1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (94 page)

Strange though it may seem to outsiders, reindeer is a meat much loved in all the Nordic zones, and most especially in Lapland, where some of the best specimens are farm-raised. Because reindeer nibble away on lichens, wild plants
and grasses in summer, their meat is mild, sweet, and lean—and growing in popularity. In Norway, Sweden, and Finland, reindeer meat is smoked, dried, eaten fresh, or even frozen, so it can be sliced paper-thin and seared quickly on a hot pan. In thicker cuts, it can also be grilled as steak, or marinated and roasted or braised with a larding of bacon and a Madeira-accented sauce.

Also popular are innards such as liver and bone marrow, which are seasoned with sage and rolled into the thin, grilled Norwegian-style crêpes called
lefse
or
tonnbrödsrulle.
But the real prize is smoked reindeer tongue—subtle, supple, and delicately meaty, delicious garnished with soft scrambled eggs.

Where:
In Helsinki
, Restaurant Torni, tel 358/9-4336-6320,
ravintolatorni.fi/en
.
Mail order:
americanpridefoods.com
(search reindeer meat).
Further information and recipes:
Finnish Cookbook
by Beatrice Ojakangas (1964);
food.com
(search roast reindeer).

A St. Lucia’s Day celebration.

Lucky is the visitor who awakes on December 13 in almost any Swedish home or halfway-decent hotel. For even the grumpiest sleepyheads will be greeted at dawn by a fair maiden (the youngest available) wearing a long white robe and a crown of burning candles on her head to light the winter-dark morning. She will be serving softly pudgy yeast rolls, golden with saffron, studded with raisins, and sparkling with coarse sugar crystals. Along with the rolls will be cups of good, strong Swedish coffee laced with hot milk.

That wake-up ceremony on St. Lucia’s Day commemorates the fourth-century Sicilian girl who gave her dowry to impoverished Christians—thus angering her fiancé, who denounced her as a Christian and caused her to be burned as a martyr. A modern reminder of her largesse, these fragrant buns are made in exquisite baroque shapes that vary from one part of Sweden to another.

Each form has a name of its own. Those shaped like cats’ whiskers are called
lussekatter
; a triple coil of curled “hair” suggesting an English judge’s wig is a
prästens hår
; a twist much like a bent horseshoe is
pojke
; a simple S-curve with two raisins in the coils is a
Julgalt
; and a double-S with four raisins is
gullvagn
. A crown-shaped bun is a
Luciakrona
; a whole swirl of a round cake that breaks into seven buns is a
Julkaka
; a sort of bone-shaped bun is a
Julkus
; and a simple long braid is just simply
Julbrod.

Whatever the shape, the dough is the same: butter, egg, rich milk or half-and-half, yeast, and sugar, with decorations of currants, raisins, crystal sugar, and ground blanched almonds.

Where:
In New York
, at Christmas, Aquavit, tel 212-307-7311,
aquavit.org
;
in Glendale, CA
, at Christmas, Berolina Bakery, tel 818-249-6506,
berolinabakery.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Scandinavian Baking
by Trine Hahnemann (2014);
Recipes of Sweden
by Inga Norberg (2010);
saveur.com
(search saffron buns).

A spin on doughnuts that’s positively aristocratic semlor.

The lead-up to Lenten observances is marked by various doughnuts and crullers, the English-inspired hot cross buns being an obvious example. But by far the most lushly luxurious are these light, airy, and creamy Swedish buns known as (or
fastelavnsboller
in Denmark and Norway,
laskaiaspulla
in Finland). The treats begin to appear in bakeries, coffee shops, and restaurants in Scandinavian communities on Shrove Tuesday, or Fastelavn, the day before Lent begins, and then continue to ameliorate any notion of deprivation throughout the Lenten season.

Though many Lenten crullers are deep-fried—the German
Berliner pfannkuchen
(see
listing
), or jelly doughnuts, come to mind—the delicate Swedish clouds are baked to sunny, puffed-up splendor. Once high and golden, the buns are filled with rich, velvety almond paste and a good dollop of whipped cream before being sprinkled with crystals of coarse sugar. For good measure, just before they are served, the buns are set adrift in a wide bowl on a sea of warm milk flavored with cinnamon or vanilla.

As sweet-scented milk seeps into the spongy buns, it melds with the almond paste and whipped cream to form a delightfully saucy filling, for an unctuous indulgence that seems more reward than penance. With luck, the Shrove Tuesday bun will be accompanied by a cup of good, strong coffee that just may be Europe’s best: Sweden is said to pay the world’s highest price for the highest quality beans,.

Where:
In Glendale, CA
, Berolina Bakery, tel 818-249-6506,
berolinabakery.com
;
in Santa Barbara, CA
, Andersen’s Danish Restaurant and Bakery, tel 805-962-5085,
andersenssantabarbara.com
.
Further information and recipes:
The Great Scandinavian Baking Book
by Beatrice Ojakangas (1999);
Scandinavian Baking
by Trine Hahnemann (2014);
saveur.com
(search semlor).
See also:
Koeksisters
;
Sufganiyot
.

A smörgåsbord experience is not complete without at least four visits to the buffet.

In the 1950s and 1960s,
smörgåsbords
were attractions at Scandinavian restaurants in many large cities across the U.S., but the appeal of this exuberant meal has waned. (Thus does fickle fashion deprive us of many pleasures.) At the peak of its popularity, the term—which is actually a combination of the Swedish words for “open-faced sandwich” (
smörgås
) and “table” (
bord
)—was applied to any eat-all-you-want, self-service buffet meal, whether it featured Italian or Jewish food or included a pan-global mix.

Although very few authentic smörgåsbords exist in the States today, the eye-pleasing and palate-enticing groaning board remains popular in Nordic lands, especially Sweden, where it has been beloved since the eighteenth century. The most lavish and authentic example appears at lunch at Operakällaren, the elegant traditional restaurant in Stockholm’s opera house.

To get an idea of just how spectacular a smörgåsbords table can be, watch Ingmar Bergman’s epic film
Fanny and Alexander
, and feast your eyes on the Christmas buffet those two children enjoy. It’s hard to believe that any display of food has ever been as colorful, lavish, or complex.

Rules of etiquette dictate a minimum of four visits to the buffet, though it is doubtful that a guest was ever ejected for making fewer or more rounds. For the first foray, one chooses from cool, silvery herring, roseate smoked or dill-cured salmon, coral shellfish, and cold poached fish. Alongside those you might add a few cold vegetable sides such as cucumber salad, and sauces such as the green-gold dilled mustard or sour cream blushed with beet juice.

Next protocol dictates cold meats such as plump, pink pork sausages, liver pâtés, or tender hams, adding dabs of golden mustard and a warm side dish or two. A few of the milder
cheeses, such as those flecked with caraway seeds, go especially well with meats. The third round focuses on hot dishes that might include the delectable little Swedish meatballs,
köttbullar
(see
listing
), along with some
bruna bönor
, the tiny, brown beans baked with pork and molasses (see
listing
). Also offered will be various hashes, vegetable dishes, and relishes, none more beloved than pickled beets, ruby-red stewed cabbage, and sparkling preserved lingonberries. One of the most prized offerings is Jansson’s temptation,
Janssons frestelse
, or a layered composition of sliced potatoes baked with anchovies, cream, and onion under a crunchy crust of bread crumbs.

For the last visit to the table, choose stronger cheeses streaked with blue mold or aged to nose-twitching aromas. Accompanied by a few ice-cold raw vegetables—radishes, celery, scallions, or cucumber—and jewel-like fruit salad, they are all the dessert needed.

Throughout, diners must be prepared for constant temptation by cream-rich Scandinavian butters and grainy breads and crispbreads and an array of variously flavored aquavits. Several tours around the bread-and-butter table are highly recommended.

Where:
In Stockholm
, Veranda Restaurant in the Grand Hotel, tel 46/8-679-3586,
grandhotel.se/en
; for lunch, Operakällaren, tel 46/8-676-5800,
eng.operakallaren.se
;
in Ronks, PA
, Miller’s Smorgasbord Restaurant, tel 800-669-3568,
millerssmorgasbord.com
;
in Minneapolis
, on select Sundays at the American Swedish Institute, tel 612-871-4907,
asimn.org
.
Mail order:
For a DVD of
Fanny and Alexander
written and directed by Ingmar Bergman (1982), barnesandnoble.com.
Further information and recipes:
The Scandinavian Kitchen
by Camilla Plum (2011);
The Smorgasbord Cookbook
by Anna Olsson Coombs (1949);
saveur.com
(search smorgasbord).