St Lucia buns, or lussekatter in Norwegian, are the traditional sweet breads of St Lucia Day, 13th of December. The literal translation of lussekatter is ‘Lucia cats’; this is because of the characteristic winding tail design. They are also called saffron buns because of the traditional use of saffron.
During the cold, dark winter, hot chocolate in Norway is the drink you have when you are not having coffee. Here is a typical homemade recipe:
Pork rib is one of the traditional meals at Christmas time in Norway. It is often eaten by Norwegians on Christmas day, but also throughout the dark season too. Norwegian rib is one of my favourite meals – it’s so good that I make it even when I’m dining by myself.
Kokomakroner are one of the typical Norwegian Christmas cookies. They originated in Italy and somehow found their way into the Seven Sorts tradition. This recipe is like most others – quick and simple.
Farmor doesn’t use recipes so it is mighty hard to get any kind of standard from her. For her pepperkaker recipe, she gave me a little sheet of paper with primitive-Norwegian writing (Farmor is actually from the Swedish part of Finland) with a simple method:
Ribbe (roast pork rib) is a classic on the Norwegian Christmas table. The rib, which is actually a whole side of pork rather than just spare ribs, is very rich and juicy and is therefore served with equally rich and juicy trimmings: Cowberry sauce, sauerkraut, potatoes, thick gravy, Christmas sausage, apples and prunes.
