Vikings may have cooked their meals over an open fire, using a modern kitchen makes the process much easier. This could be a good starting point for beginners who want to try making Viking food themselves.

If you're interested in learning more about Viking-age food, we got another blog about it that you can find here. We hope that our Viking-inspired dinner has inspired you to try making some Viking food yourself. Happy cooking!

Philip Lufolk