>> Funding for this series has been provided in part by the following... Horten Municipality.

[ Bottle cap pops, clinks ] >> Ahh!

>> 62 degrees Nord.

[ Wind howls ] ♪♪ Kvaroy Arctic.

♪♪ Up Norway.

>> And when we eat tongue, then we always cut this end off... >> Rodseth: Okay.

>> ...and this top off because if you eat the top, then you tell a lot of lies.

>> Rodseth: Okay.

But I've eaten quite a few of the tip of the tongue, so I'm probably full of... Yeah.

Okay.

Well, let's have a taste.

♪♪ ♪♪ Hi, and welcome to "New Scandinavian Cooking," this time from Kappfjellet in Nordland, Northern Norway.

My name is Christer Rodseth.

It's the beginning of October and late fall here in the north.

We are deep inside the southern Sámi area.

The reindeer still roam freely in the high mountains at Borgefjell towards the Swedish border, but it's soon time to herd them down from the mountain and towards the coast.

One of the best northern Norwegian ingredients is clearly reindeer meat, and there will be several dishes in today's program.

I'll cook over an open fire and prepare reindeer entrecote, a boneless ribeye steak, and there will be waffles with berries from the mountain and caramel sauce.

♪♪ >> [ Speaking native language ] >> I will also prepare fresh mountain trout served with pan-fried onions, cauliflower, and chanterelles, all topped with delicious local berries.

And as a final touch for today's menu, I'll put a Norwegian spin on the classic taco.

The Sámi family Sparrok will help me find my way in this spectacular mountain setting, and they will serve me some real Sámi food.

I'm looking so much forward to taste a true northern diet.

♪♪ The reindeers feed on a diverse variety of shrubs, herbs, and mushrooms that grow in the highlands, resulting in meat of superb quality.

In northern Scandinavia, the reindeer are allowed to roam freely, and this way of keeping and raising reindeer is a very sustainable food production.

♪♪ Well, guys, as promised, I'm cooking on open fire, and it's time to make the ribeye of reindeer with some potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, rosemary.

And for dessert, as you always need, it's gonna be a sour cream waffle with cloudberries, caramel, some coffee, and I think this is gonna be the best meal I've made outside in my life.

So, nice and warm, and as well for the vegetables.

So potatoes is already sliced in two.

I'm going to cut tomatoes as well, like that.

Just slice them in two.

Use some garlic.

Press it down like this.

I'm gonna actually use two cloves.

Drop the two pieces of garlic in.

Potatoes in.

Tomatoes in.

Ahh.

Listen to the sounds.

Beautiful.

And as well, rosemary.

This is gonna give a lovely seasoning with the rosemary to the vegetables.

And of course we need to take up our main ingredient, which is the ribeye of reindeer.

So I just brought a couple of slices for me and Ina-Theres.

Now, look at these beauties.

This is so tender and lovely meat.

We need, as well, of course, some salt and pepper, which I've also brought.

We put some on the vegetables as well.

Salt.

And now just take some oil into your pan, nice and warm, and just put the meats in the pan.

Some more salt on top, bit more pepper.

And now we're just gonna leave this cooking to get this, like, nice, caramelized, beautiful meat.

In here, you can see the vegetables are going, and the tomatoes and the potatoes actually -- Don't be afraid to give it a lot of heat.

The tomatoes you can almost like almost get them black because they're gonna, like, pop, and it's going to become a beautiful sauce with the whole dish in the end.

Look at this.

There's something really special about cooking outside because you get the smells from nature, from the campfire, from the meats, from everything.

It's -- I love it.

It's the best thing in the world.

So, what's different with open campfire like this, comparing to, like, a stove, you have to follow the heat in the fire.

And now it's really, really burning out beneath the meat.

And you can have a look now and get this lovely -- look at this -- caramelized, beautiful meat.

So now we're just gonna leave this to cook for one, two more minutes on the other side.

And in a few minutes, I'm pretty sure we made one of the top 10 dishes made on this spot in history.

Hopefully.

We'll see.

Just gonna bring one piece of garlic into the meat to get some more flavor into it.

And this is almost ready to take off to rest for a few minutes.

And now while this is resting, we're gonna make something of the most beautiful things I know in the world.

We're gonna make waffles on open fire with cloudberries caramel coffee.

It's gonna be amazing, I'm sure.

So, the iron is now nice and hot.

I'm just going to take it off and separate it like this.

And, of course, I brought some butter.

So we make sure the waffles don't stick into the iron.

So just take a small spoon in each heart like this.

So yeah, this is not it's not the most healthy ones, but they are really, really good.

A nice trick to bring your waffle batter into the forest is using a milk carton like this.

Pour the mix into each heart like this.

And this is made with sour cream, vanilla -- fresh vanilla, not like vanilla sugar.

And we're just going to stick it back on like that.

And we're just going to keep it open for a minute so just to set in the bottom.

And then we're going to put it down, and we're going to flip it and leave it to cook for maybe for 1 or 2 minutes.

And it's going to be magic, I can promise you.

Magic.

Now just put the lid on and leave it like that and just quickly turn around.

There's no way to make waffles in a better way than this.

So it's time to take it off.

Just taking off the top part.

Flipping straight into a plate.

Look at that.

Look at the grease.

Look at the love.

Okay, it's a bit black.

Doesn't matter.

Just take it off 'cause this is amazing.

I can promise you.

So let's now -- let's finish off our lovely ribeye, our lovely garnish, and bring Ina-Theres in to see what she feels about my cooking.

Hopefully she likes it.

So, you're just going to get the pan back on.

Get it nice and hot.

The vegetables back on, as well.

Keep it nice and hot.

And now I've made a butter with rosemary and garlic to make, like -- almost like a sauce with the -- with the juice you can see here all the lovely juices from before from the meat, which is going to become an incredible sauce.

I can promise you.

The vegetables are starting to warm up.

So we'll just get that nice couple of spoons of butter into the pan and get that melting.

And we're gonna put the meat back in and reheat.

And the butter is just going to get, like -- almost like brownish caramelized and become a beautiful sauce with the lovely vegetables and the meat.

So the meat is finished now.

And now it's time to make the creation and hopefully impress Ina-Theres afterwards.

And you can see now the vegetables.

The tomatoes are, like, crushed.

Beautiful.

I'm just gonna get my cutting board back in and slice it into thin slices.

Into the vegetables.

Amazing.

And since I'm not in my kitchen, in my restaurant -- even though, I would like to have some garnish on top.

So of course I'm going to use this lovely butter, just, like, pour it on giving a nice little heat to the meat.

And, as well, I got some lingonberries here.

So why not just use them to get some nice color on.

And now look at this.

You have reindeer ribeye with lovely potatoes, tomatoes.

We've got garlic, rosemary, lots of butter and lots of love.

So let's see what Ina-Theres thinks.

Ina-Theres!

So I'm just gonna garnish this.

Hopefully you like it.

I feel the pressure now.

There's nothing wrong with the reindeer, I know that.

Hopefully I'm -- I'm a capable chef to -- to cook this lovely meat.

>> It looks very nice.

>> Oh.

Very good.

Thank you.

Just, uh, dig in.

Wow.

That's great meat.

>> Mm.

>> Geez.

>> Very good.

>> This is so nice.

And... >> Reindeer meat is always good.

>> Yeah.

>> And especially my reindeer meat.

>> Of course, they're the best.

So how do you know where you can find the reindeers at all time?

>> Mm, I know where the reindeers are, but if I want to see, uh, some of them, and then I can just pick up my phone and look at an app.

>> Wow.

>> Where I can see them on the app, because they have GPS around the neck.

>> That's insane.

>> So... >> It's like -- It's like parents keeping track on their kids.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> A bit sick.

>> [ Chuckles ] >> But I can understand why.

>> Yes.

And, uh... it feels safe that I can see where some of them are.

>> Well, now you just keep on eating.

I'm gonna start preparing dessert for you.

>> Mm.

>> I think you've deserved it since you like my food.

I'm gonna make you a dessert, as well.

So now this is my favorite way to make coffee.

It's called V60.

Hot water.

Do you like strong coffee, yeah?

>> Yes.

>> Oh, yeah.

Well, back to your dessert.

I made sour-cream waffles.

>> Okay.

>> On the fire, campfire.

And I brought some nice ingredients in my bag.

I got my caramel sauce, of course.

Never make a dessert without caramel sauce.

Okay?

Never.

I got some nice cloudberries.

I got...chocolate.

>> Mm.

>> And, as well, I have got my grind with -- It's actually sugar and coffee in it.

>> Oh.

>> Yeah?

>> Wow.

>> I'm starting off with some cloudberries.

Just going to continue with the caramel sauce, and you just have to stir it quickly because it's lots of butter in it.

And just gonna have quite a bit of that on top, as well.

And to finish off, I'm just gonna have some chocolate on.

I'll just use my microplane and just... Now look at this.

It's greasy, it's nice.

And there's two.

So the top one is for you.

I'm gonna make the other one for myself, okay?

Enjoy.

And, of course, I'm gonna give you some coffee.

♪♪ How is it?

Good?

>> Very good.

>> With enough caramel sauce, everything's good.

For recipes and more, visit our website newscancook.com.

[ Laughs ] Mmm.

So good.

And the caramel's dripping.

The fat is dripping.

That's a good sign.

>> Mm.

>> Mmm.

Enough laziness.

It's time to see where the reindeer actually live.

So we can bring this waffle along and have a walk and go see where they are.

♪♪ The stunning landscape of this entire region is defined by centuries of reindeer herding, which has made sustainable food production feasible in an area where it otherwise would have been challenging.

Additionally, this practice also helps to preserve the culture of the region and the traditions of the Sámi people, but they also use new techniques to control their herd of reindeers.

[ Recording of dog barking plays ] Look at this.

Oh, and the drone, as well, they're following after the -- after the flock.

So this is like a modern way of reining, herding, I guess.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> Wow.

So this is your -- this is where you have your reindeer, yeah?

>> Yeah.

This area -- Kappfjell.

>> Yeah.

Kappfjell.

So how long have your families been doing -- like, working with the reindeer in this area?

>> Over 100 years.

>> Wow.

And now you are in charge.

And you are -- How old are you?

>> I am 25 years old.

>> 25.

And you're in charge of lots of -- I can't ask you how many you got.

I know that.

But lots of reindeers.

I know.

So, behind us now is a beautiful landscape and scenery.

What's this?

>> This is Borgefjell National Park.

>> Well, you're a young woman, I'll say, but you have got two knives, which is a bit scary.

Uh, what's the difference between these two?

>> Yeah, one is a working knife that I use on a daily basis.

And the other one is a reindeer calf marking knife.

On summer, I mark my calf with ear marks in the ear.

And then I use this knife.

I have, uh, got it from my family.

>> It's, like, an old, old mark.

>> An old mark that's followed -- yeah, that follows the family.

>> Okay.

>> So this -- my mark have been in this area for many hundred years.

>> Well, this has been lovely.

The weather is a bit, uh, windy, so we can probably go down -- back down again.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> Yeah, let's go.

♪♪ Borgefjell National Park has stunning, unspoiled nature, though it's not recommended for inexperienced hikers, as the terrain can be challenging.

Nevertheless, a trip to the park promises a fantastic nature experience.

♪♪ Ina-Theres and her boyfriend, Ante, have invited me to join them on the trip to Majavatn.

What do you say about fresh mountain trout?

>> [ Speaking Norwegian ] ♪♪ >> This lake is a well-known fishing spot in the area, with over 30 miles of shoreline at an elevation of 1,000 feet above sea level.

We are on the hunt for the markers that indicate the location of the fish nets.

How exciting!

>> Yeah.

[ Conversing in Norwegian ] >> [ Laughs ] Oh!

That's great.

>> Oh.

>> Look at this.

So, this is the famous mountain trout.

12 of these in one fish net.

Quite amazing.

And we have more nets, so let's go.

Whoo!

♪♪ This, my friends, is today's catch.

♪♪ So, it seems like I'm a fisherman after all.

Look at this beauty, eh?

Amazing.

Now the time has come to make some lunch for myself.

It's going to be some fried mountain trout with cauliflower, small onions, sour cream, and some mustard and sea buckthorn.

So I hope you're ready.

Gonna start off with these onions.

Small lovely Norwegian onions.

Just cutting them in four.

You can, as well, keep them whole and just caramelize them slowly.

But I'm really hungry, so I'm not gonna spend time on waiting.

I'm just going to get everything really, really quickly done.

With these onions, it's so beautiful to have some cauliflower.

You know, caramelized cauliflower with onions, it's the best combination.

So sweet and beautiful.

And I'm going to use some greens, as well, because the greens is quite good, actually.

Just get some a bit smaller in pieces.

Straight into the pan with the rest.

Some salt on, some pepper.

And it's time to move on to the fish.

I'm just gonna slice the skin carefully like this.

That will help the heat to come into the fish and, as well, will help me get it nice and crispy.

And now we just have a tiny -- tiny look back in this.

You can see getting this caramelized color on it, which is exactly what we want.

So just gonna have a small piece of butter in this pan with the vegetables.

Just like a small piece like this.

This is gonna stand by itself and just caramelize.

Make sure you just, uh, give it a toss even once in a while to make sure it doesn't caramelize all in once, in one place.

So now I can see my pan is smoking hot, so in with some oil.

Some salt on the fish.

And just put it in and make sure it's always in the oil, because the oil will, like -- almost, like, deep-fry the skin and make it super crispy.

And you can hear the sound now, as well.

You can hear it -- it's popping, the skin is popping, which is exactly what we want.

Some more salt on.

So you can see now, as well, in the pan, the butter is starting slowly to get brown, and it's going to help the vegetables get caramelized.

Beautiful and amazing for the end product with sour cream and, as well, mustard.

So now the fish, you can see, it's still popping, but the popping has quiet down a bit.

So now I'm gonna turn it around.

Ahh, look at that.

Super super super super crispy.

Beautiful.

Now it's time to get some butter in the pan.

So just take a small piece for the fish, as well.

A few small pieces, actually.

And now we're just gonna lift it up because the pan is really, really hot.

Make sure you lift it to get the butter browned and not burned.

It's a big difference.

And now we're just gonna put the fish like this for one second and take some of the butter inside the fish so it cooks evenly all the way through.

Look at this.

Super crispy.

Fresh.

So now it's time to take the fish out to rest because you don't want it to be overcooked.

So just keep it on a plate like this for a few minutes.

While that's going, we're just going to finish off these vegetables.

Now you can see they've got a color.

It's the brown beautiful color on the cauliflower.

The onions, like, almost -- like, a tiny bit caramelized.

Beautiful.

Sour cream.

Just a small spoon.

And, as well, some mustard.

And now just let this have a good time.

Just slowly cooking together and all the way through.

The cauliflower can actually have some consistency.

Doesn't matter.

It's nice with some crunch.

But if you want, just leave it for a couple of more minutes and make sure it's cooked all the way through.

So let's try to see if we can get the bones out of the fish.

Personally, I don't really like eating fish with the bones in.

I like to take them out before I eat so I just can enjoy the meal without working anymore.

And I'm going to see if I can just try to remove the bones, gently, like this.

Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Just leave this to rest now.

And now, with this pan, with the butter from the fish, we're gonna add some beautiful chanterelles, as well.

Of course, local.

And the butter is still nice and hot.

Get it in and let it fry on really high heat like that.

There's a tiny bit of salt.

Not too much because it's the salted butter is probably enough.

Beautiful.

While this is cooking, we're just going to take a pinch of parsley and just chop down for our lovely caramelized vegetables in there.

And the smell from -- from the fried chanterelles is beautiful.

Mmm.

And now it's actually time to finally plate this lovely dish with fish caught -- I think it's probably less than an hour ago that this fish actually swam in the lake.

So, mm, I don't think I've eaten any fresher lunch than this in my life.

So now we're just going to get this on the plate.

Nice and rustic, just like the way I love it.

Get the heat up on the mushrooms.

And I put the fish on -- on top like this.

Add this on top.

Like that.

Beautiful.

And, as well, some walnuts.

I love crunch, you know, consistency in food.

It's muy importante.

On top like that.

And, as well, to get this acidity, it's like small berries of these called sea buckthorn.

They're going to give this beautiful acidic flavor.

So don't eat everything, like, in one spoon because then it's going to be too much.

Make sure you spread it around in the dish while you eat.

And to finish off, something I really love.

And it's quite old-fashioned, as well.

But some parsley like this because it's going to give it a small little color touch.

Fresh, fresh mountain trout, cauliflower, small onions, sour cream, mustard, mushrooms, walnuts, sea buckthorn.

Probably the best lunch in the world.

♪♪ Mmm.

Amazing.

And with the view, as well.

So happy.

For more inspiration, visit our website, newscancook.com.

As a surprise, I've decided to serve my lovely hosts a Norwegian Taco with some ingredients they are very familiar to.

I made a spin on the traditional taco with reindeer meat and berries to have a full taste of the highlands.

Hello.

>> Hey.

>> Well, this looks amazing.

>> Yes.

Uh, this is traditional Sámi food.

>> This is untraditional Sámi food.

>> Yeah, but that looks nice, too.

>> Hopefully.

We'll see.

So, what do we have here now?

>> Uh, here I have reindeer tongue, reindeer back... >> Yeah.

>> Reindeer blood food.

>> Yeah.

>> Lingonberries and... >> Sour cream.

>> ...sour cream, butter, and syrup.

>> Yeah.

Cool.

And, um -- And when we eat tongue, then we always cut this end off.

>> Okay.

>> And this top off.

Because if you eat the top, then you can -- then you tell a lot of lies.

>> Okay.

But I've eaten quite a few of the tip of the tongue, so I'm probably full of... Yeah.

Okay.

>> Okay.

>> Well, let's have a taste.

And there you are.

>> Hello.

>> Hello.

>> This looks nice.

>> I think it looks nice.

Okay, so I take this, and you can take this.

Start on this end and just work yourself in.

So this is actually, it's blood pancakes with some salad of cabbage and some sprouts.

You have, as well, some top sirloin of the reindeer with cumin and juniper.

There's sour cream with some lingonberries.

You have cloudberries, potato chips, and spring onions.

>> It's great.

>> Good.

So, how do we eat this?

You just take it and you...?

>> You can take this and this knife and just, uh, take it out.

>> Don't forget, you have -- you have to put down some salt.

>> Okay, salt.

>> We haven't salted it at all.

>> Okay.

>> So spread some salt.

Uh, you decide yourself how -- how much you want.

♪♪ >> Mmm.

So this is actually really, really good.

I've eaten this before, but I've had toast, like toasted bread, and some red wine, maybe on the side.

But this is pretty good.

It's so interesting.

I've never had any kind of this -- sort of this food cooked in this way before.

It's beautiful.

I have to admit, as a chef, I was a bit skeptic to cook, like, boiled sirloin and tenderloin.

It was actually not too bad.

That's good.

Oh.

Soup?

>> Yeah.

Um, we used to drink stock because these have a lot of vitamins, calcium, a lot of enzymes, and it's very, very healthy.

>> Mm-hmm.

>> Because, a long time ago, the Sámis didn't drink milk, but they survived because they drink a lot of stock.

>> Yeah.

>> So I think you should taste and drink.

>> Mmm.

Nice and salty.

>> Yeah.

It's been an amazing couple of days seeing the reindeers in the mountains and emptying the Majavatn of fish.

And good job, by the way.

>> Yeah, thanks.

>> Yeah.

And this is -- the food is amazing, as well.

Really, really good.

>> Glad you like it.

>> For recipes and more, visit our website newscancook.com.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ >> For more of the "New Scandinavian Cooking" experience, visit our website and social media.

♪♪ ♪♪ Funding for this series has been provided in part by the following... Horten Municipality.

[ Bottle cap pops, clinks ] >> Ahh!

>> 62 degrees Nord.

[ Wind howls ] ♪♪ Kvaroy Arctic.

♪♪ Up Norway.