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Lapskaus
Østlandet · Eastern Valleys

Lapskaus

A thick, homely stew of meat and root vegetables cooked down until spoon-tender and deeply savoury.

2 hrEasy
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Cultural Context & History

Every valley kitchen has a pot of lapskaus in its memory — a catch-all stew that turns the week's meat and roots into something greater. Brown or pale, thick or brothy, it is pure everyday nourishment.

Ingredients

  • 600 g beef chuck, cubed225 kcal · 26 g protein · 13.4 g fat · 0.2 g carbs per 100 g
  • 6 potatoes, cubed352 kcal · 7.4 g protein · 1.9 g fat · 74.1 g carbs per 100 g
  • 2 carrots, cubed38 kcal · 1.3 g protein · 0 g fat · 9 g carbs per 100 g
  • 1/2 rutabaga, cubed40 kcal · 1 g protein · 0 g fat · 8 g carbs per 100 g
  • 1 leek, sliced
  • 1 litre beef stock8 kcal · 1.2 g protein · 0 g fat · 0.8 g carbs per 100 g
  • 2 tbsp butter714 kcal · 0 g protein · 78.6 g fat · 0 g carbs per 100 g
  • Salt and pepper0 kcal · 0 g protein · 0 g fat · 0 g carbs per 100 g
  • Flatbread, to serve250 kcal · 12 g protein · 7 g fat · 33 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 stockpotHolds a steady, even simmer through the long braise.
  • Wooden spoonCrushes a few soft potatoes against the side to thicken.
  • Chef's knifeCubes the roots evenly so they cook in step.

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Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. 1

    Melt the butter in a large heavy pot and brown the beef cubes well on all sides.

  2. 2

    Pour in the stock, bring to the boil, then cover and simmer gently for 1 hour, until the beef begins to soften.

  3. 3

    Add the potatoes, carrots, rutabaga and leek, and simmer for a further 30–40 minutes, until the potatoes start to disintegrate and thicken the stew of their own accord.

  4. 4

    Season generously with salt and pepper and serve hot, with flatbread alongside.

Chef's Tip

Browning the beef first makes this the dark version, brun lapskaus; for a paler, gentler stew (lys), skip the colour and simply sweat the meat before adding the stock.

Chef's Tip

Like most winter stews it only improves overnight, so make it a day ahead and reheat slowly once the flavours have settled.

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
Østlandet — 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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