Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.2004, Page 163

Óprentaðar heimildir í þjóðháttasafni Þjóðminjasafns Íslands
Aðallega svör við spurningaskrá 102. Reyktur matur og svör við spurningaskrá 48. Eld-
húsið.
Heimildarmenn sem vitnað er í – kyn, fæðingarár og viðmiðunarhérað.
ÞÞ14281 karl f. 1913. Árnessýsla
ÞÞ14283 karl f. 1929. Rangárvallasýsla
ÞÞ14310 karl f. 1922.Austur-Skaftafellssýsla
ÞÞ14312 karl f. 1922. Mývatnssveit
ÞÞ14341 kona f. 1923.Austur-Skaftafellssýsla
ÞÞ14460 karl f. 1929. Árnessýsla
ÞÞ14461 karl f. 1958. Kjósarsýsla
ÞÞ14477 karl f. 1923.Vestur-Skaftafellssýsla
ÞÞ14480 karl f. 1941.Vestur-Skaftafellssýsla
ÞÞ14484 karl f. 1964.Austur-Barðastrandarsýsla
ÞÞ14592 kvk. f. 1945. Borgarfjarðarsýsla
Summary
The most popular feast food through the centuries in Iceland is „hangikjöt“, smoked
meat of sheep, usually lamb nowadays. It was traditionally smoked over the cooking-fires
in the turf houses along with other food items e.g. fish, birds and sausages. Although
many professional smoking factories have been established in Icelandic villages in the
20th century food smoking is still done privately in the rural districts. In 2000-2001 the
National Museum of Iceland sent out a questionnaire on the matter and it became clear
that people, especially farmers, are still running their own private smoke houses in every
parish, smoking for the family, neighbours and relatives as well as for sale on a small scale.
This article deals with a limited part of the subject, the smoke houses and the hearths.
Around 1900, Icelanders stopped cooking in open hearths and a new kind of kitchen
with stove was invented.After that the old turf kitchen was often used for smoking until
it deteriorated – and then some available huts on the farm for a while, e.g. a smithy or
some live-stock houses.The last stage was usually building of a new smoke house, some-
times in cooperation with the neighbours. It was most often a turf hut, because it is a
common opinion that the best results are obtained by smoking in turf houses.There are
various kinds of hearths and related outfits for the fire and the air and smoke circulation
in the huts, as also was the case in the old turf kitchens. The article describes methods
and beliefs that are connected with these old traditions of food curing in Iceland which
are still in use today.
162 ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS