June 2, 2007
Posted by Victoria on 02 Jun 2007 at 02:54 pm | Tagged as: Uncategorized
The day I created my site with the help of Yas. He is amazing…… really….so here I am trying to put the site together and understand the workings of the blog world…..You will hear from me again soon….
Swedish cuisine tends to be hearty, practical and sustaining. Only recently have Swedish restaurateurs attempted to update it with a more modern gourmet approach. The cuisine differs rather a lot regionally, but could be considered traditionally simple in general. In the south the supply of fresh vegetables is better. In Sweden many local, traditional meals are eaten, in the north some with their roots in the Sami people, some not, including reindeer, and other gameSwedes usually have three main meals per day, but there are at least two traditions followed:
The older tradition, still common among blue collar workers, consists of breakfast in the early morning (frukost), a light lunch before noon (lunch), and a heavy dinner (middag) at around five.
Since the early sixties, most 9 to 5 workers eat breakfast when they wake up, a substantial lunch around noon, and a lighter dinner around six in the evening.
It is also common to have a snack, often a sandwich or fruit, in between meals (mellanmål). In most schools including high school, a free hot meal is served at lunch as part of Sweden’s welfare state. Most Swedes also have coffee after lunch, and a coffee break in the afternoon, often together with a biscuit or similar.
Breakfast usually consists of open sandwiches, possibly crisp bread (knäckebröd). The sandwich is most often buttered, with toppings such as hard cheese, cold cuts, caviar, or messmör. Swedes usually do not have sweets on their breads such as jam (like the French and the Americans), or chocolate (like the Danes). However, orange marmalade on white bread is common, usually with morning coffee or tea.
Many traditional kinds of Swedish bread, such as sirapslimpa (less fashionable today, but still very popular) are somewhat sweetened in themselves, baked with small amounts of syrup. Like in many other European countries, there are also lots of non-sweetened breads, often made with sourdough (surdeg). Swedish breads may be made from wholegrain, fine grain, or anything in between, and there are white, brown, and really dark (like in Finland) varieties which are all common.
Filmjölk (fermented milk), or sometimes yogurt, is also traditional breakfast food, usually served in a bowl with cereals such as corn flakes, muesli, or knäckebröd, and sometimes with sugar, fruit, and/or jam.
A third food that is commonly eaten at breakfast is porridge (gröt), often made of rolled oats or rice, and eaten with milk and jam or cinnamon with sugar.
Common drinks for breakfast are milk, juice, tea, or coffee. Swedes are among the most avid milk and coffee drinkers in the world.
In August, Swedes traditionally eat boiled crayfish at feasts known as kräftskivor.
The most highly regarded mushroom is the chanterelle. It is considered a real treat. The chanterelle is usually served together with a piece of meat, or just fried with a sauce and some onions and put on a sandwich. Second to the chanterelle, and considered almost as delicious, is the porcini mushroom, or Karl-Johansvamp named after Charles XIV John (Karl XIV Johan) who introduced its use as food.
The internationally most renowned Swedish meal is the meatballs, or köttbullar.
Typical smörgås (an open sandwich) with hard-boiled eggs and cod roe caviar from a tube.
Typical smörgås (an open sandwich) with hard-boiled eggs and cod roe caviar from a tube.
Traditionally, Thursday has been soup day because the maids had half the day off and it was easy to prepare. One of the most traditional Swedish soups is the pea soup, or ärtsoppa. It dates back to the old tradition of peas being associated with Thor. This is simple meal, basically consisting of yellow peas, a little onion and often pieces of pork. It is often served with a tad of mustard and followed by thin pancakes (see Pannkakor). The Swedish Army still serve ther conscripts pea soup and pancakes every Thursday.
Potatoes are the main complement to most dishes. Only in the last 50 years have other complements such as rice and spaghetti become standard on the dinner table. There are several different kinds of potatoes: the most appreciated is the new potato, which ripens in early summer, and is enjoyed at the feast called Midsummer. Other sorts of potatoes are eaten all year around.
Other typical Swedish dishes:
* Ärtsoppa - Pea soup
* Blodpudding — Black pudding
* Falukorv — Sausage originating from Falun. The lifts and pumps at the Kopparberg copper mine in Falun were, before the introduction of steam engines, powered by oxen. When these oxen died from strain or old age, the skin was turned into leather ropes used in the mine, and the meat was turned into sausage - Falukorv.
* Gravad lax — Salmon, salted, and cured
* Isterband — Sausage made of coarsely ground pork, barley and potatoes
* Janssons frestelse — Grated potatoes, onion, anchovy and cream - the anchovy here is not the genuine anchovy but a quite different species and is also spiced. [1]
* Julbord — Christmas smorgasbord
* Julskinka — Christmas ham
* Kaviar — Swedish caviar comes in tubes and is typically made from cod roe.
* Kåldolmar — Cabbage rolls
* Köttbullar — Swedish meatballs
* Köttsoppa — A rustic beef and root vegetable soup
* Kroppkakor — Boiled potato-dumplings, filled with pork
* Lutfisk — Stockfish
* Palt — Potato-dumplings with a filling of pork
* Inlagd sill — Pickled herring
* Pölsa — Hash
* Raggmunk — Potato pancakes
* Stekt fläsk och bruna bönor — Pork and brown beans
* Pyttipanna — Chopped and fried meat, onions, and pre-boiled potatoes.
* Smörgåsbord — Smorgasbord
* Smörgåstårta — Sandwich cake
* Surströmming — Fermented Baltic herring - a rather different tasting species of herring - it has about 10% fat whereas Atlantic herring is 16% - this may occur because of the Baltic having half the salt concentration of usual seas.
* Waffles — Often served with jam with ice cream or whipped cream. Waffles also have their own day on March 25.
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