Warning: If you dislike the thought of eating living creatures (well, dead when eaten of course….), this post contains phrases like “eat the head” and “break of the claws” and might offend you. My sincere apologies if so, but these fellows were handled and prepared with care and did not suffer.
Alright. I have just been back to Sweden and even though it rained pretty much the whole time, it was great. And boy, I have literally eaten my way through the whole week. Before moving to the UK, I couldn’t really think of anything particular foodwise that I would miss from Sweden, but the list is getting longer day by day, I tell you. Little things like a special kind of snack, a special brand of sauces, different types of bread… If you have sincere cravings, you can probably sort them out somewhere between IKEA and various Sweden-shops online, but there is one thing that I can’t get anywhere but in my parents kitchen in Sweden; langoustine (also known as Norway lobsters), fresh from the sea and prepared with as little effort as possible. No garlic marinade, no fancy spice blends, no complicated recipes, just simply boiled and eaten.
I bet you all have heard of the crazy crayfish parties that happen all over Sweden in August and September? Late summer, Swedes eat crayfish and drink Aquavit like mad, but then we tend to eat the crayfish that lives in lakes and streams. The slightly smaller but fatter ones with a darker red colour. We call them insjökräftor (lake crayfish) and I am pretty sure we’ll have planty of reasons to write about crayfish parties later on this summer.
But growing up on the west coast, right by the sea, it is these lovely creatures that have tickled my taste buds since I was a toddler. We call them havskräfor (sea crayfish) and please correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure they are most commonly known as langoustines or Norway lobster? Anyway, in Sweden, both kinds are known as kräftor (crayfish) with either a lake or a sea in front. The taste are pretty much similar, but for some reason, I prefer the ones from the deep blue sea.
It takes some practice to eat havskräftor in the “correct” Swedish way. First and foremost, forget table manners and don’t wear white or precious clothes. It will squirt, splotch and be sticky. And be prepared to smell slightly fishy afterwards.
A very breif crash course on how to eat havskräftor!
1.Pick a kräfta (en kräfta/flera kräftor) and always start with the claws. Break of one of the claws as close to the body as possible.
2. Use the claw as a straw and suck out the great juices. If you have strong teeth, you can bite and suck out the meat from the claws (as said, table manners is not important when eating kräftor…). Otherwise, use the sharp end of a kräftbestik (crayfish cutlery) to dig out the good meaty bits. It takes time and it should take time! Do the same thing with claw no 2. (Please feel free to notice the lovely sea view outside the window – it is the same sea that these kräftor used to live in!)
3. Separate the tail from the head and move on to the head. Lots of people do not like the head (me included….) and it is perfectly okay to leave it. But if you want to give it a go, first of all you need to peel of the shield, as shown.
4. Use the spoon shaped end of the cutlery to get to the butter. Once again, feel free to leave the head if digging, sucking, biting and chewing this bit don’t sound too appealing.
5. The big reward: the tail! Start peeling in the front by using the little flaps. Once a few flaps are removed, you can pull out the meaty tail and enjoy it.
6. Even the smaller legs are nice to chew and suck on, and when finished, go over the leftovers to make sure you haven’t left any good bits. Then, move on to number two, three, four, five….
7. Enjoy your kräftor with some white bread, mayo, a glass of white wine and some good friends. Ah, can it get much better? If you most certainly disagree, please feel free to share your perfect crayfish experience!
