Ersgard

Kjellrun Sakshaug makes fish soup with vegetables, salmon and fish balls in the country kitchen.

Spignel/bear root replaces dill and is called poor man’s curry, she says.
Kjellrun was born at Ersgard and is the eighth generation who ran a business here from this family. The ninth generation, son Stein and his wife Grete also work alongside her. Their key word is – a meeting place for everyone.

– For those who eat meat, our pilgrim soup contains lamb and veal from animals that graze on our land. Root vegetables make the soup robust and filling, says the daughter-in-law Grete.

She shows two cracked round stones found on their land. The stones were used in beer production in the past, they were heated in the hearth and placed in the mash which became hot. The temperature differences between the hearth and the cold mash caused the stones to crack.

-Many pilgrims want to drink beer here. The beer has a special position, it is Stjørdal’s pride for its special taste of smoked malt. All the farms used to have a sowing house, a house where the malt is roasted, due to the danger of fire, it was built a hundred metres from the farm, says Grete.

The kiln (såinn) house burned down and was rebuilt in 1947. The large farm has also burned down and was rebuilt as far back as 1755.

While the river waters roar spring-like below the kiln-house, the malt beer tastes exciting, a smoky taste reminiscent of tar scent. The dark drink has a certain sweetness and goes well with the soup. The Stjørdal river has an abundance of salmon and guests who stay here can try fishing for a real big one – up to 19 kilos in size has been caught here.

Pilgrims are usually offered a simpler self-service breakfast while groups can get a hearty farm breakfast. The table is then full of local specialties. Brown cheese, brown cheese cream, quail eggs, chicken eggs, gooseberry marmalade, apple puree, herring, four kinds of cheeses, butter, muesli, chickpeas, crispbread and home-baked sliced bread. The coffee is from a local roastery with a well-balanced taste. All flavours are pure and genuine.

Just as the food is varied and has its roots in hundreds of years of agriculture, animal husbandry and beer brewing, the farm image is traditionally beautiful. The elongated buildings each carry a story. You can almost hear the cows roaring from ” fjöset”, the barn, which is today used as a banquet hall. But when Kjellrun was born 76 years ago, there were cows, chickens and sheep here.