Swedish

In the Venn diagram of chocolate bakes, this recipe falls squarely in the middle of where brownie, molten chocolate cake, and chocolate soufflé meet.

Turn your kitchen into a Swedish bakery with this oversized take on the classic cardamom bun known as kardemummabulle.

Hits of crème fraîche, lemon zest, and dill will guarantee you a rich and zingy shrimp toast. 

A warm ruby red mulled wine packed with enough cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger to make the whole house smell like the holidays.

It’s worth picking through the potatoes to find ones that are all about the same size for this Hasselback recipe. Click here for a step-by-step guide on how to prep them

Saltimporten sources only the freshest wild mushrooms available and uses them raw in this dish. If using less-than-pristine mushrooms, saute them quickly in a neutral-flavored oil, such as grapeseed or vegetable oil.

These Swedish meatballs, which are adapted from the ones served up at Smörgås Chef in NYC, get their distinctive flavor from nutmeg and allspice—and just a bit of sugar. Do like they do at the homey West Village restaurant and serve them alongside whipped potatoes and lingonberries. You can find lingonberry preserves, a Scandinavian favorite and classic accompaniment to meatballs, at IKEA or online.

With their slightly sweet flavor, light texture, and golden color, it's easy to see why these Swedish saffron buns have been enjoyed for hundreds of years.

There is nothing quite like this Scandinavian-style cake tower. For Christmas, the Kransekake is decorated to look like a Christmas tree.

Every café in Sweden has a version of kladdkaka, a luscious, under-baked chocolate cake.

One of the most famous cakes in Sweden, Prinsesstårta is known for its showstopping layers of sponge cake, pastry cream, and raspberry jam.

Lightly spiced and flavored with caraway seeds and crystals of sea salt, these yeast-bread muffins are satisfying without being heavy.

These Swedish morning buns, also known as Kardemummabullar, are traditionally paired with coffee and have an amazing floral and delicately peppery flavor.

Writer Peter Jon Lindberg's Swedish grandmother Alice Lindberg made these cookies each Christmas. The recipe makes about 9 dozen cookies, making it great for holiday parties and edible gifts.

What makes this version of rye different from the more popular German and deli ryes is the use of licorice-flavored aniseeds and fennel seeds, along with orange peel and a touch of cardamom. Nutritionists are now quantifying the therapeutic benefits of orange peel, licorice-flavored spices, and bitters as digestive aids that various traditional cultures have espoused for centuries. By making the bread with a combination of wild-yeast starter and commercial yeast, this formula creates an even more complexly flavored version of the bread than the more customary versions leavened only by commercial yeast. The lactic acid not only conditions the flour, predigesting it to an extent, but it also gives it a longer shelf life and better flavor. Think of this bread as a baked version of anisette.

Partially cooking the potato and chilling it before grating serves two purposes: the potato gets thoroughly cooked within the sausage mix, which it won’t if it is added raw, and the sausage doesn’t turn out soft and mushy, which it will if the potato is cooked and mashed first. I prefer to get a jump start on this dish by preparing the potato a day ahead and chilling it overnight. But if you’re in a rush, several hours will do the trick, in which case, use the freezer to hasten the chilling. Rather than the standard Swedish accompaniment of mashed potatoes, I serve the sausage with a side of colorful, almost candylike roasted beets topped with sour cream.

The intense orange color, meltingly tender texture, and wonderful flavor of gravlax give it an allure shared by few fish preparations—not bad for a dish whose name means “buried salmon” in Swedish. The curing process intensifies the color, tenderizes the texture, and enhances the flavor. Although most chefs jazz up gravlax with sauces and side dishes, it is brilliant on its own or with just a few drops of lemon or mild vinegar. And the rankest kitchen novice can make it at home. Be sure to check your salmon fillet for pinbones, the long bones that run down the center of the fillet; these are not always removed by routine filleting. Press your finger down the center of the flesh and you will feel them; remove them, one at a time, with needle-nose pliers or similar tool.

Traditionally served at Christmas parties in Sweden and elsewhere, this is powerful stuff, as you can see by its ingredients. Nevertheless, it goes down easily, so be careful. The wine and port should be decent but obviously need not be fantastic; most of their flavors will be overwhelmed.

Ginger may not be a spice you associate with Sweden, but it’s there (as is cardamom), and it makes its mark in this winter dish.When I was first served this, it was done in traditional, fancy style: a large roast of pork with a hole poked right through its center, stuffed with the dried fruit. It’s a glorious presentation and my first choice. But I have since been served it, and made it, in the simpler, stewed fashion of the variation, which is equally legit. I like this with Potato and Horseradish Gratin (page 482), but it’s good with most any potato dish.