Some more about Swedish eating habits

SOME MORE ABOUT SWEDISH EATING HABITS


Porridge and gruel (hot cereals)

Porridge and gruel were everyday dishes in the old days and will even now provide cheap and easily prepared nourishment, morning as well as evening, when you have thousands of things to do apart from cooking.

Nowadays, porridge has become a rare dish on the breakfast table (not with me, though, I eat porridge for breakfast at least 3 times a week). This is undoubtedly due to the increased consumption of cultured milk products like soured milk and yogurt. Perhaps it is time to rediscover the hot gruel as breakfast on cold winter mornings.

Both porridge and gruel make excellent evening meals for those who have their main meal at mid-day.


Everyday soups

The traditional everyday soups were often prepared in such a way that they could be used to dispose of leftovers. One lived after the principle that everything must be put to use. As the meat was normally boiled, good broth was available, which together with fresh or dried vegetables made a good and satisfying dish.

With the supplies available today we can, all the year round, produce the good and wholesome soups which formerly used to be seasonal specialties. We can enjoy Spring Vegetable Soup and Broad Bean Soup even in winter time, thanks to frozen vegetables.

Pea soup is one of the most popular, ready-cooked dishes. But those who have prepared large quantities of home-cooked soup appreciate having a supply in the deep-freeze for Thursday dinners, which is the most common soup day in Sweden.


Fish

In the past fresh fish was, of course, only available along the coast and round the lakes. In the interior the fish was salted, dried, or fermented. Salted herring, dried cod, lutfisk, and fermented Baltic herring was eaten there. Today, these dishes are considered delicacies.

Nowadays, everyday fish dishes are mostly prepared from frozen fish, but the salted herring has kept an important position in Swedish cookery. It can be prepared in a large number of ways, simply fried, in gratins, even minced in patties. Salted herring for frying or pickling is available in tinned versions, which need no soaking.

Herring caught in the northern part of the Baltic is called strömming (Baltic herring). It is somewhat smaller (9 inches) than the herring caught in other waters, which may grow to 14 to 16 inches. Use small herrings in recipes calling for Baltic herring.


Meat

Meat has always been important in Swedish food. The everyday meat was salted, fatty pork. A pig could weigh up to 440 lbs when it was slaughtered. Salted bacon was often dried to spickefläsk. Blood and entrails were utilized, among other things, together with fatty pork for sausage meat. The sausages were smoked, salted, or dried. 

The beef was often of a poor quality, as the cows were skinny and allowed to grow too old before they were slaughtered. Also here, most of the carcas was utilized, including the tripe and the udder. Much of the meat was salted. Boiled salted brisket of beef was a popular dish.

Mutton was part of the daily fare, whilst lamb and veal were reserved for festive occasions.

Nowadays, the fresh Swedish meat is of good quality and the consumption of beef as well as pork has increased. Compared with other countries, however, the meat consumption in Sweden is still low.

Pork is, of course, still very important, and there are many different ways of preparing it, fresh or lightly salted. There are also many casserole dishes where beef, lamb, or veal is cooked together with vegetables, especially winter vegetables like carrots, turnips, and cabbage.

Minced meat (beef, pork, veal, and lamb) is used a lot in Swedish everyday cooking. The Swedish meatballs are well known, but there are many varieties with interesting seasonings, for instance the Beef Patties à la Lindström.

Reindeer meat used to be a regional specialty, but is now available frozen throughout Sweden. It may be found in delicatessen shops stocking Scandinavian food. You may use elk/moose or venison as a substitute.


Potatoes

Potatoes have been very important in the Swedish diet. During periods of food shortage, they have certainly saved many from undernourishment. It was impossible to imagine a day without potatoes. They were eaten boiled or fried in a variety of dishes. 

Boiled potatoes were used for dumplings, they could be used for sausages, and in various kinds of bread. Raw potatoes were grated and used for porridge and gruel, in sausages and meat dishes, and for potato pancakes.

Although the consumption of processed potatoes, like French fries and potato chips, is increasing, many of the traditional potato dishes are still prepared in Swedish homes.

Baked potatoes are increasingly popular, either as an accompaniment to roast meat or as a dish on their own, served with soured cream and e.g. whitebait roe.

New potatoes are a real summer delicacy boiled with dill and served with a pat of butter. At Midsummer the very first new potatoes are served with matjessill (sweet-pickled herring), soured cream, and chopped dill or chives. Matjes herring is available in many delicatessen shops around the world. Try out the Swedish Midsummer meal and you will find that it is, in all its simplicity, delicious.


Vegetables

The vegetables used in traditional Swedish food are those that are suited to the harsh Swedish climate and can be stored for long periods. Some wild plants have also been used, e.g. nettles. 

To prepare for the long Swedish winter, broad beans were dried, string beans were salted, carrots, turnips, onions, beetroots, and parsnips were stored in cellars. In this way variation and nourishment in the diet was ensured the year round.

Nowadays there is a strong tendency towards the use of fresh imported vegetables, especially in salads. The traditional Swedish vegetables are, however, both inexpensive and wholesome. They are mostly prepared in simple ways, underlining the special flavor of the vegetable.


Egg dishes and the like

Eggs have always been important, and are even more so today because of their flavor, their nutritional value and their role in many cooking techniques. In view of their nutritional value and usefulness, eggs are also cheap.

In the old days eggs were scarce during the dark season, when the hens stopped laying. This made eggs an appreciated spring primeur. Nowadays, eggs are used on the same scale all the year round, except at Easter, when the Swedes eat lots of them.

Eggs and milk are the main ingredients in many popular Swedish dishes - pancakes, plättar, omelets, and gratins.


Desserts

Many modern Swedes see the dessert as an unnecessary and fattening luxury. This is unfortunate, because most Swedish desserts are light and refreshing. But even those who have stopped serving cooked desserts still put a bowl of fresh fruit on the table to finish the meal.

Swedes love fruit, especially soft fruit, and there are many varieties to choose from, wild as well as cultivated. They are eaten fresh when in season and are frozen or made into fruit syrup for winter use. The fresh or frozen berries are often served with whipped cream or vanilla cream sauce.

Fruit syrup can be used for refreshing drinks, but it is also the basic ingredient in many desserts. It is thickened with potato flour to make fruit soup or fruit creme. The wild rose hips are often dried and then made into a delicious soup, rich in vitamins.

Cloudberries, which grow in the northern regions, make a delicious jam, often served with pancakes or ice cream. 

To Swedes in general, the most important of all berries are the lingonberries (red whortleberries). They are usually made into jam, which is served with pancakes and other desserts, but also with various meat dishes.

Apples and pears are used in tarts and pies, and the traditional apple cake is a Swedish version of the English Brown Betty.


The Swedish bread

The daily bread has always been important, both practically and symbolically. It had to be satisfying and to keep well. In the old days rye was the grain most readily available, and so rye bread was most commonly baked.

The interest for home-made bread is now increasing steadily. The best bread is that baked in the old way - with coarsely ground, scalded flour or with leaven, but with less sugar and fat than before. Some people even try to bake crisp bread (the most Swedish of them all). It can be baked in an ordinary oven, but it does, of course, get very hard.

All the breads in this chapter can easily be baked at home. Fresh yeast is specified in most recipes, but dried yeast of the fermipan type may be used just as well. Follow the directions on the packet.

Bread is now mostly baked from wheat and rye flour, but oats and barley flour are also used and sometimes a mixture of three or four grains. Traditionally, the bread was sweetened with treacle/molasses, but nowadays many types of unsweetened bread are available. Swedish crisp bread is now internationally known and can be bought in many countries. The flat bread is delicious, but less well-known outside Sweden. It can be made at home with excellent result.

In Sweden, bread is rarely eaten plain with meals as is the custom abroad. Instead it is made into open sandwiches, smörgåsar. They are eaten with coffee in the morning, as a quick lunch or snack, with soup, or whenever you feel hungry. Swedish sandwiches are usually not very elaborately made, just a slice of bread and butter and a slice of cheese, sausage, ham, or boiled eggs.


Coffee party with seven kinds of cakes

Coffee is the Swedish national drink above all. Traditionally it was served at any time of the day and the kettle was usually kept hot in Swedish homes.

Nowadays coffee vending machines and automatic coffee percolators are found at every place of work and many Swedes drink coffee morning, midday, afternoon, and evening. It is, however, comparatively rare to take part in a coffee party with the traditional seven kinds of cakes.

The fine sweet buns and cakes and the elaborate fancy cakes are now eaten less, but old-fashioned rusks and biscuits may provide wholesome snacks.

The coffee party with the many delicious cakes is, however, part of the Swedish food tradition. Many Swedes allow themselves such a treat on special occasions, for instance to celebrate a name-day on a real summer day during "The Ladies' Week" (I'll tell more about that when the time comes) in the end of July. In the old days, you sampled all the different kinds, but you did not need to finish them. Whatever you could not eat, you brought home. This tradition is still observed in some places.

What makes the Swedish baking tradition particularly attractive is its variety. There is something for everybody, for every mood and occasion. 

The ingredients are well-known. Plain flour and baking powder are always used at self-rising flour is not very widely used in Sweden. Some recipes call for ammonium carbonate. If this is not available, substitute double quantity of baking powder. The final result will, however, be less crisp. Unless otherwise specified use granulated sugar, which is equivalent to the Swedish strösocker.



Pickles and preserves

The ability to preserve foods and store them for future needs was important in the old days. Among the methods used were preservation by means of sugar, salt, or vinegar. With modern-day cold storage and an ample supply of fresh food the year round, there is no longer any need to "bottle" vegetables and fruit. Many Swedes still do it, mostly because of the "home-made" taste, but maybe for the sake of tradition too. It gives a nice and cozy feeling to have jars filled with cucumbers, pots with beetroots and apple sauce, and why not some bottles of lingonberry drink?

An advantage with home bottling is that you have full control of the sugar content and the addition of preservatives.


FESTIVE FOOD

Feasts used to mean a lot as longed-for breaks in the daily toil. There were many reasons for feasts. Family celebrations such as birthdays, christenings, confirmations, banns, weddings, and even funerals. Harvest and parish meetings also gave occasion for festive gatherings.

It was important to find time to be together, to see one's family, neighbors, and friends and together enjoy the festive food, so very different from the monotonous daily fare.

Feast dishes were all those things, that were too expensive or too rare to be eaten regularly. The dishes served were numerous and varied, because everybody brought food along: thus it became a kind of surprise party.

Large feasts are no longer common. Both the number of guests and the number of dishes have been reduced. Anyone who can prepare some tasty dishes suitable for cooking on a larger scale, such as a festive fish gratin or an old-fashioned pot roast, can entertain without trouble. This has helped to keep the traditional Swedish hospitality alive.


The Cold Table - SMÖRGÅSBORD

Originally the smörgåsbord was intended as an hors d'oeuvre, a great number of different dishes (most of them cold, but some hot), served with bread and butter and accompanied with beer and schnapps. The modern variety, served in many Swedish restaurants, is a complete meal, including some hot dishes and a simple dessert.

A large-scale smörgåsbord is rarely served in private homes nowadays. Most families have, however, a few special favorites, which may be served as a first course.

If you have the chance of sampling a real Swedish smörgåsbord, think well. Choose one or two herring dishes plus maybe a smoked herring salad, a couple of the hot dishes and a selection of cold meats, a paté, and one or two kinds of cheese. Pickled beetroots, gherkins, lingonberry jam, and mustard should accompany the cold meats, and don't forget the boiled potatoes, the soured cream, and chives for the pickled herring. Add a selection of breads (e.g. a white bread, a rye bread, and some crispbread) and some butter and your smörgåsbord is ready. It's easy to want to try it all and eat too much …

Some clarifications

SOME CLARIFICATIONS

I just want to explain some things a little further to you. Some recipe titles might seem comical or funny to you, but I've translated them straight off in most cases, and I've done that on purpose for entertainment. I've always been like that. 

Milk

When I speak about milk, I always mean regular milk if not otherwise specified. In Sweden, regular milk has a fat content of 3%. 

Fika

The word "fika" is a Swedish word for a very Swedish thing: Coffee with something sweet. It's very normal in Swedish offices or other workplaces to have fika at around 11 in the morning. As people nowadays have become more aware of the overuse of sugar and fat, the sweets have more often turned to a healthier sandwich or even breakfast, but it's still very common with "sweet fika". So if someone invites you for a fika if you're in Sweden, you can expect to have either something healthier with your coffee, or tea, or whatever, or something sweet - or both. So I've put all the sweet baked goods in the category of "fika", more or less.

Coffee cakes

When I call something a "coffee cake", it means that the cake is very enjoyable with coffee, or tea, or some sweet drink. It doesn't necessarily have coffee inside it, but in some cases it does. It's something more or less equivalent to a pound cake.

Falu sausage

In many of my sausage recipes, you will encounter the Falu sausage (see the post about Swedish food history). I don't know if you have any possibility of getting that where you are, but I've found something that might help you to find a substitute: You can use a large sausage of the Frankfurter or Strasbourg type. Picture of the Falu sausage below.

Kassler
You will also find a lot of kassler in my recipes. It's a piece of warm-smoke cured loin of pork, boneless nowadays, juicy and quite salty. It's excellent to use in cooking and it can also be eaten just as it is, with potato salad, or in pasta salads or other salads. Picture below.

Pans

It's difficult for me as a Swede to distinguish between a "casserole" and a "stew". So I've decided to mostly call them "stews". In Swedish, the name is "gryta" for both, which also means "pot" (meaning the pot you cook food in) to further add to the confusion. So I alternate between the word "stew" and the word "pan" (and "pan", "panna" in Swedish, can also mean a baking pan or an oven-proof pan or whichever pan. You'll simply have to bear with me … but if you see the Swedish name of the recipe and it says "gryta" or "panna", you know it's one of those lovely dishes that mostly simmer together in the most charming way to give and take their taste from each other.


I will add more to this post over time, no doubt. Things will occur that will need explaining. Don't be afraid to ask questions, and don't be afraid to leave comments to the recipes you read and/or try out!

Love

Bella

A History of Swedish Cuisine

A HISTORY OF SWEDISH CUISINE

When a Swede hears the word husmanskost (old-fashioned home cooking), his mind immediately conjures up an image of a kitchen where the art of cooking stands supreme. One senses the aroma of hearty stews and envisages simmering saucepans. Crispy brown Baltic herring dance about lightly in a heated skillet. Splendid roasts and game tantalize us from the oven, provided it isn't already filled with huge loaves of leavened bread or moist spongecake. Here, one can always find a tasty morsel on which to nibble. Yes, here is a great source of warmth and security.

At any rate, we like to believe that this was the way it once was. However, in days gone by food was by no means as greatly varied as the fare of today. Nowadays we are able to prepare both common foods as well as those for special occasions in a manner that neither our grandparents nor even our mothers could possibly dream. 

Sweden is fortunate to have a long coastline and many lakes, thereby ensuring its inhabitants of a great diversity of fish ranging from Baltic herring to cod and salmon.

Meat, on the other hand, was a scarce commodity in kitchens of the past. While hunting did make an additional contribution in sections of the country covered by forest, more of an emphasis was put on raising dairy cattle than on meat production. There was also big game such as moose, as well as quite a bit of poultry and small game such as hare and rabbit.

Husmanskost was simple and concerned itself mostly with porridge and gruel, combs and black pudding, cabbage soup, and dried fish. Every home put aside its own larder from what was harvested from the garden. There wasn't a great deal of cash in circulation in those days, nor an abundance of stores from which to shop every day. 

It wasn't until the middle of the 1800s that Swedes were allowed to open country stores. These stores sold salt herring, a few spices, treacle/molasses, coffee, and maybe even a little loaf sugar. However, merchandise was purchased mostly by bartering instead of paying with cash.

On the other hand, city dwellers could go shopping at the grocer's, the butcher's or the baker's. Moreover, they had large pantries and food cellars in which they could stock up to a year's supply of certain staples. Yet, city residents could still remain farmers - by farming on town land!

Salted and dried food constituted the basis of Swedish home cooking. Even today we Swedes prefer a lightly smoked ham at Christmas rather than a fresh one. We also think that the pork knuckles which complement our pea soup or our mashed turnips should be cured with salt. Otherwise, the food won't taste right! Taking into consideration all that salted food, it's no wonder so much beer and ale were consumed long ago.

Prior to the arrival of the canning apparatus and freezers, dehydration and fermentation were two typical methods of food preservation.

Ölsupa was a very common dish previously; it consisted of a soup made from stale bread that had been thoroughly soaked in beer or a derivative thereof. Supanmaten, which means all types of soups, was a good way of using leftovers and making food last.

In 1755 Cajsa Warg's book, "A Guide to Housekeeping for Young Women", was published, and there we are already able to trace the influence of French cuisine in that which we today consider typically Swedish. Many new cookbooks were published during the 19th century and contributed to variation in Swedish home cooking.

Cajsa Warg gave a great deal of advice on the care of stored food. First, she lists everything that is pickled: meat, pork, salmon, salt herring, Baltic herring, small codfish, and eel. Then she continues with all the dried fish: stockfish, flounder, whiting, and pike. 

Yellow and green peas (which couldn't be purchased pre-dried back then), hard bread, flatbread, and even meat were also dried. Salted and dried mutton and reindeer meat gave stews and bouillon an especially tasty flavour.

The first one heard of surströmming (fermented Baltic herring) was in a tax roll from the 1500s where it was written that every 15th barrel was to fall to the crown. Some are even of the opinion that the Thirty Year War was won thanks to a little help from surströmming. When it arrived at the battlefront, the soldiers were beside themselves with joy and ate as if there was no tomorrow. Then they went into battle and breathed on the enemy … 

I can't vouch for whether or not this was actually true; however, it is a fact that there was a shortage of salt in Sweden at that time. On the coast of northern Sweden, those who worked with preserving Baltic herring discovered a method to preserve the fish yet only used an absolute minimum of salt in the process. This method still exists today - although the fermentation process is carried out under strict control indoors and not outside in fresh air as before. 

Baltic herring is caught from May to the beginning of June. This is its spawning season, and the herring is of high quality. Then the herring is fermented and, according to a royal ordinance, first ready to be eaten the third week of August.

Milk was also a sensitive perishable. In fact, it was only during the summer, after spring calving, that milk was plentiful. Just before midsummer cattle, calves, and sheep were driven up to mountain pastures by shepherdesses and didn't return again to the farms until autumn. The young women passed away the time up in the mountains by making cheese, cooking whey-cheese, as well as processing a type of thick sour milk.

Carl von Linné (Linnaeus) described how he ran across a form of "stringy milk" in the province of Ångermanland in his narrative, "A Trip to Lapland in 1732". According to Linné, this was made from the whey after the process of curdling had been completed. The milk was so glue-like that "one could pull it like a string from wall to wall." In the province of Västerbotten he was even served salted and sun-dried breast of woodgrouse. Moreover, he observed, "crayfish and fleas didn't exist in Lapland."

Out in the country, porridge and gruel were the dominate food in the average Swedish household, no matter if it was in a fine manor house or an ordinary farmhouse. Most often porridge was made fresh in the evening and eaten for supper. In the morning, the leftovers were fried and served with syrup, something the children loved. (I still fry my leftover porridge and eat it with lingonberry jam.) Porridge was served as well in the everyday fare as on special occasions. One carefully separated the two types: Simple porridge was prepared with water and served with lingonberries; "white porridge" was a more festive, milk-based porridge. The custom of dining on rice pudding on Christmas Eve is a carryover from days gone by.

Swedes still follow the tradition of taking porridge, flyttgröt, with them when they first visit someone who has just moved wo a new address (even though it's mostly not porridge now but a stew, a cake or some other edible stuff). Previously, new mothers were given post-delivery porridge after the birth of a baby.

Barley porridge was common in Norrland and northern Svealand, while rye porridge dominated elsewhere. During this period, proper porridge was thick and filling. Watery porridge was classified as "gentlemen's porridge". However, one could never be sure of having milk with porridge. Water mixed with honey, syrup, whey, or even Beverages mixed with milk or water were some of the different liquids used in the making of porridge. Sometimes meat or fish bouillon and even lingonberries in water could be served with porridge.

We are used to eating porridge from our own bowl. However, far into the 1940s one could find porridge being eaten from a common bowl in different areas of Sweden, among other places in Southern Lapland. On the other hand, everyone Always had his own bowl for the liquid (grötväta) that was to complement the porridge. If the porridge was especially fine, a dab of butter was dropped in a hole made in the middle.

Chips of dried whey butter or cheese soaked in water were either served as gruel or blended into a White sauce to lend extra flavor to common food. Our Northern provinces still practice this custom today when they season the gravy of game roasts with a Little piece of whey cheese.

Unleavened bread is also an early Discovery. The dough, which might have originated as a clump of porridge, was first flattened out on a stone and then heated until the water evaporated from it. This type of bread exists all over the World and has the advantage to keep for a long time. In Sweden one used say, "what's baked for the christening will keep till the wedding".

Nonetheless, one also celebrated with "birthing beer", "bridal beer", "burial beer", e t c so that scholars still debate which came first: the bread or the beer? Could it possibly be that thirst was a greater drive than hunger? Probably the earliest grains were more suitable for brewing beer than baking bread, and in most countries one brewed beer that was both nutritious, thirst quenching, and yet low in calories.

The Swedes can, in fact, thank some of their kings for many of the dishes which they consider to be typically Swedish. For example, without Gustav Vasa and his "import" of skillful miners, we wouldn't have our falukorv today. A great many oxen were needed in order to pull up the baskets from the Falu copper mines. When they no longer had the strength to work as draught animals, they were slaughtered. Their hide was used for making belts for the miners as well as for the baskets which transported the copper ore up from within the mines. The meat of the oxen was used for roasts and other delicacies for the hungry miners. However, even the smaller pieces of meat and intestines didn't go to waste. Among others, miners coming from Belgium and Germany made their native sausage. It was quickly named falukorv, and became so popular that it was later sold at marketplaces. In Germany we can find one of the forefathers of falukorv in the sausage called Thüringer Bratwurst.

If we can believe a royal letter to a bailiff named Jöran Jönsson in 1562, Gustav Vasa's son, King Erik XIV, was the first crayfish lover in Sweden. The king wanted "a huge heap of crayfish" for both his guests at the castle as well as for a wedding.

The descending Vasa kings also liked crayfish very much. This is probably due to the fact that by then the Italian cuisine even influenced the kitchens of the royal family. Crayfish had been eaten on the continent for a long time, and the monasteries (even those in Sweden) had their own crayfish catchers. Crayfish were used for both food and medicine.

However, it wasn't until the 1700s that crayfish and the notion of crayfish parties spread to the country estates throughout Sweden and were eulogized by Carl Michael Bellman, Sweden's national poet, in many of his ballads. Moreover, it wasn't until the 20th century that crayfish parties became widespread throughout all of Sweden, starting first in Svealand and northern Götaland. It was also then that all the paraphernalia such as paper moons, special plates and cutlery, especially woven crayfish-striped tablecloths, and handblown glass decanters in the form of dogs or pigs e t c appeared.

There is another favorite dish that is of royal origin. King Karl XII, our "warrior king", and his soldiers were imprisoned in Bender in Turkey for many years. There, the king and his men tasted dolmar which were made from mutton wrapped in grape leaves. In Turkish, dolmar means cloak and refers to the wrapping of the grape leave. When the warriors eventually returned home to Sweden, they took the recipe for dolmar with them. However, now the commonplace cabbage leaf was substituted for the grape leaf. The rice used in this recipe still reminds us of the oriental heritage of this dish. According to research carried out by the royal restaurateur Tore Wretman, the custom of dining on "kåldolmar" began in Stockholm. A group of Turkish officials travelled to Stockholm to press the king for money, and then stayed on for several years!

Cajsa Warg's recipe for "kåldolmar" contains a mixture of minced veal and rice seasoned with pepper, nutmeg, salt, onion, and some cloves. She writes that this mixture is then wrapped in grape leaves, but if none are available "one can use cabbage leaves instead".

Sweet desserts weren't very prevalent in the everyday diet, but during berry season one gorged on "berry pudding" which actually was something of a cross between a pudding and a thickened soup. In Småland, Hälsingland, Västerbotten, and Norrbotten thin rounds of rye or even sometimes wheat were baked and then filled with a thick layer of blueberries or lingonberries. However, in those days the most common dessert, and evening meal as well sometimes, was lingonberries and milk.

The potato had already made its way to Sweden by the 1600s, and the first recipes turned up in 1664. However, Jonas Alströmer is considered to be the father of the Swedish potato. In 1733 he wrote that one could boil, mash, and even mix the potato with flour, a technique used for making potato dumplings.

The potato didn't really gain popularity, however, until the duchess Eva de la Gardie discovered the art of distilling aquavit from potatoes, thereby saving the invaluable grain for food. In 1748, Eva de la Gardie was the first woman to be elected into the Swedish Academy of Science. In her writings, she pointed out that one could also make flour and even powder from potatoes.

Despite the fact that farmers first thought the potato to be tasteless in comparison to the turnip and carrot, it didn't take long before the potato definitely became the number one staple in Sweden. In many homes throughout the country the only dinner food available was herring fins, potatoes, and lingonberries. Many different varieties of potatoes became available: rosy red, yellow, white, and blue … and they could be mealy, juicy, dry, or sometimes even a little leathery. Certain types reminded us of the present day "almond potato", a favorite of the inhabitants of northern Sweden. In Västergötland, near Falköping, one developed a local sort that was scaly like asparagus. Today, the indigo blue Congo potato has become popular, especially with professional chefs.

Potatoes are a major industry today. Just think about those early spring potatoes grown on the Bjäre peninsula in Skåne. Swedes delight in eating these steaming, new-boiled potatoes together with just a dab of butter and a little salt!

During the rest of the year potatoes are served as a complement to other foods, but can even turn up in the form of old favorites such as potato pancakes or potato dumplings. Modern industry has converted the potato into many different forms ranging from potato chips to potato au gratin that can be heated either in a regular oven or a microwave.

Perhaps we haven't given much thought to the fact that one of the most revolutionary inventions of industrialization was the cast-iron stove, the forerunner of our modern-day range. By the mid-1800s it had become widespread and made food preparation much easier compared to preparing food in a big kettle over an open hearth. Cast-iron stoves were a very comfortable source of heat in the kitchen and also encouraged home baking in an entirely new way.

Previously, one baked in large open ovens located in bakeries that were separate from the main house, something which is still customary today in our northern provinces. One baked only a few times a year, usually at Christmas and in late spring. On those occasions, which lasted for several days each, one baked a household's entire bread supply for the coming months. Often all the women in the village baked together.

With the onset of cast-iron stoves one could bake more often and make smaller portions of bread, buns, and cakes. Coffee klatches became a way of socializing and still exist today. Nowadays, a guest isn't offered such a broad selection of rusks, sweet yeast bread, cakes, and several different types of cookies as frequently as was the fashion 40 or 50 years ago.

You might wonder about the smörgåsbord. Surely it must be included within the realm of Swedish home cooking. Yes, for celebrations and mostly at restaurants. Our Christmas smörgåsbord and those found on other major holidays are a simplified form that still exists today.

The origin of the Swedish smörgåsbord can be traced back to the so-called brännvinsbordet, a little cocktail (schnapps) buffet which started off dinner in days gone by. The men usually gathered in the corner of the living or dining room. They enjoyed a schnapps with a little salt on the side. Now and then the ladies might be offered a sugar cube soaked in aquavit.

If one visits the Nordiska Muséet in Stockholm, one can see a reconstructed brännvinsbord, beautifully set with a stiffly ironed damask tablecloth, a chest filled with small bottles for different sorts of aquavit, some of them personally flavored perhaps. Popular schnapps flavorings were wormwood, sweet gale, caraway, Southern wood, as well as bitter orange. Moreover, the table should be set with pickled anchovies from young herring, a well-ripened cheese, and salted pretzels on which to munch.

Swedish restaurants have experienced a renaissance of the smörgåsbord, especially during the tourist season. Therefore, it is extremely important that competent staff is available to help instruct tourists on the etiquette of enjoying a smörgåsbord. For the sake of orientation, one should take a stroll around the entire buffet first in order to see the many different types of delicacies available. Then one should return to the smörgåsbord at least four or five times in order to avoid mixing the different types of food and flavors too much.

The Swedish Store Cupboard

THE SWEDISH STORE CUPBOARD

This is by no means exhaustive but it includes ingredients which are in frequent use in the Swedish kitchen, or whose inclusion in a meal will add a Swedish touch.


Dry goods

Flour
For cooking, plain white flour is used. For bread making, a wide choice of flour and crushed grain of wheat, rye, oats, and Barley is available. In recent years several mixed flours have come on the market. For cakes and biscuits, plain flour and baking powder is used.

Potato flour (potato starch)
is often used as a thickening agent, especially in sweet sauces, fruit soups, and creams (krämer). If potato flour is not available, corn flour or corn starch may be used, but in that case the sauce or kräm must be simmered a couple of minutes after the thickening has been added.

Dried breadcrumbs
are frequently used, e.g. as a coating, in minced meat, and in sweets. Mostly white breadcrumbs are used, and only seldom dark rye breadcrumbs.

Sugar
Unless otherwise specified, use granulated sugar.

Rice
was rarely used in Swedish traditional cooking. The round-grained type was used for porridge (especially Christmas porridge) and in stuffings and minced meat. In recent years, long-grained rice has come into use as an accompaniment to meat dishes, replacing potatoes.


Bottled and tinned goods

Anchovies
of the Swedish type are really spiced cured sprats. They are used in various combinations with eggs and in the famous potato gratin "Jansson's Temptation" (Janssons Frestelse). They are sold tinned (whole or filleted) and they are normally used without de-salting. If you can't find Swedish anchovies, use anchovies in oil or salt herring.

Swedish caviar
is mostly sold in tubes. It is made from cod's roe, which is salted, puréed, and often smoked. Oil is added and sometimes dill. Swedish caviar is used in many dishes and it is highly appreciated on open sandwiches. It is rather difficult to find a substitute, but on sandwiches imported caviar may be substituted.

Swedish mustard
is mild and rather sweet. A German-type mustard can be used as substitute.

Swedish soy sauce
is a mixture of caramel colouring, soy extract, and salt. It is used mainly as a colouring agent in sauces, soups, and stews. Use caramel colouring as a substitute with a few drops of Chinese soy sauce added.

Vinegar
Wine and cider vinegar are comparatively Little used in Sweden. Alcohol vinegar, sold in different concentrations, is used diluted for pickling. Mostly, a 12% essence of vinegar and red or white wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar are used. If you're in the USA, regular white wine vinegar may be used. In this case, use the proportions given for essence of vinegar.

Lingonberry jam (red whortleberry jam)
will supply the Swedish touch to many dishes. It is served with pancakes and many other desserts, but also as a sweet-and-sour accompaniment to meat, e.g. meatballs. Don't worry if you can't find it, cranberry sauce makes an excellent substitute.


Vegetables

Potatoes
Plain boiled potatoes are most often served with everyday meat and fish dishes. There are, however, many interesting ways to prepare potatoes.

Turnips (Swedes)
are used, especially in Winter, for mashed turnips and in stews and casserole dishes.

Soup vegetables
are normally carrots, parsnips, leek, and celeriac (celery root).

Mushrooms
The Swedes eat many kinds of mushrooms, and they like going into the fields and forests to gather them. The most appreciated species are, apart from the champignons, chanterelles, morels, and boletus.

Onions
White onions are used in most dishes. For pickled herring and in some salads, the large red variety (Copper King)  is preferred.

Celeriac (celery root)
is used as an aromatic in soups and stews. Substitute celery, if you can't find any celeriac.

Horseradish
is highly appreciated in hot and cold sauces, with soured Cream, and in some salads. It is also used as a preservative when pickling cucumbers or beetroots.


Fresh herbs

Parsley, dill and chives
are used lavishly in Swedish cooking.

Thyme
is also appreciated, especially in the yellow pea soup.


Dried herbs

Thyme, marjoram and bay leaves
are the most popular ones.

Juniper berries
are used in many game dishes. There is also a soda with Juniper, which is DELICIOUS.


Spices

Black and white pepper
are often used interchangeably in recipes.

Allspice, cloves, cinnamon and ginger
are used both whole and powdered.

Vanilla
is mostly replaced by vanilla or vanilline sugar. Vanilla sugar was very unusual outside Sweden when I started out with recipes on the net about 100 years ago. I don't know how available it is now, but I always have vanilla sugar in my pantry as it's so common in baking here.


Dairy Products

Butter or margarine 
is normally used for frying and baking. Almost all butter sold in Sweden is lightly salted, so lightly that it can be used in cakes. Only a very small quantity is sold unsalted or extra salted.

Cream
is an important ingredient in many recipes. It's used in sauces, soups, and as an accompaniment with many sweets. The Swedish whipping cream is equivalent to the English whipping cream (American heavy Cream) with a butterfat content of 40%. When cream is called for in a recipe, use single cream (12%). The Swedish soured cream, gräddfil, has a butterfat content of 12%, just as its English counterpart.

Foods and Festivals in Sweden

FOODS AND FESTIVALS IN SWEDEN

Christmas

A Swedish Christmas is a cross between both heathen and Christian traditions. The actual word for Christmas, jul, can be traced back to Old Swedish. During heathen times we celebrated a midwinter sacrifice at about the time of the winter solstice, the day when the sun returned to the northern latitudes.

It wasn't difficult for the wise and ingenious priests to puzzle together both the heathen and Christian beliefs when Sweden became christianized. By approximately 100 A.D. the Church had already established December 25th to be the date of Jesus' birth.

One can also explain why Christmas ham ended up as the centerpiece of the Christmas smörgåsbord. The wild boar was probably tamed sometime during the Bronze Ages. Its meat was tender and succulent and soon became the cult animal of the Vikings. Valhalla was the Vikings' paradise and where warriors met to hold nightly feasts. Every night they dined on a special boar named Särimner, which was roasted over an open pit. Beautiful amazons served mjöd (mead), a beer brewed from honey and hops, to the warriors. Then, abracadabra, each morning lively little Särimner reappeared in his pen once again, grunting happily and eagerly awaiting a new slaughter for the evening feast.

Dried fish, preferably cod and ling, were the Vikings' most important provision during their long journies at sea. This eventuelly evolved into lutfisk and wasn't served more often during times of fasting than it is today. During the Catholic period in Sweden the Christmas fast wasn't over until Christmas Day. That is why we still dine on lutfisk on Christmas Eve.

Rice pudding is a later tradition. People used to put both coins and small figurines of the Christ Child in the pudding; nowadays we sometimes use an almond instead. The one who gets the almond - and has come of age - will marry during the coming year. In addition, everyone must try to make up a little verse while eating the pudding. No poet laureate has ever emerged because of this tradition … but it's great fun!

The Swedish Christmas actually Begins on December 13th with the celebration of Lucia, which combines a tradition from the Western part of Sweden together with an Italian saint. By the time "lusse" rolled around every year, all ofthe autumn farm chores of slaughtering, brewing, and baking had been completed. Both city dwellers and country residents had time to socialize now, and there was such an abundance of food that everyone - almost - was able to make a glutton of himself.

Our modern Christmas smörgåsbord is very lavish but also features much fruit and greens, thereby making it much more balanced than its predecessor. We pickle two or three different kinds of herring and make homemade liver paté or sausage from family recipes handed down from one generation to the other. Now, however, we don't devour Everything on a single occasion but rather spread out our dining enjoyment throughout the holiday season.

We have even begun to follow the Anglo-Saxon tradition of dining on turkey on Christmas Day, something unthinkable only 50 years ago. In every Swedish home there exists a special little pot filled with simmering spiced wine just waiting for guests who might pay a visit during the period from Lucia until Tjugondag Knut, that is to say January 13th, the day when Christmas is thrown out. This is literally the case now as this is the date when one usually throws out a Christmas tree that is shedding needles badly and seems to have done its part to enhance the Christmas season. 

We exchange Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve. Our Swedish Santa is anglicized and allied to the Catholic Bishop Nicolaus, Santa Claus. In most Swedish families the father suddenly needs to run an errand at about four o'clock in the afternoon on Christmas Eve. While he's away, Santa usually shows up carrying his heavy sack.

Long ago the Christmas smörgåsbord of different provinces distinguished themselves from one another. For example, in Hälsingland one churned much more butter at Christmas and moulded two cones in which a branched Candle was placed. There was one branch for each family member. The butter from these cones were never eaten but remained on the table as a symbol of family fortune and was considered to be an extra blessing. In Hälsingland, one also ate a roast of veal seasoned with cloves instead of ham.


Easter

In Sweden, Easter has Always been a Christian holiday; however the Paschal Lamb did cause a few problems for us. Easter usually precedes the lambing season in Sweden. Nevertheless lamb is often the main course on Easter Day. Luckily this is facilitated by Swedish meat regulations which stipulate that all sheep less than a year old are to be classified as lamb. This is also the time of year when chickens once again begin to lay. Eggs were "forbidden fruit" during Catholicism's Lent: therefore they were eaten with special indulgement at Easter. One gorged on eggs and egg dishes. In the Southern part of Sweden one played different types of games with eggs. Spring herring began to run, and salmon returned to spawn in Swedish rivers. Everything made its contribution to a splendid Easter smörgåsbord. We paint Easter eggs by boiling them together with onion peel or special egg coloring and then decorate them according to our imatination. This is also part of the Swedish food tradition.

Good Friday was an extremely long and tedious day in Sweden previously, especially for the Young. In 1969 the ban was lifted barring public entertainment on Good Friday. Now one can play Music for easy listening, go to the movies or theater, or even arrange dances on what was previously such a solemn day. Nonetheless we still often serve fish (salmon) on Good Friday, a custom descending from our Catholic heritage.


Pentecost

Pentecost, like Easter, originates from Hebrew celebrations but became a Christian holiday during the first Century and commemorates Christ's appearance before his disciples fifty days after his death. The Greek translation of the word pentecost is "the fiftieth day". Pentecost is called "the time of rapture" in the Nordic countries. That is not so peculiar since Pentecost always falls towards the end of spring when the days are filled with Sunlight, and summer is just around the corner. Everything in nature is lush and green and in full bloom. One can go out and pick nettles for nettle soup, and old Swedish custom. Before, restaurants always had either spring chicken in cream sauce together with cucumber salad or dilled lamb with creamed morels on their spring menu. It goes without saying that dessert was, and still is, some variety of rhubarb, either a compote or a pie.


Midsummer

Perhaps Midsummer is the easiest of all Swedish holidays when it comes to food as the menu is practically given: matjes herring, spring potatoes with sour cream and chives. For dessert one enjoys fresh strawberries with whipped cream. In Skåne one likes to serve regular salt herring with chives in Cream; however, matjes herring is often found as a sidedish. 

In the beginning the Roman Catholic Church celebrated June 24th, Midsummer Day, in commemoration of the birthday of John the Baptist. After the Reformation the tradition continued, and Midsummer Day was celebrated on June 24th until 1953. After that Midsummer Day became a rotating holiday, with Midsummer Day falling on the first Saturday after the summer solstice. The custom of decorating a maypole and gathering to dance and play on Midsummer dates way back. Midsummer Eve was filled with mysticism. Young maidens picked 7 (or 9 depending on the custom) different sorts of flowers to put under their pillow in order to dream of their future husbands that night. In some areas one collected special herbs and flowers during Midsummer, believing their medicinal powers would be enhanced. For the sake of good health, one gladly took a drink from a cold spring.

Around Midsummer, and in Northern Sweden especially, it was time to put the cows out to pasture and seriously begin to get underway with milking once again. It was then that one made the first processed sour cream of the season. 


Crayfish and "surströmming"

Foreign tourists visiting in August usually say that crayfish parties are the closest a Swede gets to really letting loose. Crayfish were once very common in our lakes and streams and were eaten year round. In the beginning of the 1900s a crayfish plague struck the original river crayfish. Therefore the plague-resistant signal crayfish was then introduced, and today we import crayfish from practically all over the world. The restricition forbidding frozen crayfish to be eaten prior to the second Thursday in August has been removed. Today the supply of Swedish crayfish is so minute that the former rules for a crayfish première have been abandoned. However, if one does trap fresh Swedish crayfish, the premère regulations still apply, and the crayfish must be at least 10 cm in length from "head to toe" to be considered legal bounty.

The first crayfish parties were held by the middle class during the latter part of the 1800s. In the beginning of the 1920s crayfish accessories such as funny hats, moon-shaped paper lanterns, special plates, tablecloths, and schnapps songs appeared.

The other major food festival in August is surströmming (fermented Baltic herring) which has its première the third Thursday of the month. Surströmming is served together with finely diced onion (red and white), new boiled potatoes - preferably the yellow almond-shaped kind - and flatbread, both soft and hard. Beginners like to make a klämma (a type of sandwich roll) which is composed of a layer of diced boiled potatoes, a layer of finely diced onions, and finally a layer of fermented Baltic herring rolled up in a piece of soft, buttered flatbread. Wash this down with beer. The aroma of fermented herring itself is not worse than that of a well-ripened cheese, and many ardent surströmming lovers insist on being present when the can is opened and the odor leaks out!

Eel feasts and St. Martin's Day

In Skåne (Scania), where I live now, one looks forward to the gloom of autumn with special anticipation. When the moon has waned in late August, it's time to get ready for eel parties. The first man and woman to catch a live eel from a dark barrel located in a darkened rom are crowned king and queen of the party. The guests then feast on a myriad of different eel delicacies ranging from racked eel roasted over an open fire built from two different types of wood to straw-fried eel and eel in aspic.

One of the founders of the Swedish Academy of Gastronomy, author and lawyer Fritiof Nilsson (pseudonym Piraten, "The Pirate") wrote many humorous stories about eel feasts. Today, as Swedes have become more mobile, the customs of eel feasts as well as surströmming parties have become widespread throughout all of Sweden.

St. Martin's Day

This is another tradition from Southern Sweden that has worked its way northwards. The geese in Skåne were nicely fattened and ready for slaughter just in time for St. Martin's Eve on November 10th. November 11th happens to be Martin Luther's name-day (Skåne used to give the school children the day off on November 10th, but I don't know if it's done anymore).

Legend has it that in the town of Tours, France, there once was a pious and much-loved monk named Martin. He hid in a flock of geese to avoid being appointed bishop by the townspeople. The geese, of course, began to gaggle. The townspeople discovered Martin, and he eventually Went on to become an excellent bishop. Ever since then, people slaughter and dine on goose on November 11th, all in his honour.

The dinner itself begins with black soup, which is made from goose blood. Today, people who don't care for black soup can opt for bouillon instead - although this is considered to be cheating just a bit! Stewed prunes, apples, red cabbage, and either boiled or baked potatoes complete the main course. Apple cake with a custard sauce is the classic dessert for this dinner. Then one is satiated!