Cycle 12 – Cycle 158

12 (Sat) June 2021

Stuvade Makaroner med Falukorv

3.0

by me

at home

-Changgok, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-

with IZ

Korean-Swedish Culinary Exchange (15) (see also KSCX)

This installment of KSCX is a crossover with Battles!  Following the most recent battle (see 12.138 Battle: Comfort!), I was intrigued by GK’s entry of Stuvade Makaroner med Falukorv and proposed to make it myself for KSCX; GK agreed to make Ramyeon Royale in exchange. 

BY ME

Stuvade Makaroner med Falukorv is a Swedish dish.  Macaroni pasta in milk sauce, with pan-fried falukorv sausage.  A classic comfort food.

A review of several recipes and videos on the internet showed general consensus on the seasonings, the only technical issue being whether to cook the pasta in water then serving it with a separately prepared milk-based sauce or to cook the pasta directly in milk.  I went with the latter, which would seem to result in a creamier pasta.

When I’d initially seen the photo of the falukorv and read GK’s comments in the prior post, I was reminded instantly of Korean “so-se-ji (소시지).”  Several years ago, I’d described the sausage as follows (see for example 6.345 Sausage Jeon):

Made predominantly of flour/filler, resulting in a doughy texture, vaguely similar to baloney.  No real nutritional value, though it may be less unhealthy than “real” sausages containing fats and meat byproducts.  Distinct artificial flavor, nothing else like it, maybe something like cheap baloney, but not even close.  Food coloring provides an odd pinkish hue.  The most common method of preparation – in fact, the only one that I can think of – is jeon, often found in packed school lunches, back when students still brought their lunches from home.  Developed during the 1960s/1970s – no idea, too lazy to research, but sometime during the 20-year span should be right – presumably as a meat substitute when actual meat was scarce.   Nowadays, even when meat is relatively affordable, these sausages of yore are still popular, probably more for nostalgia than any intrinsic/objective good.

The sausages are still sold today, always employing nostalgia as the marketing hook – presumably for people of my generation.

A while back, I tried making sausage jeon for my kids, and they were like, “WTF?!?!”

I have no idea what falukorv tastes like, but I’d imagine it’s something similar.

I really enjoyed this dish.  It’s not what I would personally consider to be a comfort food – although I can embrace all manner of foods generally, I am most comforted by Korean spicy soups.  But I really enjoyed the light creamy simplicity of the pasta.  I regret adding a dash of shredded parmesan cheese at the end – no recipe called for cheese, though many of the videos emphasized that “This is like the Swedish version of Mac & Cheese!” – which boosted the taste but made the texture a bit gluey.  I was happy to find that blandness of the sausage paired nicely with the subtlety of the milk sauce – a stronger sausage would’ve been overwhelming.  Most important, I loved the unifying flavor of nutmeg throughout the dish.

I need to find fresh nutmeg.

BY GK

[The comments below are GK’s own words, with minor typographical edits from me.]

I used the Hwa Ramyeon.  We had discussed the more famous Sin Ramyeon, but I just had one pack of those, so I used Hwa Ramyeon instead.

I used dry-aged entrecote/rib eye (Swedish origin). 0,222 kilograms and 649 SEK/kilogram –> 144 SEK (19,000 KRW, and you thought hanwoo was expensive…). I went to the deli counter at one of the supermarkets close to where I live (you normally find deli counters in the bigger supermarkets, or the ones catering to a richer clientele) and picked out a suitable piece of meat, which I then asked to be shaved as thinly as they could.  (I didn’t use all of the meat, so I can still use some of it in another dish.)

I have grown perilla leaves in my small gardening plot this year, so I decided to use some of them in the dish.

You used garlic chives in your dish. I opted to use “regular” chives, since I’ve been growing those as well (I don’t think I’ve ever seen garlic chives).

I also added two cubes of my homemade vegetable stock, in order to increase the taste of the broth. Maybe redundant, but I just felt like it.

I started with cooking the noodles.  After I could separate them, I added in the already cracked eggs. Then the vegetables and the beef.

I might have cooked the eggs a little too long.  I would have preferred the egg yolks to still be somewhat raw, but these were cooked all the way through.  Next time I will make sure not to cook the eggs too long.

All in all, it was a really nice and tasty dish, evident by the fact that I finished almost all of what I think was at least 2-3 portions on my own. The broth maybe could have had a tad more taste/spiciness though.  On the other hand, I was able to experience the taste of the beef, which was really nice.  I think the last time I tried something like that was probably when I was in Chongqing and had their version of hot pot…  (Come to think of it, I should try to find a restaurant that serves hot pot here in Stockholm….)

In honor of your lager beer competition series, I had a classic Swedish lager, Mariestads, served in a vintage glass from Pripps, another Swedish beer brand (or actually a brewery, which sadly was bought by Danish Carlsberg.

CONCLUSIONS

I’ve said it before, but I really do appreciate these exchanges that involve humble, home-style foods, dishes that wouldn’t be found in a restaurant or a cookbook.  I believe that it shows mutual trust, that we’re not trying to outdo each other, but just share genuine things that we enjoy.  Let’s never forget that this began over a discussion about SPAM, kimchi, fried eggs, and rice (AHQFGT: At-Home Quick-Fix Go-To Meal).

A few comments on GK’s dish:

• I am very impressed that you grow your own vegetables, including perilla!!  I’ve been meaning to set up my own home herb garden – parsley, chives, cilantro, basil – so perhaps I should take your lead and get started.
• Perilla, which is very fragrant, would seem to dominate the flavor profile of the dish, in a good way – the bitter mintiness would counterbalance the richness of the beef.  (I would’ve sliced the leaves à la chiffonade.)
• What was the impact of the vegetable stock?
• Curious about getting the meat shaved.  Is that generally a thing in Sweden?  I’m beginning to think that egg isn’t such a good idea.  First, the focus should be on the meat and spicy broth, but the egg kinda gets in the way of both.  And, as your own experience shows, getting the egg cooked to a proper doneness is a hassle.
• This might be the first time that you’ve shown a beverage that isn’t milk.

NEXT STEPS

As for our next exchange, I’m thinking about trying another potato dish.  Recently, I migrated the prior post on raggmunk (see 4.007 Raggmunk with Köttbullar), which hadn’t turned out that well, but I remember being inspired to try making rårakor, which I’ve kinda done, but out of a box (see 12.023 Rösti à la Gustaf) or potatisbullar.   Thoughts?

On your end, how about testing my recipe for dubu jorim (see 10.211 Dubu Jorim)?

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)