Hangikjot is smoked and boiled lamb or mutton, smoked over Icelandic birch or dried sheep dung and sliced hot or cold. It is a festive food served at Christmas with potatoes in bechamel and green peas.

Hangikjot takes its name from the old practice of smoking food to preserve it, and twice-smoked versions are closer to the old style, hung above the kitchen fire for many months. A survey found that around 90 percent of Icelanders eat it at least once over the holidays. Cold, it is cut thin onto flatkaka, rugbraud or laufabraud. Cafe Loki lists hangikjot on homemade rye bread and on flatbread, each at ISK 2,800.

Where to eat Hangikjot (Smoked Icelandic Lamb) in Reykjavik

1 editor pick for Hangikjot (Smoked Icelandic Lamb) in Reykjavik, ranked by editorial score. All Reykjavik signature dishes · Hangikjot (Smoked Icelandic Lamb) across every city.

  • Cafe Loki

    Order Rye bread slices with mashed fish, or the unique rye bread ice cream.

    Cafe Loki at Lokastigur 28 in Reykjavik is a family run restaurant across the street from Hallgrímskirkja, serving classic Icelandic home style food.

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Make it at home

Serves 63 hr 30 minIntermediate

Ingredients

  • 1.2kg pre-smoked lamb leg (from Icelandic specialist suppliers, or a smoked mutton shoulder)
  • 1 onion, halved
  • 1 carrot, halved
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 8 black peppercorns
  • For the sauce: 60g unsalted butter, 60g plain flour, 700ml whole milk, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, freshly grated nutmeg
  • 400g frozen petits pois
  • 1kg floury potatoes, peeled and halved
  • Rugbraud and butter, for cold service
  • Pickled red cabbage and lingonberry jam, to serve

Method

  1. Place the smoked lamb in a deep pot with onion, carrot, bay, and peppercorns. Cover with cold water by 5cm.
  2. Bring slowly to a bare simmer (never boil hard, which toughens the meat) and cook 2.5 hours for a 1.2kg leg.
  3. Lift out the lamb, cover loosely, rest 20 minutes. Reserve 700ml of the cooking liquor.
  4. Boil the potatoes in salted water until just tender, 18 minutes. Drain, keep warm.
  5. Make the sauce: melt butter, whisk in flour, cook 2 minutes. Whisk in the warm milk gradually until smooth.
  6. Add 200ml of the cooking liquor to the sauce, plus mustard and nutmeg. Simmer 5 minutes to a coating sauce.
  7. Cook the petits pois in salted water for 2 minutes, drain, and warm through in the white sauce.
  8. Carve the lamb into thick slices. Plate with potatoes, pea-and-white sauce, and a spoon of red cabbage. Serve cold leftovers on buttered rugbraud the next day.

Editor tip. Save the cooking liquor; it makes a smoky base for plokkfiskur or kjotsupa for the rest of the holiday week.