Some dishes demand a lot of experimentation — and courage — from culinary enthusiasts. The Swedish delicacy Surströmming, a kind of rotten fish, heads the list.
Image: imago/Seeliger
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High Five: 5 European foods you might not think are delicacies
Like the Swedish delicacy Surströmming, a kind of rotten fish, some dishes demand a lot of experimentation — and courage — from culinary enthusiasts.
Image: imago/Seeliger
Surströmming
Some can't bring themselves to take a single bite. Due to the putrid stench, manufacturers advise that cans of Surströmming should only be opened underwater. The stinking Swedish fish ferments for weeks — a process that continues in the can, which bulges noticeably on the supermarket shelve. Allegedly, some airlines even prohibit the rotten fish on planes due to the risk of explosion.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Farnsworth
Hákarl
The Greenland shark can grow up to 400 years old. Unless it ends up as hákarl on a plate. While the shark's meat is actually poisonous when fresh, it becomes edible if you bury it or let it rot in a box for weeks. Dubbed by some the worst tasting food in the world, hákarl has a rubbery consistency and an ammonia-like flavor. It's a traditional specialty in Iceland.
Image: imago stock&people
Bull testicles
Once they were a delicacy in Central Europe, but today bull testicles are only savored by experimental gourmands and very rarely appear on menus — or as in this photo, hidden in a salad. Which might be a pity, as connoisseurs describe the dish's very delicate consistency and a subtle nutty taste. In addition, bull testicles (known as Rocky Mountain oysters in the US) are rumored to boost libido.
Image: DW
Labskaus
The ingredients of this mariner's dish from Northern Germany are harmless: potatoes, beetroot, meat and fish. But after they are put through a meat grinder, it comes out looking like someone has just been sick. Labskaus is therefore often hidden under a fried egg. The specialty was born out of necessity — as sailors once lost their teeth due to vitamin deficiencies, their food had to be pureed.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/I. Wagner
Maggots cheese
A specialty on the Italian island of Sardinia, where it's known as Casu Marzu or "rotten cheese," flies lay eggs in the immature sheep's cheese before it becomes infested with live larvae, or maggots — which gives the cheese its incomparable taste. Though the delicacy is officially banned in the EU, many Sardinians do not want to give up this uniquely putrid pecorino cheese.
Image: DW
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Nobody really knows how the Swedes thought up this dish. The Scandinavian country has more than 3,000 kilometers of coastline, and yet one of its national dishes isn't fresh but rotten fish. Surströmming is as legendary as it is odor-intensive. But even that doesn't come close to describing the experience of opening a can under your nose.
Surströmming's foul, stomach-churning aroma is achieved by leaving herring that is caught in the spring to rot over the summer in brine. The resulting amino acids preserve the fish yet create such a fetid smell that it becomes a challenge to eat for most.
The Swedes see it differently, where eating Surströmming is a proud tradition. The fish comes on sale on the third Thursday in August, a date that was once set to regulate the amount of "delicious" fermented fish consumed. Surströmming is commonly eaten with onions, potatoes and sour cream.
But not only the Swedes have daring delicacies on the menu. You can can find similarly exotic — and putrid — dishes across Europe, as our High Five gallery reveals.
