Sweden’s
great contribution to international eating is the
smorgasbord, literally a “bread-and-butter table” but
actually a sumptuous feast of three courses. The first
course is herring—filleted, pickled, baked, jellied,
stewed, or prepared in many other different ways. Cold
meats constitute the second course, whereas the third
course is made up of Swedish meatballs and other hot
dishes.
Fish
is a mainstay of the Scandinavian diet. It is prepared in
many different ways; a favourite appetizer is gravlax,
salmon marinated in salt and dill and accompanied by a
mustard sauce. Swedish pancakes are popular and are served
with lingonberries or fruit preserves.
Danish
open sandwiches, called smørrebrød, became
popular all over the world. Among the many fine dishes in
these northern European countries are nyponsoppe (a
Swedish soup prepared with rose hips, almonds, and whipped
cream), vorshmack (ground meat, herring, and onion
cooked Finnish style), “Jansson’s Temptation” (a
Swedish potato and anchovy casserole), frikadeller
(a Danish mixed ground meat hamburger, sautéed in
butter), kalakukko (a Finnish bird-shaped pie
stuffed with fish), sandkage (Danish sand cake),
and krumkage (a Norwegian Christmas cookie).
Aquavit is the favourite grain or potato spirit of many in
Scandinavia.
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