Suovas in flatbread – Sami smoked reindeer meat from the frying pan by the fire

Salty, smoky reindeer meat, soft bread and tart lingonberries

4 servings
Time: 10 min at home + 45 min by the fire
Difficulty: Easy
8 ingredients
7 steps

Photo: kudumomo (momo), Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Suovas has a scent all of its own. When the first thin slices land in the hot pan, a smoke rises that is nothing like the woodsmoke from the fire: sweet, salty and with a hint of the kåta, the Sami hut. The slices shrink and darken at the edges in half a minute, and by then it is already time to turn them. Someone holds out a flatbread that has been kept inside their jacket, a dollop of soured cream and a spoonful of lingonberries go on it, and the wrap is ready before it has had time to cool.

It is hard to find a lunch better suited to a fire pit on a cold day in March, with the skis in the snow and the ice auger leaning against the lean-to shelter. Suovas weighs almost nothing in the rucksack, needs no pot and no boiling, and it was made for exactly this from the start: food that would keep and fill you up on long journeys in the cold.

What suovas is

Suovas is Sami smoked reindeer meat: reindeer meat that is salted and then lightly smoked. The word means smoked in Northern Sami and Lule Sami. The meat is dry-salted or put in brine for about a day and then smoked over a fire, traditionally in a kåta and often with sallow, which gives a mild smoky flavour. The salt and smoke were originally a way of making the meat keep when the family moved with the reindeer between forest and mountains, and suovas was packed together with unleavened bread as provisions for the journey. Today the meat is sliced thinly and fried quickly over a high heat just before serving.

In Sweden, reindeer herding is a Sami livelihood reserved for the Sami, and suovas is part of Sami food culture, with a Sami name. It is worth checking who has salted and smoked the meat. More dishes with roots in the mountains and the forest are in swedish outdoor food and history.

Is suovas a protected name? No. Suovas is not in the EU register of protected designations of origin and geographical indications, either as a registered name or as an application. Instead, the traditional craft in Swedish Sápmi is supported by a preservation project run by the non-profit organisation Slow Food, but that is not legal protection. In Finland, cold-smoked reindeer meat from Lapland has been protected as a designation of origin since 2011, but that is a different product with Finnish rules.

Where do you buy suovas? Often thinly sliced and frozen, in the freezer section of larger supermarkets, especially in northern Sweden. It is also sold directly by Sami reindeer-herding businesses and reindeer abattoirs, at winter markets and in their online shops. Read the packet to see where the reindeer comes from and who has salted and smoked the meat.

Suovas or renskav? Renskav is frozen, thinly shaved reindeer meat without salt or smoke, which is fried and then simmered with cream or stewed in a pot. Suovas is already salted and smoked, only needs a brief fry and needs no sauce.

Method

Embers and a hot pan. Let the fire burn down to an even bed of embers and set the pan on the grate, close to the embers. Suovas should be fried hot and fast, so the pan should be really hot before the first slice goes in. A couple of drops of water should sizzle away instantly.
Warm the breads. Put the foil parcels of bread on the grate beside the pan for a couple of minutes and turn them once. Or warm one bread at a time directly in the dry pan, a few seconds on each side. Put the warm breads back in the foil and keep the parcel near the fire.
Fry the onion first, if you want it. Melt half the butter for the pan and fry the onion until soft and golden, 4–5 minutes. Push it to one side of the pan.
Fry the suovas in batches. Put the rest of the butter in the pan and then a pile of slices in a single layer. Fry for 30–60 seconds, turn and fry for the same time again. The slices should colour at the edges and be hot all the way through. If they are too crowded they stew in their own liquid instead of frying.
Control the heat by moving the pan. If the butter is smoking black, pull the pan towards the edge of the ember bed. If it is not sizzling at all, move it right over the hottest embers.
Spread the breads. Spread a thin layer of butter on a warm flatbread, add lettuce or cabbage, then suovas and onion, and finish with a dollop of soured cream and a spoonful of lingonberries.
Roll. Fold up the bottom edge a couple of centimetres first, so the lingonberries do not run out into your mitten, then roll from one side. Eat straight away, while the meat is hot.

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At home and by the fire

It is not the meat that causes trouble in the cold. It is everything around it. Flatbread that has been in a pulk at ten below cracks when it is rolled. Butter goes as hard as a bar of soap. Soured cream thickens and turns grainy if it freezes, and the lingonberries become an icy lump. So almost all of the preparation is about keeping the trimmings soft.

At home:

Thaw the suovas in the fridge overnight. Frozen suovas sticks together in a block, and slices prised apart by the fire break up and fry unevenly. Divide the thawed slices into four piles with baking paper in between, so you only take out one pile at a time.
Fill small tubs with lingonberries, soured cream and soft butter. Plastic tubs with screw lids cope with the cold better than glass.
Cut the onion and put it in a bag.
Wrap the breads in foil, four at a time.

By the fire:

The breads and butter travel inside your jacket or in an inside pocket for the last stretch to the fire pit. Body heat is enough to keep them soft.
Lingonberries and soured cream are packed in the middle of the pulk or rucksack, wrapped in a jumper, never at the bottom against the snow. How to pack so that things do not freeze is explained in pulk sled with gear.
If the lingonberries are frozen, put the tub near the fire for a while and stir. A frozen dollop of lingonberries on a hot wrap also thaws in a minute.

More about what to cook at home, what to carry in a flask and what to do by the fire when it is cold is in cooking outdoors in winter.

Tips for suovas over the fire

Short frying time. Suovas is lean and thin. Anything fried for too long turns dry and chewy and tastes saltier.
No salt in the pan. The meat is already salted. Taste a slice before you season anything at all, and then only with black pepper.
The lingonberries do the work. Their tartness and sweetness balance the salt and smoke. Make your own stirred lingonberries or jam – see lingonberry jam.
Warm the breads one at a time if it is very cold. A warm flatbread stiffens again within a few minutes in hard frost, so it is better to warm one bread per person just as the wrap is being made.
A hot drink alongside. In the mountains, coffee from the pot is part of it, see boiled coffee over an open fire. The children can have warm apple juice from the flask.

Safety at the fire

Butter in a hot cast-iron pan spits, and the slices sizzle up when they go in. Put the meat in with a spatula or tongs, and keep the children an arm's length from the pan. The handle gets hot all the way out, so use fire gloves.

If someone gets burnt, 1177 (the Swedish healthcare advice line) says the burn should be cooled with cool water straight away, but never with ice or snow, and for no longer than 15 minutes, as the risk of hypothermia increases. So keep a water bottle in an inside pocket so it does not freeze. A child who is 12 months old or younger and gets a burn should always see a doctor. More about first aid and about where and when you can make a fire is in fire safety in nature.

Pregnant: Suovas is salted and smoked, but the meat is not cooked, so the advice from Livsmedelsverket (the Swedish Food Agency) on cold-smoked meat applies. Cold-smoked meat can contain the parasite toxoplasma, and pre-sliced meat can also contain listeria, which survives both salt and freezing. Livsmedelsverket advises pregnant women to freeze cold-smoked meat for at least three days or to eat it in a dish that is heated until piping hot. So fry the slices for a pregnant person until they are piping hot all the way through, even if they turn a little drier.

Allergens: Gluten in the flatbread, which is usually baked with wheat, barley or rye. Milk in the butter and soured cream. Suovas is basically reindeer meat, salt and smoke, but read the packet.

Suovas with children

The children can make most of their own wrap themselves. Let them spread butter, add the lettuce, help themselves to lingonberries and soured cream, and roll. It is easiest if they stand at a chopping board or a lid a little way from the fire, and an adult puts the hot meat on their bread. More ideas for little cooks are in cooking with children over a fire.

The salt: Suovas is salty – that is part of what it is. Livsmedelsverket states the maximum amount of salt children should have in a whole day: under 1 gram for children aged 7–11 months, 2.75 grams for 1–3 years, 3.5 grams for 4–6 years and 4.25 grams for 7–10 years. So babies should only have a taste. How much salt the suovas contains is shown in the nutrition information on the packet, per 100 grams. Give the youngest children a few slices instead of a full wrap, and fill the rest of the wrap with more lingonberries, soured cream and lettuce. The smoky taste is also unfamiliar to many children, so it is a good idea to start with one slice.

Common mistakes

The suovas is frozen in a block – the slices break up and fry unevenly. Thaw it at home.
The pan is too cold – the meat stews in its own liquid and turns grey instead of browning.
Too long a frying time – the slices turn dry, chewy and salty.
Extra salt in the pan – it is not needed.
Cold flatbread from the pulk – it cracks when it is rolled.
Too many slices at once – they do not get a chance to fry.

Vary the suovas

With mushrooms: Fry sliced mushrooms in the pan before the meat and put them in the wrap. Pickled mushrooms from a jar work too and cope with the cold.
With mash: Suovas with mash and lingonberries is a common dinner. A pot of rotmos from the same fire goes well with it.
With your own bread: Bake flatbread on a hot stone – see flatbread on a hot stone. The dough is there, so it does not need repeating here.
With horseradish: Stir grated horseradish into the soured cream. Its sharpness goes well with the smoke.
With cream: Pour a splash of cream over the fried slices and let it bubble down for a minute, and you have a quick sauce to dip bread in.

Frequently asked questions

What is suovas?

Suovas is Sami reindeer meat that is salted and then smoked, traditionally over sallow. The name means smoked in Northern Sami and Lule Sami. It is sliced thinly and fried quickly just before serving, and is often eaten in bread or with mash and lingonberries.

What is the difference between suovas and renskav?

Renskav is frozen reindeer meat that has been shaved into thin slices but not salted or smoked. It is fried and then simmered, often with cream. Suovas is already salted and smoked and only needs a brief fry.

Is suovas protected in the EU?

No. Suovas is not in the EU register of protected designations of origin and geographical indications, either as a registered name or as an application. In Finland, cold-smoked reindeer meat from Lapland is protected, but that is a different product.

Where do you buy suovas?

Often frozen and thinly sliced in the freezer section of larger supermarkets, especially in northern Sweden. It is also sold directly by Sami reindeer-herding businesses and reindeer abattoirs, at winter markets and in their online shops.

Can you eat suovas without frying it?

Thinly sliced suovas is sometimes eaten without frying, but the meat is not cooked. According to Livsmedelsverket, pregnant women should only eat cold-smoked meat that has been frozen for at least three days or heated until piping hot, and pre-sliced meat can also contain listeria, which is not killed by freezing. So fry the slices until they are piping hot all the way through when a pregnant person is going to eat them.

Can children eat suovas?

Yes, but suovas is salty. Give the youngest children a few slices in a wrap with plenty of lingonberries, soured cream and lettuce, and add no extra salt. For example, Livsmedelsverket gives a maximum of 2.75 grams of salt a day for children aged 1–3, so babies should only have a taste.

If you would rather have sausage in the wrap, there is a classic flatbread roll with bacon-wrapped cheese sausage with mash and sauerkraut, which you can also make by the fire.