Invented by chef Halmat Givra of Nya Gul & Blå restaurant in Piteå, volcano pizza is a visually impressive dish with extra everything – there are pockets of cheese and ham, salami, bacon, and beef tenderloin in a wide ring. Erupting from the center are french fries and a salad with Béarnaise sauce. This recent Swedish invention is ideal for large parties – with a great number of flavors, there is something for everyone involved.
Svið is an unusual and unique dish from Iceland consisting of singed, halved, and cooked sheep's head. The head is then cooked in an open fire (in order to remove the fur) and consumed. The dish is traditionally served with a side of mashed turnips, rhubarb jelly, and mashed potatoes, especially during the traditional Icelandic mid-winter festival known as Þorrablót. Originally, the dish was invented at a time when people could not let any part of meat go to waste. Although svið has a reputation of being really tasty, some may find it strange to literally look their food in the eye.
Thorramatur is a selection of traditional Icelandic foods consumed predominantly during the Nordic month of Þorri, taking place from mid-January to mid-February each year. Cured fish and meat products are cut into slices or bite-sized pieces and served alongside rúgbrauð and butter on numerous buffet tables. The standard choice includes specialties like fermented shark meat, smoked lamb, seared lamb head, blood sausages, and much more, all of which can be additionally soured according to personal preferences. Typical accompaniments include brennivín, Iceland's flavored spirit drink, and seasonal Þorri beer that is traditionally produced by local breweries specifically for the occasion.
Blood pancakes are enjoyed throughout Sweden, Finland, and Norway. They are prepared with a regular pancake batter that is elevated with the addition of animal blood. Whether they are formed as thinner, crêpe-like pancakes or as smaller, chewier types, the pancakes will always develop a typical dark-brown hue. They are often enriched with onions and spices, and come topped with fresh lingonberries or lingonberry jam. Blood pancakes are sold as a ready-made product across Finland and Sweden.
Truchas a la Navarra is a traditional fish dish originating from Navarre. The dish is made with a combination of trout, jamón serrano, flour, lemon, parsley, olive oil, and salt. The trout is seasoned with salt, dredged in flour, and fried in olive oil until golden and just cooked through. It is then stuffed with sautéed jamón serrano pieces and lemon juice is squeezed over the fish. Before serving, this Navarra-style trout is typically dusted with chopped jamón and parsley.
Milcao is a traditional dish originating from the Chiloé Archipelago. It consists of grated potatoes, mashed potatoes, and usually lard and seasonings, resulting in a type of potato pancake. Traditionally, only Chilotan potatoes should be used in the preparation of milcao. These potato pancakes are used as an important part of dishes reitimiento and curanto. Nowadays, there are many variations of milcaos – fried, oven-baked, steamed, boiled, sweetened, or enriched with chicharrones.
Traditionally associated with the northern parts of Sweden and the Finnish Lapland, blodpalt are the nutritious, dark-brown dumplings prepared with rye or barley flour and animal’s blood. Although they were traditionally made with reindeer’s blood, today they appear in numerous regional varieties which employ blood of various animals, different spices, and occasionally mashed potatoes. They are sometimes filled with a mixture of sautéed onions and diced bacon, and are commonly cooked in flavorful meat broths. Blodpalt dumplings are usually enjoyed as a side dish accompanied by fried bacon or pork, butter, and lingonberry jam.
Yerushalmi kugel is a noodle-based casserole associated with Jerusalem’s Ashkenazi Haredi communities, known for its dark color, dense texture, and a flavor that combines pronounced sweetness with noticeable pepper. It emerged in the nineteenth century among Jews living in Jerusalem’s Old Yishuv, where cooks adapted European noodle kugel to local ingredients and tastes while preparing dishes suitable for serving after synagogue services on Shabbat. The reliance on caramelized sugar and black pepper became characteristic of this kugel, setting it apart from other noodle casseroles that featured dairy components or lighter flavor profiles. The dish was shaped by the need for foods that could be prepared before Shabbat and kept warm for extended periods, which influenced its firm structure and the use of ingredients that remain stable in low heat over time. Preparation begins with cooking thin egg noodles until just tender and then coating them in a syrup made by melting sugar in a pot until it reaches a deep amber color. Water or oil is added carefully to dissolve the caramel, and the noodles are stirred into this mixture along with eggs, oil, salt, and a generous amount of black pepper. The mixture is poured into a pot or baking pan and cooked slowly, often for several hours, until it sets into a cohesive mass with a firm outer crust and a dense interior. Its flavor depends heavily on the balance between caramelization and pepper, and many cooks adjust the level of sweetness or spiciness to match family preference. Yerushalmi kugel is eaten in Jerusalem and in communities around the world with roots in the Old Yishuv, often served in small squares after synagogue services or as part of Shabbat day meals. It is commonly paired with pickles and cholent, which provide contrasting textures and flavors, and it is also eaten with kugel-style accompaniments such as salads or egg-based dishes. Beverages served alongside it include tea, soda water, and in some settings grape juice or light wines that balance the sweetness and pepper of the kugel.
Jellied eels is a traditional Cockney street food item, dating back to the 18th century. Originally, it was a cheap and easy way to make a good dish, with plenty of native eels readily available in the Thames River. The eels would get chopped, boiled for approximately half an hour in herbs, then cooled - that is when the fish would produce their own gelatin, and a soft, transparent jelly would form on the cut pieces. The texture of jellied eels is delicate and soft, and while some may say it's unpleasant, their flavor is unique - mild, slightly salty, like pickled herring, but without the unusual "fishy" scent. They are commonly accompanied by white pepper and vinegar in order to further accentuate the flavors. The dish can be served either hot or cold, and according to jellied eels experts, it tastes perfect when paired with chili vinegar.
Chapalele is a potato-and-wheat bread from the Chiloé Archipelago in southern Chile, most closely associated with the island’s curanto meals and with the wider group of chilote preparations in which potatoes are turned into breads, cakes, and dumpling-like accompaniments. At its simplest, the dish mashes cooked potato and combines it with wheat flour and salt to form a soft dough, though some versions add pork fat, lard, or other enrichments. The pieces can be boiled, baked, fried, or cooked in a curanto, but the curanto version is particularly characteristic: flattened portions of dough are placed among the layers of food and cook in the hot steam generated by heated stones beneath meat, shellfish, potatoes, and nalca leaves. Chilean tourism material describes chapalele specifically as a mixture of cooked potato and wheat associated with Chiloé, while historical studies of the archipelago place it among the various “potato breads” that include milcao, chochoca, mella, and related preparations. Its development reflects the particular food history of Chiloé. Potatoes were already central to Huilliche agriculture before Spanish colonization, and archaeological and historical research describes them as one of the archipelago’s most important pre-Hispanic crops; wheat, by contrast, arrived with Europeans and was being cultivated in Chiloé during the colonial period, although the cool, wet climate made it considerably less reliable than potatoes. Chapalele therefore combines two very different agricultural histories in one dough: an indigenous potato culture deeply adapted to the islands and an introduced cereal that gradually became part of local cooking. No inventor or precise date marks the first time these ingredients were combined in this form, so it is more accurate to see chapalele as the result of a long process of adaptation in colonial and post-colonial Chiloé than as a dish created at one identifiable moment. Early 20th-century accounts already describe the importance of potatoes in chilote life, while regional dictionaries record chapalele as a recognized local preparation; one Chilean dictionary defines it as a type of tortilla made with flour and potato that commonly accompanies curanto. Preparation begins by boiling potatoes until completely tender, draining them, and mashing them while still warm so that the mixture remains smooth. Wheat flour and salt are then worked into the potato, usually gradually, because the exact amount of flour depends on how moist and starchy the potatoes are. The goal is a dough firm enough to hold its shape but still dominated by potato, rather than becoming ordinary wheat bread. Some cooks add a little lard or rendered pork fat, especially when serving chapaleles with a substantial curanto, while simpler versions rely only on potato, flour, and salt. The dough is divided into individual pieces and flattened into rounds or oval cakes. For a curanto, they are placed in the layered cooking arrangement and steam with the other ingredients. A curanto al hoyo begins with stones heated intensely in a pit, followed by shellfish, meats, sausages, potatoes, and other foods, then covered with large nalca leaves and additional insulating layers so the contents cook in trapped heat and steam. Chapaleles absorb some of the surrounding aromas while cooking, especially pork, shellfish, smoke, and the moist leaves, but they remain mild enough to serve as a neutral starch alongside the curanto's stronger flavors. This is one of the main differences between chapalele and milcao, another famous Chiloé potato preparation it is sometimes confused with. Milcao is generally made from a mixture of raw grated potato and cooked potato and often contains pork fat or chicharrones, while chapalele is more closely associated with cooked potato combined with wheat flour. The distinction affects both texture and flavor: chapalele tends to be softer, more bread-like, and less intensely potato-forward than milcao, while milcao can be denser, chewier, and richer because of its grated raw potato and pork components. Chapalele isn't limited to savory dishes. Chilean tourism sources also record sweet versions served hot with honey or sugar, showing how the same basic dough can move from a curanto accompaniment to a simple dessert or snack. Honey, particularly ulmo honey from southern Chile, works especially well because its floral sweetness contrasts with the mild potato dough, while sugar creates a simpler finish. Depending on the household, sweet chapaleles may be fried or otherwise cooked separately rather than steamed inside the curanto, giving them a crisper exterior and making them closer in function to a small fried bread. The dough's versatility helped chapalele remain useful in island cooking: potatoes were abundant, flour could stretch them into a more substantial food, and the finished pieces could be cooked using whatever heat source was available. The importance of potato to this food culture is difficult to overstate. Chiloé is home to a remarkable diversity of native potatoes, with agricultural authorities reporting more than 250 varieties across the archipelago, and potatoes have long served there not simply as a vegetable but as a central source of starch and the foundation for numerous distinct preparations. Chapalele is still eaten throughout Chiloé and is encountered at family gatherings, rural festivals, restaurants specializing in island cooking, and especially meals centered on curanto. Served savory, it is best eaten warm alongside the seafood, pork, chicken, sausages, and potatoes of the curanto, where it absorbs some of the cooking juices and provides a soft contrast to firmer shellfish and meats. It can also accompany roasted pork, lamb, smoked foods, or stews, and butter can be enough when chapalele is served separately. Sweet versions pair naturally with honey, jam, or sugar and work well with tea or mate. With a full curanto, dry Chilean white wine, particularly Sauvignon Blanc or a fresh coastal Chardonnay, can handle the shellfish while remaining bright enough for the dense potato bread, and light lager or cider are equally comfortable choices. Chicha de manzana, the apple cider long associated with Chiloé, is an especially fitting regional partner because its acidity cuts through pork fat and complements both the mild chapalele and the sweeter flavors found elsewhere on the table.
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