Dissecting the delights of the Swedish Christmas smorgasbord

www.thelocal.com ^ | 12/20/2010 | www.thelocal.com

[Charles Henrickson]

Ping to the Swedish Ping List.

[muawiyah]

Locally the IKEA Julbord was $9.95 per person. We had a ball. Salmon 5 different ways, plus several other kinds of seafood. There was pate, ham, etc. They don't sell pigsfeet so no pigsfeet but I sure know what they are.

BTW, the WashDCMetropolitan area is remarkably devoid of anything like a smorgasbord, so IKEA is as close as it comes.

[Tucker39]

My spelling may not be precise, but what about lutefisk?

[elcid1970]

IIRC, lutefisk is a Norwegian comestible.

I lived in Green bay, WI many decades ago. The term “smorgasbord”, with & without umlauts, described the menu of almost any buffet-style restaurant or dining room in the local area.

It was the last time I ordered and enjoyed frog legs (delicious, as I recall).

[Charles Henrickson]

On our julbord this year we will be having, among other things, inlagd sill (pickled herring) and skinka (ham). And we will be having glögg, a warm, mulled wine drink with fruit that is delicious!

My grandparents came from Bohuslän in western Sweden. They both were born in the 1880s, so they practiced Swedish customs that may be considered old-fashioned by now. Every Christmas Eve, Grandma Henrickson made a dinner that included inlagd sill (pickled herring), köttbullar (meatballs), boiled potatis (potatoes), lingon (lingonberries), knäckebröd (rye crisp), ost (cheese), limpa (bread), and risgröt (rice pudding). And the adults drank glögg. But the main course of the meal was always lutfisk, that lyed, gelatinous whitefish you either love or hate! And I loved it!

Lutfisk: The piece of cod that passes all understanding.

[Charles Henrickson]

what about lutefisk?

See my post 6. We had it every Christmas Eve, but, as I say, my grandparents grew up in Sweden in the late 1800s, so that may be an older Swedish custom that is no longer practiced there as much.

[fieldmarshaldj]

[Charles Henrickson]

Lutefisk is the Norwegian spelling; lutfisk, the Swedish.

[21twelve]

My grandparents were all from Norway. Lutefisk was my grandmother’s favorite. Gravloks (buried salmon) was also on the menu. And every Christmas I would wrap up a jar of pickled pig’s feet, and another of pig’s knuckles for my grandpa.

I liked the fruit soup, the bread with the fruit in it and frosting (Julekake?), and the various pastries and cookies.

[thecodont]

There's a shop in my neighborhood (Nordic House, 2709 San Pablo Avenue [at Pardee], Berkeley, CA) which sells Scandinavian foods and gifts.

Of course, they have lutefisk.

http://nordichouse.com/detail.aspx?ID=103

[rmlew]

"lutefisk" is the Norwegian mispelling of the Swedish "lutfisk". I believe that they are actually the same dish. I tried to eat it once. Couldn't make myself swallow.

Then again, I've never had a Swedish Christmas. I'm Jewish so we had a normal dinner at my grandparents, the one time we were freezing in a Malmo winter. We just had meatballs made with beef and chicken, instead of pork and veal schnitzel searved with lingonberries, pickles, and potatoes.
(Sniffle. I miss my mormor and morfar.)

[Mmogamer]

Here’s the wikipedia page for Christmas Eve and various traditions. I love reading about how others celebrate,
especially the Poles.. they all just say *home, family and tradition” to me.

[WesternCulture]

“Locally the IKEA Julbord was $9.95 per person.”

- Sounds like a true bargain.

IKEA is actually the largest exporter of Swedish food products of all companies in Sweden. Just perhaps, they’ll one day quit selling furniture and bring Absolut, sausages like those of the days of Pippi Longstocking and lingonberry jam to the World!

Hopefully, no one wants to turn pagan, but this is how Vikings and other brutes celebrates “Christmas”:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPjeQbiOrbs (The Swedish royal family making sausages in a 1985 clip)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A6hr%C3%ADmnir

[muawiyah]

The local IKEA sells lots of lingonberries. I eat lots and lots of lingonberries and cannot tolerate the taste of their closest cousins, the North American cranberry.

Strange, eh!

I had some lingonberries for lunch along with Swedish pork meatballs.

[muawiyah]

Way back in the olden times before the x-ray people arrived and came to dominate all art the public school systems in Central Indiana regularly served reconstituted fish on Fridays.

We had no word for it beyond "fish", the Danish pigfarmers (a quite large part of the local population) made sure that everybody used ONLY ENGLISH.

I finally found out what it was one day at the Safeway when I noticed a bag of frozen lutefisk marked that it was packed in Minneapolis. It was the same stuff the school cafeterias always used.

[thecodont]

Here you go. :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Eve

Julaftonen (Christmas Eve), a watercolor
painted 1904–05 by Carl Larsson (1853–1919)

Traditional Polish Christmas Eve meal.

[Mmogamer]

LOL thanks.. I starting reading and forgot to linky.

[WesternCulture]

I’m Swedish and have worked as a cook in Sweden.

Although I’m proud of our culinary traditions, I’d never claim we could compete with a nation like Italy in this domain.

But, to any person out there who wishes to get the full use out of a can of lingonberry, this might be interesting enough:

http://scandinavianfood.about.com/od/pancakewafflerecipes/r/raggmunk.htm

http://www.food.com/recipe/swedish-kroppkakor-61420

With the right breed of potatoes (preferably a “soft”, yet tasty one) and a little of onion and pork mixed together with a traditional Swedish blend of flavors like allspice, clove and white pepper you could bring about marvels.

Lycka till/Good luck!

[WesternCulture]

Thanks for posting these images.

Have you ever vieved a real painting by Carl Larsson?

If not so and if you visit Gothenburg or Stockholm, make sure to do so.

By the way, a typical Nordic Christmas according to Ingemar Bergman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-DHMqICNkU