🇬🇱 Greenland
SuaasatGreenlandic meat soup
A Greenlandic soup of meat (traditionally seal; also whale, reindeer or fish) simmered with onion and thickened with rice, sago pearls or barley, often with potato, seasoned only with salt and pepper.
Origin and history
Suaasat is a Greenlandic soup named after its method, a word for boiling or slow simmering. Meat, traditionally seal on the coast and reindeer or lamb inland, is boiled long with onion and thickened with rice, sago pearls or barley; sago, one of the thickeners, originally reaches Greenland from Southeast Asia, which a Danish food site links to early trade. It is cooked for everyday meals and in large pots for festive gatherings such as Christmas, and is often called the unofficial national dish.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 6 servings
- Total time
- 1 h 45 min
- Hands-on
- 20 min
Ingredients
- 1 kg2.2 lb meat, boneless, traditionally seal; reindeer, whale or seabirds are used in Greenland, and lamb shoulder, beef or venison are the usual substitutes; with bones use about 2 kg / 4.4 lb
- 3 litres3 quarts water, salted lightly if the meat is fresh
- 1 onion, chopped; Danish cookbook versions use 2 leeks or 1 onion
- 80 gscant 1/2 cup pearl barley, or short-grain pudding rice; the barley soaked in water for 20 minutes or overnight
- 3 carrots, sliced; optional
- 800 g1.8 lb potatoes, peeled, diced; the Danish cookbook version uses 1 kg / 2.2 lb
- 1 or 2 bay leaves, optional, used in some reindeer versions
- salt and black pepper, the only seasoning in the traditional soup
Method
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1. Wash the meat and cut it into bite-sized pieces; if it is salted, soak it first to remove the salt, and if it is frozen it can go in frozen with extra cooking time.
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2. Put the meat in a large pot of cold water, bring slowly to the boil, and skim off the foam until the surface is clear.
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3. Add the onions and bay leaves and simmer gently for 1 hour, until the meat is nearly tender.
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4. Add the soaked barley (or rice), the potatoes and the carrots.
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5. Simmer a further 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the barley and potatoes are cooked and the broth has thickened slightly.
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6. Season with salt and pepper, let it stand for 5 minutes and serve hot.
Notes
- The name comes from a Greenlandic word for boiling or slow simmering. The soup has no single fixed recipe: seal is the classic, most widespread meat on the coast, reindeer or lamb is common inland and in many modern households and restaurants, and fish, whale or beef are also used. Cuts with the bone give the broth more flavour; when the meat is tender, lift it out, cut it off the bone and return it to the pot.
- Rice, sago pearls or barley give body. Some cooks soak barley overnight so its starch thickens the broth. This recipe follows a Danish cookbook version (barley, potatoes, carrots, onion or leek); the Greenlandic form described by Danish food writers is simpler, with onion and rice or sago pearls.
- The traditional seasoning is just salt and pepper, so the flavour of the meat stands out.
- Served in big pots at Christmas and family gatherings, with fresh or preserved crowberries on the side for a tart contrast. Make-ahead: it keeps a day in the fridge; loosen with water when reheating, as the grain keeps thickening it.
Adapted from Alletiders kogebog via Matoppskrift.no, Suaussat (Grønlandsk suppe), Madguru.dk, Suaasat: Grønlands nationalret, and Noordernieuws, Suaasat with reindeer and barley.
At the festivals
No festival we list has printed it on a menu yet.