Finnish Cuisine

Finnish cuisine appeals to both the eye and the taste buds, and has something special for every month of the year. In Finland, design textiles and tableware are an important element in the art of good eating.

Norwegian Cuisine

Norway's long coastline means that fish is an important part of Norwegian cuisine. The most popular dishes are fish soup, lye fish (lutefisk) and smoked salmon. Cured meat is also a frequent part of a traditional Norwegian meal. Sweet brown goats cheese (geitost) and the thin crispy flat bread are also typical Norwegian food. Aquavit, a spirit distilled from potatoes and flavored with caraway, is a very traditional drink and very often served together with a pint of beer.

Swedish Cuisine

Husmanskost is the name of the most regular dishes. At the weekends Swedes make a 'big' dinner when the ingredients are more expensive and it is more elaborate. At feasts there are traditional dishes like dop in the pod and surströmming (fermented baltic herring).

Swedish food traditions
Genuine Swedish food. Is there such a thing? Sweden has a fine old culinary tradition. The Swedish husmanskost, good old everyday food based on classic country cooking, has been influenced by foreign cuisine over the years. Basically it is genuinely Swedish. Today the plain and hearty husmanskost is undergoing a renaissance in Sweden. The best of the old recipes have been revived and often revised so they are less sturdy and easier to prepare. Propaganda for better diets has also helped to improve the Swedish husmanskost, reduce the fat content and add fruits and vegetables.

Regional Specialties
In Sweden everybody has about the same food habits and customs. Many provinces have a reputation for special food. On the eastcoast the most important food is strumming (Baltic herring). That is a small silvery fish. Salmon, trout and whitefish are other important fishes. Norrland, the nine northern provinces of Sweden has a lot to offer. In Lappland you must try the dark gamy reindeer meet and åkerbär, the rare berry that grows wild along roadsides and ditches. The åkerbär looks like a small raspberry. The hjortron or cloudberry is another fine Norrland fruit. Two Norrland provinces, Västerbotten and Norrbotten are famous for their dumplings, palt. They are made of raw as well as cooked potatoes, flour and salt, and served with butter and lingonberries. Other Norrland specialties are tunnbröd, the thin white crispbread, and långmjölk (sour milk).

The Swedish smörgåsbord
The Swedish smörgåsbord is world famous. You can have it in IKEA in Milano and London. Today, the traditional large smörgåsbord with its lavish of food can be found only in a few restaurants, usually at Christmas time. Once in a while, mostly in rural areas, the complete old-time smörgåsbord will be prepared. When you meet with a smörgåsbord of this kind, it's important to know the rules for how to approach it, or it may become just a hotchpotch of flowers and impressions. The commonly accepted and best way of enjoying the large smörgåsbord is to eat each kind of food separately it is deemed necessary.

Crayfish and surströmming
Sweden has an extensive coastline and many lakes, so it's not surprising that fish plays a major part in the country's diet. On the west coast the specialties are shellfish, fresh mackerel and cod. The crayfish season starts around August 8, and continues for about six weeks. It is taken quite seriously in Sweden, when the nights are long and the parties, floating on aquavit, run on into the twilight. The small, black, freshwater crustaceans are dropped live into boiling salted water with a huge bunch of dill; during cooking their colour changes to a bright red. A speciality of northern Sweden, surströmming, is for sale from the third Thursday in August. To serve surströmming the proper way: Tie a napkin around the can - Place it on the table - Then carefully open the can - A strong odour will at once reach your nostrils and fill the room.
'Beginners' often need some time to get used to the unique smell of surströmming, some even go so far as to call it a stench. You serve surströmming with potatoes, sour cream, onion and white crispbread.

Feast food in Sweden
At Christmas Swedes often start with eating a buffet-style. The buffet-style are filled with a lot of heavy dishes both hot and cold. Ham, meat-balls, different salads and a lot of other food. We also eat Dip in the pot when we eat a smörgåsbord, which is slices of rye bread which are immersed in hot bouillon and then enjoyed together with ham, pork, sausage or butter. Often after the buffet-style comes the Santa Claus with gifts. After the Santa Claus it is time for the traditional Christmas supper-lutfisk and creamed rice.
On Easter Eve we Swedes eat a small smörgåsbord and boiled eggs are seldom missing. The smörgåsbord consists of ham, different herring, fresh salmon, eggs and a lot of different things. At midsummer we eat sometimes a small smörgåsbord, but mostly we eat boiled new potatoes, herring and a fresh green salad. And as a dessert we eat strawberries with whipped cream.

Why don't you try a Swedish-recipe!?

Janssons Frestelse (Jansson's Temptation)
6 to 8 potatoes
2 onions
2 to 3 tablespoons margarine or butter
1 to 2 cans anchovy fillets
2½ to 3 dl (1¼ to 1½ cups) light cream
Peel the potatoes, cut in thin sticks. Slice the onions. Sauté the onion lightly in some of the margarine or butter. Drain the anchovies and cut in pieces. Put the potatoes, onion and anchovies in layers in buttered baking dish. The first and last layer should be potatoes. Dot with margarine or butter on top. Pour in a little of the liquid from the anchovies and half of the cream. Bake in a 200 °C oven for about 20 minutes. Pour in the remaining cream and bake for another 30 minutes or till the potatoes are tender. Serve as a first course or supper dish.

Kalops (Swedish Beef Stew)
1 kg beef with bones or 600 g boneless beef: rib, rump brisket or bottom round.
3 tablespoons margarines or butter
3 tablespoons flour
1½ teaspoons salt
2 onions, sliced
1 bay leaf
10 whole allspice
4-5 dl (1¾ to 2 cups) water
Cut the meat in large cubes. Heat the margarine or butter in a heavy saucepan. When the foam subsides, add the meat and brown it well on all sides. Sprinkle with the floor and salt. Stir the meat. Add the onions, bay leaf, allspice and water. Cover and simmer till tender, 1½ to 2 hours. Serve with boiled potatoes, pickled beets and tossed salad.

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