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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Sweden
Raw salmon fillet cured in a mixture of salt, sugar and dill, sliced very thin and served with hovmästarsås, a sweet mustard-and-dill sauce. The name means “buried salmon” and recalls the old method of preserving the fish under the ground.
Traditional dish from Sweden
Also known as: Gravad lax, gravadlax
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Gravlax — Sweden
Gravlax, or gravad lax, is raw salmon cured in salt, sugar and dill. The name comes from the Swedish verb grava, which the Swedish Academy’s dictionary links to the act of burying: historically, the fish was salted and buried in the ground to preserve it. The dictionary records the compound word in a text from 1752.
The folklorist Jan-Öjvind Swahn relates that in northern Sweden the rivers were rich in salmon in the Middle Ages, but it was difficult to sell the fish at the time it was caught. Fishermen placed the salmon with a little salt in shallow pits, preserving it until it could be transported to markets. Over time, the fish fermented slightly. That old method of preservation survives in another form in surströmming.
Modern gravlax is not fermented nor buried. The fillet, with skin on, is covered with a mixture of coarse salt, sugar, white pepper and a lot of chopped dill, often pressed, and left in the refrigerator for one or a few days. The salt and sugar draw out the fish’s water and give it a firm texture and a slightly sweet flavor. Afterwards, the salmon is sliced very thin, on the diagonal.
The classic accompaniment is hovmästarsås, also called gravlaxsås, a sauce of mustard, sugar, vinegar, oil and dill. Gravlax appears as a starter, on bread or with boiled potatoes, and is a staple at the year’s celebrations, from the Christmas smorgasbord, the julbord, to Easter and midsommar.
Sweden
Nationwide dish and part of festive tables, such as the Christmas julbord; the Swedish name gravad lax means “buried salmon.”
Salmon fillet with skin, coarse salt, sugar, white pepper and fresh dill; for the hovmästarsås: mustard, sugar, vinegar, oil and dill.
In thin slices, cold, with hovmästarsås, on bread or with boiled potatoes, as a starter or on a buffet.
Starter and buffet dish year-round; traditional presence on the julbord at Christmas, at Easter and midsommar.
Your questions
Buried salmon. The name recalls the old method of preserving salted fish under the ground.
No. The salmon is cured raw in a mixture of salt, sugar and dill for one or a few days, and served in thin slices.
With hovmästarsås, or gravlaxsås, a sweet mustard-and-dill sauce.
Flavors of Sweden
Sweet yeast bread flavored with cardamom, rolled with butter, sugar and cinnamon, and topped with pearl sugar. It is the pastry most associated with fika, the coffee break, and even has its own day in the Swedish calendar, Kanelbullens dag, on October 4.
Small meatballs made with ground meat, fried in butter and served with cream sauce, potatoes, lingonberry jam and pickled cucumber. They are Sweden’s best-known home dish, with the first printed recipe appearing in a 1755 cookbook.
Dome-shaped cake with layers of sponge cake, raspberry jam, vanilla cream, and lots of whipped cream, covered by a green marzipan sheet and decorated with a pink marzipan rose. The name recalls the three princess daughters of Prince Carl, pupils of Jenny Åkerström, the recipe’s author.
Wheat bread with cardamom, cut open at the top, filled with almond paste and whipped cream and topped with the cut-off lid dusted with sugar. It’s the sweet eaten on fettisdagen, the Fat Tuesday, and descends from the hetvägg, bread eaten soaked in warm milk.
Tall, hollow, lace-like cake made from eggs, sugar and potato starch, poured little by little onto a rotating spit in front of heat, layer by layer. Decorated with white or pink icing, it is a celebratory sweet from Skåne, and the name Skånsk spettkaka is protected by the European Union.
Cubes of beef tenderloin, potato and onion browned separately and served side by side, with a raw egg yolk in the center and mustard or mustard cream. Named after the Hotel Rydberg, which operated on Gustav Adolfs torg in Stockholm, where the dish is said to have originated.
Baked saffron rice pudding tart with eggs, cream and almonds, yellow in color, served warm or cold with salmbär jam and whipped cream. Despite the name “pancake,” it’s baked in a pan. It is the sweet most associated with the island of Gotland.
A white stick candy with red spiral stripes and peppermint flavor, pulled and twisted by hand. It originated in Gränna, on the shore of Lake Vättern, where the widow Amalia Eriksson obtained a license to make it in 1859, and the town remains the center of its production.
Baked dessert made from curdled milk using rennet, enriched with eggs, cream, sugar and almonds, with a moist, granular texture. Served warm with jam and whipped cream, it is the festival specialty most associated with the Småland region, with Swedish records dating back to the 16th century.
Large potato dough dumplings filled with bacon or pork and onion, cooked in water and served with melted butter and red bilberry jam. The Öland version, gray and made with raw potato, and the Småland version, lighter and made with cooked potato, are the best known.
Boiled dumpling made from raw grated potato and wheat or barley flour, filled with pork, served with butter and red bilberry jam. It’s an everyday food in northern Sweden, and the name comes from the town of Piteå, considered the Swedish center of palt.
Baltic herring, lightly salted and fermented, canned in summer; strong-smelling with a salty, acidic taste. It’s eaten on the thin flatbread tunnbröd with potato, red onion and sour cream, in a communal meal at the end of summer. The tradition links the dish to the Norrland coast and the island of Ulvön in the High Coast (Höga Kusten).
