Julemat (Norwegian Christmas Food)

Good morning,

We are so very happy to be home for Christmas this year.  My Honey and I prepared Christmas Dinner last Friday for ourselves and two close friends.  My Honey prepared traditional Norwegian Christmas meats and our daughter and I prepared the rest.  In Norway this is prepared for Christmas Eve, but we had it a few days early since we will be leaving the day after Christmas and will be very involved in packing for our journey the day before Christmas.  Our daughter will prepare prime rib for Christmas Eve this year. 

The preparation for Julemat, Norwegian Christmas Food, and the rest of the meal was great fun as we did the "kitchen dance" while making all the goodies over two days.

On the plate above starting in the upper left with chef credit (K) for My Honey, (C) for our daughter, and (L) for me:

Skin on mashed red potatoes with sour cream, butter, milk, salt, pepper (L)
Caesar salad (C)
Juleribb (K) (Norwegian pork rib)
Medisterkaker (K) (Norwegian pork patties)
Gravy (K and L)
Cranberry sauce (L) 
Red Cabbage (L)

Not shown:
Home made bread (L)
Pumpkin pie (C)
Liver Pate appetizer (L)

 Our Christmas dinner journey began at a meat store on the other side of town.  Their piggy bench was all dressed up for the holiday.  :)

Until 1979 we lived in that part of town and our kids went to school with the meat store owner's kids, but I don't think anyone working in the store would remember that now.  We had ordered a special cut of pork rib with the fat left on so My Honey could make Juleribb in the traditional Norwegian way. 

It is a two day event to prepare Juleribb.  Day one it is marinated with spices.  The next day it is baked in the oven with the fat side down, then turned and raised above the juices in the pan, scored, baked more, then whole cloves added in the fat side.

Then it is baked even more until the top is crunchy.  By the time the baking is finished (see image of plate at beginning of post for the finished crunchy-top view), most of the fat is baked away and in the bottom of the baking dish.  Some people like to eat the crunchy top, others cut it off and just eat the very tender and tasty meat beneath it. 

While all of this was going on I was preparing the liver pate for our appetizer...

...the onions...

...and hard boiled eggs to go into it.  There are many other ingredients, too. My Liver Pate recipe is here.  Like sausage, it looks much better when finished.  ;)

Here's a shot of my home made cranberry sauce.  Recipe here.

I was busy making so many things that I didn't get pictures of everything, but my bread recipes are here.  The recipe for the red cabbage is here.

Thank you for sharing all the wonderful food you are making on your blogs. I am enjoying all of the images of other holiday foods my blog friends are preparing.  It is so much fun to see the different traditional foods and learn how they are prepared.

Merry Christmas, Everyone, from our home and kitchen to yours.

Lois