Have you heard about «komler», «komper» or «raspeballer»? Do you prefer to eat it with or without “dott”? What does it all mean, and how do you best enjoy this traditional food? Here you will find out all the secrets of Raspeballer from a real Bergenser.
There are many names for this type of dish, but when we talk about Raspeballer, as we call the dish in Bergen - City of Gastronomy, we mean potato balls with the following basic ingredients: potato, flour, salt and water. The story behind them however, is a little more complicated.
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Raspeballer has a long tradition in Norwegian and Bergen home cooking. Today, it is often eaten on Thursdays. Gaute Birkeli, general manager of the Bergen family restaurant Bryggeloftet & Stuene, explains why:
- They say it probably began because Thursday was the big shopping day. Stores were then often open later, until 6 or 7 o'clock, while they usually closed at 4. To attract hungry shoppers into the restaurants, they lured them in with cheap, tasty and satisfying food. And that's exactly what raspeballer are.
Birkeli’s restaurant at Bryggen i Bergen has kept up the tradition:
- We have a long history of raspeballer on the menu, and of course serve it on Thursdays. It is simply and a wonderfully good everyday dish.
Waiter, do you have raspeballer with “dott”?
Birkeli describes both the ingredients and toppings as quite heavy. If you are going to serve a Raspebolle dish that suits your taste, he recommends serving it with salted beef, vossa sausage and kohlrabi mash. He also has no doubt about what the secret to a good raspeballe:
- Everything is about the ingredients. You must have the right potatoes to get the perfect consistency, and they must be cooked in proper broth. We use a local slaughterhouse in Bergen for both salted meat and vossa sausages. There is something about the balance between the potato, the saltiness and the sweet mash that makes this so delicious.
And the "dott" that many people talk about? Birkeli explains that there is a litte bacon inside the raspeballer.
- In Bergen there is no tradition for having bacon inside, but some of the charm about this dish is that everyone has their own way of eating it. Especially our slightly older guests insist on everything from adding brown cheese and syrup to their raspeballer, and many people drink sour milk with it. And of course we accommodate!
Where can you eat raspeballer in Bergen?
You should plan to be in Bergen on a Thursday if you want to secure a meal with Raspeballer. Then the most traditional restaurants, such as Bryggeloftet & Stuene or Pingvinen will have this Norwegian classic on the menu, but you can also find it in most grocery stores that have hot food counters on this day.
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