The one stample of Swedish cuisine does, in fact, seem to be the meatballs and lingonberry sauce. The lingonberry is plentiful in Sweden. IHOP’s Swedish pancakes with lingonberry sauce is actually surprisingly authentic. The Swedish pancakes (crepes) are similar to the French crêpes. The traditional pancake in Sweden is served with whipped cream and jam, and that is how they were served at the House of Sweden (we had strawberry jam). They can also have savory fillings.

According to Wikipedia’s smörgåsbord:

The members of the Swedish merchant and upper class in fourteenth-century Sweden and Finland served schnapps table
(brännvinsbord), a small buffet presented on a side table offering a variety of hors d’oeuvres served prior to a meal before sitting at the dinner table. The most simple brännvinsbord was bread, butter, cheese, herring and several types of liqueurs, but smoked salmon, sausages and cold cuts were also served. The brännvinsbord was served as an appetizer for a gathering of people and eaten while standing before a dinner or supper, often two to five hours before dinner, sometimes with the men and women in separate rooms. The smörgåsbord became popular in the mid-seventeenth century, when the food moved from the side table to the main table and service began containing both warm and cold dishes. Smörgåsbord was also served as an appetizer in hotels and later at railway stations, before the dining cars time for the guests. Restaurants in Stockholm at the 1912 Olympic Games stopped serving smörgåsbord as an appetizer and started serving them instead as a main course.

We had the requisite open faced sandwich, which is so popular in Scandinavian cuisine, except the Swedish sandwich was topped with meatballs. We also had some hot dogs; unlike American hot dogs, these were thinner and much longer. They did not fit inside the bun and were served with mustard. These are called falukorv, and a large traditional Swedish sausage made of a grated mixture of pork and beef or veal with potato starch flour and mild spices:

The history of Falukorv reaches back to the Falun copper mine during the 16th and 17th centuries, where ox hide was used for ropes and some of the meat remaining after slaughter was used for sausages. The sausage was based on the Lyoner sausage; the recipe, in which the meat is smoked and salted, was probably brought to the region by Germans working in the mine.

The tradition of preparing the meat in this way was revitalised in the late 19th century by the butcher Anders Olsson, whose initiative led to the development of the modern Falukorv, which uses a mixture of pork and beef or veal. Falukorv has enjoyed high popularity since then.

The designation Falukorv received protection in Sweden in 1973. (Wikipedia – Falukorv)

The most interesting item we tried was the Princess Cake, also known as the Prinsesstårta. We bought a large slice of this cake, which is layers of white cake with whipped cream, jam and then a layer of marzipan that was sprinkled with powdered sugar. According to the Wikipedia Princess Cake entry: ”the original recipe first appeared in the 1930s ‘Prinsessornas Kokbok’ cookbook, which was published by Jenny Åkerström, a teacher of the daughters of Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland. The cake was originally called ‘Grön tårta’ (green cake), but was given the name ‘prinsesstårta’ or ‘princess cake’ because the princesses were said to have been especially fond of the cake.”

We also learned was that Swedish Fish really are Swedish. The candy was made by a Swedish candy company called Malaco. They decided to start exporting to the North American market in the 1960s and 1970s and created Swedish Fish and Swedish Berries. The original color was red with a unique flavor, perhaps lingonberry. However, in Sweden they are called “pastel fish” (pastellfiskar), are paler in color, and more translucent. The are less sweet and more fruit-flavored, and also come in a licorice and salty licorice flavor.

The 2011 Finnish Christmas Bazaar was today at the Unitarian Church on River Road in Bethesda, Maryland. We were surprised to find the place completely packed, and encountered a lot of Finnish-speaking people. We didn’t know there was such a large Finnish community in the area. There were lots of Christmas items to buy and a small cafeteria serving Finnish food, which was mostly open-faced sandwiches, breads, and pastries.

There were several open sandwiches we tried, including a sandwich with lox, a sandwich with salami, and a sandwich with herring. When we looked up Open Sandwiches on Wikipedia, we saw that Finland was mentioned as a one of the countries that favors these, along with all of Scandinavia:

The Scandinavian open sandwich (Danish: smørrebrød, Norwegian: smørbrød, Swedish: smörgås) consists of one piece of buttered bread, often whole-grain rye bread (Danish: rugbrød, Swedish: rågbröd), topped with, for instance, cold steak, shrimps, smoked salmon, caviar, hard boiled eggs, bacon, herring, fish fillets, liver pâté (Danish: leverpostej, Norwegian: leverpostei Swedish: leverpastej), and/or small meatballs. This is typically complemented by some herbs and vegetables such as parsley, cold salad, thinly sliced cucumber, tomato wedges and/or pickled beets etc. on the same slice of bread. A condiment, such as mayonnaise, or mayonnaise-based dressing is also often included in some form. An old traditional replacement for butter on a piece of bread with herring is pig fat. There are many variations associated with the smørrebrød/smørbrød/smörgås and there are even special stores, cafés and restaurants (especially in Denmark) that specialize in them. In Finland the sandwich is called voileipä which also means “butter bread” and the Finnish rye bread is ruisleipä.

We enjoyed the liberal use of butter on the sandwiches. We also smelled like herring for most of the afternoon after eating the sandwiches. The sandwiches were presented in a pretty way, so we liked that.

The most interesting item we tried was the Karelian pasties, which is a pretty dish consisting of potato encased in a rye shell topped with egg. We thought it was unusual and yummy. Wikipedia describes it as:

The oldest traditional pasties usually had a rye crust, but the North Karelian and Ladoga Karelian variants also had wheat alongside of rye to improve the baking characteristics of the available rye breads. The common fillings of this era were barley and talkkuna. The 19th century first introducedpotatoand buckwheat as new fillings, and later due to trade, also rice and millet.

Nowadays in the most familiar and common recipe the pasties are made from a thin rye crust with a filling of rice. Butter, often mixed with boiled egg (egg butter or munavoi), is spread over the hot pasties before eating.

In addition, we sampled some glögi, which is Finnish mulled wine. It was delicious and served wit slivered almonds and raisins. For dessert we had joulutortut, which is a star-shaped Finnish pastry filled with prune preserves. There is a recipe for it online.

Þorrablót is an Icelandic midwinter festival that takes place in the month of Þorri, according to the Old Icelandic Calendar, which starts in late January and ends in late February. These festivals were started by Icelandic student associations in the latter half of the 19th century. The first one was reportedly organised by the association of Icelandic students in Copenhagen in 1873. Related to other nationalistic feasts invented in the 18th and 19th centuries, such as Burns night in Scotland, the Þorrablótis an evening with dinner where participants hold speeches and recite poems, originally to honour the Norse god Thor, after whom the month is presumed to be named. Calling the feast a blót (a feast held in honor of a god in Norse paganism) makes clear the reference to pagan times, which many nationalists of the 19th century considered a golden age of Icelandic history.

Additionally, Þorrablót is a relatively recent event, gaining popularity in Iceland during the 50′s and 60′s during Iceland’s post-WWII urban boom. Isholf.is has a lot of information about the festival from an insider’s view, including complaints about non-traditional food permeating the festival (like Þorri pizza). The variety of food served on this occasion is known as Þorramatur. Þorramatur foods include traditionally cured meats, fishes, brennivín (an Icelandic akvavit),  rúgbrauð (dense and dark rye bread), as well as the following:

• Kæstur hákarl, putrefied Greenland shark
• Súrsaðir hrútspungar, the testicles of rams pressed in blocks, boiled and cured in lactic acid.
• Svið, singed and boiled sheep heads, sometimes cured in lactic acid
• Sviðasulta, head cheese or brawn made from svið, sometimes cured in lactic acid
• Lifrarpylsa (liver sausage), a pudding made from liver and suet of sheep kneaded with rye flour and oats
• Blóðmör(blood-suet; also known as slátur, meaning slaughter), a type of blood pudding, which is made from lamb’s blood and suet, kneaded with rye flour and oats
• Harðfiskur, wind-dried fish (often cod, haddock or seawolf), served with butter. [We read on isholf.is that "In old times Harðfiskurwas eaten like bread in those homes that could only afford flour for baking on special occasions. It is still Iceland's favourite snack, and a popular travel food. (Chances are, if you meet an Icelander and he has a funny smell about him, it will be because of the harðfiskur tucked away in his luggage.)"]
• Rúgbrauð (rye bread), traditional Icelandic rye bread
• Hangikjöt, (hung meat), smoked and boiled lamb or mutton, sometimes also eaten raw.
• Lundabaggi, sheep’s loins wrapped in the meat from the sides, pressed and cured in lactic acid
• Selshreifar, seal’s flippers cured in lactic acid

According to Wikipedia,

Þorramatur has undergone many changes since the 1950s. The large midwinter festivals of associations in Reykjavík have been supplemented by many smaller ones and nowadays even informal family gatherings can be called Þorrablót, which has become defined by the serving of Þorramatur, i.e. the consumption of Þorramatur is the necessary and sufficient condition for any kind of party to be called “Þorrablót“. Originally, this led to the standardisation of the buffet around a few foods mass-produced by large meat-production houses for the Þorrablót season, whereas before it often had to be locally procured. Not least, Þorrablót festivals have become one of the high points of the year in the rural countryside and villages around Iceland in the last three decades. Being thus exported from the city to the countryside the buffet has come to reflect again regional culture and traditions.

Þorramatur has also changed to reflect changing tastes. The traditional method of storing meat by submerging it in fermented whey, which gives the food a characteristic sour taste, is unfamiliar to most generations of Icelanders living today and therefore a Þorramatur buffet usually has a choice between sour and unsourpieces of the same food, served on separate trays as the acid readily contaminates food it comes in contact with. Some of the food, for example the rams’ testicles, has to be cured by the acid before serving though. A number of foods have been added to the buffet that have never gone out of fashion in Icelandic cuisine, such as smoked lamb, fermented sharkand dried fish, which are still commonly consumed in all seasons. Þorramatur also may include some novelties, traditional food that was strictly regional and even rare as such, and unfamiliar even to the older generation. Examples include seals‘ flippers, known only from the Breiðafjörðurarea, which is sometimes, albeit rarely, served as part of Þorramatur.

We, of course, had a hard time securing many of the foods listed above, so we had to come up with our own variations. The Icelandic Embassy suggested we go to Whole Foods and Wegmens. Wegmens sells Arctic Char, an indigenous fresh water Icelandic fish. The Artic Char is similar to trout and salmon, but is blander. Whole Foods has quite a few Icelandic products, although it is hard to tell what since no one working at the Clarendon location had any idea about what was available in the store, although according to the Icelandic Review, Whole Foods is actively adding more Icelandic products to their store. We were able to find Skyr (Icelandic yogurt) and Sirius chocolate at the Clarendon location. From these few items, recipes provided by the Icelandic Embassy, insider Icelandic tourist knowledge, and Google we were able to plan our approximation of Þorrablót (buffet-style, of course).

Overall Icelandic cuisine focuses on fish and meat. It is virtually impossible to be vegan and live in Iceland, unless you rely on imported goods. Fermentation, drying, and smoking are important parts of food preparation methods. Sheep are important to Icelandic culture, as is dairy, whey, and lamb. In fact, sheep are the most common domesticated animal in Iceland. Grains and cereals were historically luxury items. The most common type of bread is rúgbrauð, similar to pumpernickle although wetter. Wikipedia notes that “Popular garden vegetables at first included hardy varieties of cabbage, turnip, rutabaga and potato. These entered Icelandic cuisine as boiled accompaniments to meats and fish, sometimes mashed with butter.” Game is also popular in Iceland, although declining numbers have limited their consumption, including puffin, cormorant, seal, minke whale.

In Þorramatur tradition, we tried to purchase an approximation of the food suggested, and bought pickled herring (always a Scandinavian favorite), rye bread, butter, and smoked salmon. Traditionally, the sliced meat and fish is served on rye bread with butter. We found that the butter gave it a rich taste and helped cut the acidity of the pickled herring. Haddock, plaice, herring, shrimp, and halibut are probably the most common types of fish in Iceland.

To round out the meal, we also incorporated other Icelandic cuisine like hot dogs, cake, Skyr, porridge, etc. Hot dogs are popular in Iceland, although their hot dogs have a higher fat content and contain lamb, pork, and beef (“Icelandic Cooking“). The Icelandic style hot dog is served on the standard white bun, but includes the following condiments: remoulade, ketchup, pylsusinnep (Icelandic hot dog mustard), chopped raw onions and fried onions. This topping selection is known as “the works,” i.e., all condiments, or in Icelandic, “eina með öllu.” We approximated these ingredients slightly. Since pylsusinnep is unavailable, we used a generic sweet mustard. Based on a recipe from Icelandic Cooking, we mixed our own remoulade using mayonnaise, capers, sweet mustard, and sweet relish. At their recommendation, we also used French’s French Fried Onions. Overall, the hot dog was crispy, rich, savory, sweet, and liked by all. We decided to leave out the other extras Icelandic Cooking suggested, like kokkteilsósa (cocktail sauce containing mayonnaise and ketchup) and pickled red cabbage.

We also purchased Skyr and made a popular Icelandic breakfast food: Skyr, porridge, and preserves. Skyr is sold at Whole Foods in a variety of flavors alongside the yogurt, although it is technically a soft cheese. Supposedly Skyr was originally Norwegian, but brought to Iceland by the Vikings. It is made with skim milk, so it is a low fat/calorie food. Wikipedia noted that

Skyr may be used in a traditional Icelandic dish called hræringur(meaning “stirred” or “made by stirring”) which consists of roughly equal amounts of Skyr and porridge. It is often mixed with jam or fruit for a dessert, or with cereals for breakfast. Children often like sugar sprinkled on top. It will keep without refrigeration, making it a good high-protein food to take on a trip.

We created this dish and found that the combination was pretty good. The Skyr made the porridge a lot creamier and the preserves kept it from being bland and made it sweeter. We found a recipe for Skyr, as well.

Finally, we rounded things out with some Icelandic desserts, including Nói Siríus Chocolate, randalín (an Icelandic layer cake), and some Icelandic candies brought by a friend from Iceland. We found the chocolate and candy to be pretty typical. The chocolate tasted similar to a Cadbury sort of chocolate, meaning bland, milky, and sweet. However, Nói Siríus’ website states that their chocolate contains less milk and sugar compared to other types of chocolate. We followed a recipe for randalín from the Icelandic Embassy’s website, but can no longer find the recipe (it looks like they have recently redone their website). According to Wikipedia:

A variety of layer cake called randalín, randabrauð or simply lagkaka has been popular in Iceland since the 19th century. These come in many varieties that all have in common five layers of half-inch thick cake alternated with layers of fruit preserve, jam or icing. One version called vínarterta, popular in the late 1800s, with layers of prunes, became a part of the culinary tradition of Icelandic immigrants in the U.S. and Canada.

We couldn’t exactly figure out what it was supposed to look like based on the website so we had to approximate on this cake. The finished result was much similar to shortbread than cake. It was dense, buttery, and crumbly. The cake wasn’t very sweet, but was very buttery. The jam helped add sweetness.

We’d hoped to find some brennivín, Iceland’s aquavit, but weren’t able to find any. According to Isholf.is, ”Brennivín“is a national drink, a nasty schnapps made from potatoes and flavoured with caraway. It is also called ‘Black Death,’ which explains a lot. Many Icelanders never touch it, and a majority of the ones who drink it only do so when feeling patriotic, such as when attending Þorrablót or when trying to impress foreign visitors.” Wikipedia corroborates this, stating that most people rarely drink it and notes that brennivín translates to “burning wine.”

RECIPES:

Remoulade Sauce
(from Icelandic Cooking, Recipes and Food)

1 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp. drained, finely chopped cucumber pickle
1 tbsp. drained, chopped capers
2 tsp. French mustard
1 tsp. finely chopped parsley
1/2 tsp. fresh tarragon
1/2 tsp. chervil
1/2 tsp. anchovy paste

Combine the ingredients, mixing well and refrigerate. Serve with cold meat, poultry, fish or hot dogs.

Randalín
(Our recipe was from the Icelandic Embassy’s website. This one is from Jo’s Icelandic Recipes.)

500 grams  flour
250 g  sugar
250 g  margarine/butter, soft
2 ea.  eggs
1 1/2 tsp.  baker’s ammonia (ammonium carbonate)  pinch  baking powder
essence of cardamom/pinch of ground cardamom

Mix together all dry ingredients. Add the margarine/butter, kneading until well mixed. Cool in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours. Roll out into a thickness of approx. 1 to 1 1/2 cm. You can divide the dough now or after baking, into as many parts as you want layers (3-5 is the usual). Try to keep each portion the same shape, size and thickness as the others. Bake in the centre of the oven at 200°C, until golden in colour and done through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. When the cake is almost cold, spread rhubarb jam or prune jam (see recipe below) on top of all layers except one and sandwich the layers together.

More Icelandic Recipes:
-Jo’s Icelandic Recipes: Lots of recipes and information about Icelandic culture, etc.
-The Icelandic Embassy: Now they only have a few recipes, but they may add more.
-Samkoma: A few different recipes, but some broken links.

TOTAL: ~$50 (we had some ingredients on hand)