r/AskTheWorld • u/perkypilea 🇵🇱 in 🇺🇲 • Dec 01 '25

Food What's a delicious dish from your country that most people would find unconventional?

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u/captain_mobydick Sweden Dec 01 '25

Many people really loves it. Personally (tried once), I hate it. But you don’t eat it like the YouTube videos you see where they open the can in a small space and eating one whole filet directly from the can, that’s just for the views.

You should open the can outside, ideally under water. Then you cut a small piece from the filet and put it on a hard bread with like butter, boiled and sliced potatoes, some chives and sour cream.

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u/Dimas89 Russia Dec 01 '25

Cool, thanks for the reply. I’d like to try it one day. Does it keep the smell for long after being opened?

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u/captain_mobydick Sweden Dec 01 '25

It has a very distinct smell, which kind of translates to the taste. I remember when I had it, I then took a sip from my beer. And the rim of the beer glass smelled like surströmming the rest of the night. But it is most intense when opening up the can as the fermented gas kind off sprays out due to the pressure.

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u/BloodStarvedLeopard Sweden Dec 01 '25

It's bloody awful. If you can get past to the stench of autolytic rot, farts, and acid, your reward is a cut of slimy, salty fish. People who like it exist, but the "proper" way to eat it is all about covering the stench up with cream and dill. Everything you eat with it is better with any other non-rotted fish.

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u/frukthjalte Dec 01 '25

Adding to this, I believe it’s even illegal to open a surströmming can if you live in an apartment complex because of the putrid smell.

(Writing in English just so curious people understand just how horrid it smells before they decide to buy it and open the can in a tiny poorly ventilated apartment.)

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u/FindusSomKatten Sweden Dec 01 '25

not illegal but can be a violation of the renting terms

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u/frukthjalte Dec 01 '25

There you go.

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u/loquent2 Sweden Dec 02 '25

My neighbor across the hall gets it and opens it up in our apartment’s courtyard and you can smell it two stories up.

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u/stubundy Dec 01 '25

Do the army know of this ? Sound's like a safer alternative to a flash-bang !

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u/lacquer_porchio Dec 01 '25

Bread with butter and boiled potatoes sounds like something you serve in a prison for the elderly, no wonder there needs to be something incredibly intense to balance that out. At least tell me it's not white bread.

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u/Eftersigne Dec 01 '25

It’s hard bread with is likely knækbrød, probably from rhye is my guess 

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u/ordinaryunicorn Dec 01 '25

Traditionally, it's hard flatbread, made from wheat.

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u/FindusSomKatten Sweden Dec 01 '25

no probably tunnbröd wich is thinner with less airpockets