Swedish food: Surströmming (シュールストレミング)

I think it says roughly that Surströmming is literally the most special smell in the world. ^_^

They home page then goes on to promote t-shirts that says you have survived eating this fish that smells 67 times worse than old socks.

A selection of old Swedish Surströmming cans in my backyard. Ah, the memories...

One of the more special and should I say controversial Swedish dishes is the Surströmming, literally "Sour herring", or "fermented baltic herring" as it is often translated. It is known mostly for its smell, as the fermentation has created a pungent odor that can almost be seen on the can as the process even makes older cans swell outward from the pressure. The taste in itself, though, is something else, a salty and unique spectrum of flavors that beats everything else. ^_^
This means that even in its homeland, surströmming is often either loved or loathed, and as the opening of a can can make the whole neighborhood feel the smell (I kid you not), eating it in cities has its challenges.

これはシユールストラミングと呼ばれるスウェーデンの食品です。それは多くの臭い。非常に良い味がします。それについての詳細を読むために、このインターネットページに移動してください。
以下は、私はそれを食べるために方法を示しています。

Let me shortly walk you through a basic meal of surströmming:

First you open the can. Why do I mention this? Well, because if you dont open it under water, the explosiveness of the air leaving the can will spray you with very smelly surströmming-fluids. You *will* smell a little after eating surströmming (the burps...) but opening a can wrongly is nothing to play with (as carefree people prove again and again...). Also, be prepared for flies. Living next to a horse loving family has proven to be a bit of a handicap in regards to this... ;-)  One trick is to place the surströmming and the purge from the fish on a neighboring table and let the flies have it there.

 You eat surströmming by making special flatbread sandwiches. You eat them with butter, potato and minced onion (yellow or red). To milden the effect of eating basically rotten fish I often have milk as the drink. This is not the only way, but my way, by the way. ;-P

First you have to clear out the guts of the fish. There is a special technique to this, but basically you remove tail, fins, guts and then finally slice of the filets from the spine leaving you with two small filets that you divide into smaller pieces.

 Then you butter a flatbread ("tunnbröd"), the hard kind, mind you, and add a layer of mashed potato (no, you may not use ready-made potato mash) some minced onion and crown it all with pieces of surströmming.

Add the other buttered flatbread piece on top. Some experts (like me) then quickly flips the sandwich over as the hot potato sometimes makes the bread soft and makes it fall to pieces. Viola! Just eat and enjoy the probably most special piece of Swedish cuisine you can find.