Swedish Christmas Dinner
Here is a list of absolutes for the Christmas table or julbord. Many add other things to the table, but these are said to be essential (although we believe you should add or subtract according to your taste).
Please note, you can also share your experiences about Swedish Christmas dinner, or ask questions about the holiday season in this country, at the bottom of the page, as comments (”kommentera”).
TABLE DECORATIONS:
Baked Pig’s Head-garnished with icing sugar mixture in a criss-cross pattern and an apple in its mouth.
FOOD:
Meatballs
Pickled Sill
(Herring)
Glass Cutter’s Herring
Pig’s Foot-in gelé
Pork Paté
-served with pickled beet roots
Liver Paté
-served with pickled gherkins
Spare Ribs-served with apple sauce
Smoked reindeer
Ham -garnished with green cabbage and garnished with icing sugar mixture in a crisscross pattern with one clove in each square. Served with mustard.
Boiled potatoes (peeled)-a tip from Mormor and her helper: After the potatoes are fully cooked, drain the water and leave them in the pan with a paper towel or two covering them and the lid on top. The towels will absorb the steam and the potatoes will not fall apart.
Cheese-Edam from Holland, a hard cheese with a red plastic wrapping. You can add several more cheeses, having a mixture of soft and hard, strong and mild.
Lutfisk
-served with white sauce and boiled peas
Sillsallad-served with whipped cream
Baked Omelet-with chanterelle mushrooms or spinach
Dopp i Grytan , vört (wort) bread and knäckebröd (also known as crisp or hard bread)
At the end of the meal, you serve rice pudding with sugar, cinnamon and milk. Hide one blanched almond in the pudding and the person who gets the almonds will marry the following year. A Småland tradition is to also hid one brown bean. The person who gets the bean will never marry.
DRINKS:
Glögg (Hot Mulled Wine)
Mumma-can be made with or without alchohol
Dark Christmas Ale
Snaps-to drink with the sill
Julmust-a special ‘soda’ in the shops at Christmas-time. It is pure happiness for any child who gets a bottle for him or herself.
SWEET TABLE
Christmas Eve, the 24th of December, is when Swedes exchange gifts and enjoy the main Christmas meal. You nibble from the sweet table while handing out presents or singing Christmas carols.
Christmas Butterscotch (Knäck)
Ginger Bread
Saffron Bread
Ice Chocolate
Cream Candy
Nuts in their shell-walnuts are a must
Fresh fruit
Large raisins-in a special paper box.
Figs
Dates
Recipes from Judi Milar and Juan Navas. Many thanks as well to Irene Lembke and Ebba Johansson, also known as mormor, for the wonderful recipes and many hours of consultation.
