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Swedish Food

© James Dixon

The flavours of Swedish food are set apart from other cuisines by its use of berries - blackberries, cloudberries (orange coloured sweet berries from the marshes of Lapland) and lingonberries (similar to cranberries) - dill, juniper, parsley, mustard, and a lot of sugar. In the north you will find reindeer, elk and venison on the menu, but salt water fish is more common on the Baltic coast and in the Gulf of Bothain.

Smörgåsbord, meaning "open sandwich," is the centrepiece of Swedish cuisine. During the eighteenth century it was served as a hors d'oeuvres, but it has gradually become a meal in itself. It can start with marinated herrings, salmon, eel (jellied, marinated, or smoked over hay - halmad), turkey, grouse, duck, pigeon or quail, stuffed with truffles or morels; and cold meats - smoked reindeer, elk and beef. Then hot dishes can be served such as meatballs, belly pork, poached pigs' trotters, ling, a dried fish which is rehydrated, then cooked and served with a mustard sauce, and Jansson's temptation, sliced herring, potatoes and onions baked in cream. Salads and pickles, bread and knackerbrod (crispbread) are served as accompaniments.

A typical Swedish meal may start with sill tallrik, marinated herrings, gravadlax, salmon cured in salt, sugar, crushed white peppercorns and dill and served with hovmästarås, a dill mustard sauce, kjälknöl, slow cooked venison steak marinated in water, salt, sugar and crushed juniper berries, sliced very finely, or Nässelsoppa, nettle soup; traditionally served with hard-boiled eggs.

This might be followed by köttbullar, meatballs, ren stek, fillet of reindeer (akin to beef but with virtually no fat), or laxpudding, layers of gravadlax, dill, onion and sliced potatoes baked in a peppery white sauce.

For desert you might be lucky enough to sample saffrans pannkaka, a thick pancake made with flaked rice and cream, flavoured with saffron, honey, almonds, raisins, cinnamon, cardamom and vanilla. Or perhaps Lingon kokta päron, pears poached in lingonberry preserve, red wine, cinnamon, and cloves.

The Swedish prefer to drink beer, and clear apple and pear ciders rather than wine with their food. Chilled schnapps is served with fatty food such as herrings, and aquavits are come ice-cold with starters. Vodkas are flavoured with blackberries, lemon, lime and coriander; and Swedish punsch (a mix of rum and arrack - a rum like liqueur) is served warm with pea and ham soup, or chilled as a digestive.

To find out more about Swedish food visit The Santesson Recipe Collection.

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