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Smalahove
Vestlandet · Western Fjords

Smalahove

A whole salt-cured, smoked sheep's head steamed until tender — the fearless heritage dish of Voss.

3 hrAdvanced
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Cultural Context & History

Smalahove is Voss's most notorious tradition — a smoked sheep's head served whole, eyes and all, eaten from the ear inward. Once peasant survival food, it is now a badge of regional pride.

Ingredients

  • 1 prepared, salted and smoked sheep's head (smalahove)48 kcal · 1.2 g protein · 0.7 g fat · 11.3 g carbs per 100 g
  • Water, for boiling42 kcal · 0 g protein · 0 g fat · 10.8 g carbs per 100 g
  • Rutabaga (swede), for mash
  • Boiled potatoes, to serve
  • Vossakorv, to serve

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

  • Large stockpotHolds the whole head submerged through the long simmer.
  • Kitchen tongsLifts the heavy head cleanly from boiling water.
  • Potato masherWorks the rutabaga into a smooth kålrotstuing.

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Step-by-Step Instructions

  1. 1

    Soak the prepared head in cold water overnight to draw out the excess salt.

  2. 2

    Lower it into a large pot, cover generously with fresh water, and bring to the boil.

  3. 3

    Reduce to a gentle simmer and cook for 3 to 4 hours, until the meat is tender and slips easily from the bone.

  4. 4

    Lift the head from the water and let it settle for a moment.

  5. 5

    Serve hot with mashed rutabaga (kålrotstuing), boiled potatoes and a length of vossakorv.

Chef's Tip

Keep the pot at the barest tremble rather than a rolling boil — gentle heat leaves the cheek meltingly tender and protects the delicate smoke.

Chef's Tip

Split the head lengthways before serving so each guest gets an eye and a cheek; the cheek and tongue are the sweetest, most prized bites.

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.
Notes
Written for a prepared, salted and smoked head from a producer. Preparation of the raw head is not covered.

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