When it comes to food we all have the ability to be resourceful and creative. In fact some of the most dire straits have lead to staples of our every day menu. Eggs are too expensive at the St. Louis World's Fair? Just grab some of that ketchup stuff and use it instead. Ran out of cream to make your celebratory sauce for the Duke de Richelieu? No worries, just use eggs instead and invent mayonnaise. You've found yourself in the midst of the great depression, and apples are suddenly an indulgence? Just use these new fangled Ritz crackers and make yourself a mock apple pie. It's from this ingenuity and can do attitude that I'd like to talk about a lesser known dish that started in Norway, but made its way to the Midwest via the influx of settlers and was then modified slightly. I'm talking of course about Skal. Perhaps better known as Norwegian Egg Coffee. A little boiled water, a little egg, some coffee grounds and a dash of cold water and you've got the liquid companion of any proper Norwegian breakfast table. Now apparently in Norway the recipe originally called for using either the skin or swim bladder of a fish. This was done to clarify the coffee and serve as a sort of rudimentary coffee filter. It must have added quite the punch to their cup of Joe. In short, we aren't likely to add this to the menu anytime soon, but we'd love to hear if any of you grew up with this, or have ever even tried it.
