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Bergensk Fiskesuppe
Vestlandet · Western Fjords

Bergensk Fiskesuppe

A velvety Bergen fish soup — sweet root vegetables, white fish and shellfish in a lightly soured cream broth.

55 minModerate
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Cultural Context & History

Bergen's fish soup is a product of the city's Hanseatic trading past, where German merchants and Norwegian fishermen shaped a cuisine of thrift and richness. Its faintly sweet-sour edge — from a splash of vinegar and sugar — is the fingerprint of the western coast.

Ingredients

  • 400 g firm white fish (cod or halibut)
  • 150 g peeled shrimp35 kcal · 6.8 g protein · 0.6 g fat · 0.3 g carbs per 100 g
  • 1 litre good fish stock
  • 2 carrots, finely diced38 kcal · 1.3 g protein · 0 g fat · 9 g carbs per 100 g
  • 1 leek, sliced
  • 200 ml double cream282 kcal · 16.2 g protein · 16.2 g fat · 18 g carbs per 100 g
  • 1 egg yolk334 kcal · 16.2 g protein · 28.8 g fat · 1 g carbs per 100 g
  • 1 tbsp white wine vinegar, 1 tsp sugar, chives to finish133 kcal · 0 g protein · 0 g fat · 0 g carbs per 100 g

Per-100 g values shown for ingredients verified against Nutrition data: USDA FoodData Central (snapshot 2026-09-11). Ingredients not yet verified show no nutrition line.

Recommended Tools

  • Heavy-based soup potGentle, even heat protects the cream from curdling.
  • Fine mesh skimmerLifts poached fish out intact.

Product suggestions are editorial references only; no purchase or affiliate links are currently configured.

Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. 1

    Simmer the diced carrot and leek in the fish stock until just tender.

  2. 2

    Temper the cream with the egg yolk, then stir into the gently simmering stock — do not boil.

  3. 3

    Balance with vinegar and sugar until the broth tastes bright but rounded.

  4. 4

    Slip in the fish, poach for three minutes, add the shrimp to warm through, and finish with chives.

Chef's Tip

Keep the soup below a simmer once the cream and yolk go in, or the broth will split and lose its silk.

How this page was made

Written by
The Norcook editorial archive. No individual author is named yet — see the editorial and food-safety policy for what that means and what has to happen before a byline appears.
Content last checked
— “checked” records an editorial check, not a qualified review. Where one exists, the recipe-specific review record appears in the food-safety callout.
Regional context
Vestlandet — the hub carries the wider background, the ingredient glossary and its own sources.
Sources
No page-level sources are recorded for this recipe yet. The cultural background above is written as general context, not as a sourced historical claim.

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