The Unexpected Meat You'll Find In Icelandic Hot Dogs

A European culinary adventure might introduce you to all manner of exciting new foods, ranging from German jagerschnitzel to Hungary's kürtőskalács (aka chimney cake) to the open-faced sandwich-pizza mashup Poland calls zapiekanka. Once you reach Iceland, however, you may be surprised to find that this country's specialty, known as pylsa or pulsa, is, well, a hot dog. Still, it's a hot dog unlike the ones we're familiar with here in the U.S. Our high-end hot dogs are generally made from beef, while cheaper ones may also include pork and chicken. In Iceland, however, the tri-meat mixture is more likely to be beef, pork, and lamb.

The reason hot dogs in Iceland are made with lamb isn't that they're meant to be gourmet. There are just a lot of sheep to eat. The Icelandic sheep population may number around half a million, while the country itself has fewer than 400,000 residents. 

When hot dogs were first introduced to Iceland from Denmark in the early 20th century, they were primarily pork, which checks out since that country is one of the world's largest pig producers. Pylsur were soon adapted for the local economy, however, and have included lamb ever since. Well, except for veggie dogs, of course. Even Reykjavik's venerable Baejarins Beztu Pylsur, established in 1937 as the country's first hot dog stand, includes this item on its modern-day menu.

While pylsur are a tourist must-try in Iceland, they're not universally beloved. Some people like them, and some do not, although sticker-shocked travelers may appreciate that they're one of the cheaper options for filling up without putting too much strain on the credit card limit.

While the inclusion of lamb does change the flavor to some extent, Icelandic hot dogs are also smoked. This tends to make the taste linger in your mouth for a long time after you're done eating. (Drinking tea or coffee or eating a green apple is said to help chase away the aftertaste.)

Yet another thing that contributes significantly to the taste of an Icelandic hot dog is the condiments, which is pretty much the case for hot dogs everywhere, since who eats them plain? This means that even if you start with a standard package of Ballpark Franks or Oscar Mayer wieners, you can still make a reasonable pylsa copycat as long as you top it with both raw and fried onions, remoulade sauce, European-style ketchup, and sweet brown mustard. If you have access to an Ikea, the ketchup and mustard sold in its marketplace are a reasonable facsimile of the kind you might find in Iceland, while you can either fry your own thin-sliced, batter-dipped onions or use the same store-bought crispy fried onions you'd sprinkle over, for instance, a Thanksgiving green bean casserole.