Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

THE LOCAL RECIPES

RECIPE

How to make Swedish smoked eel canapés

Throwing a summer party? Impress your guests with these tasty smoked eel (rökt ål) snacks. Food writer John Duxbury shares his top tips for making them with The Local.

Published: 24 July 2015 07:32 CEST

How to make Swedish smoked eel canapés

Smoked eel canapés. Photo: John Duxbury

Ingredients

1/2 a red onion

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 tsp granulated sugar

16 pieces of good quality knäckebröd (Swedish crispbread)

4 slices of flat smoked eel (giving a total length of about 15cm

Black pepper, freshly ground

3 tbsp half-fat crème fraîche

Herbs for garnish, such as marjoram, chives or parsley

Method

1. Put the finely chopped red onion in a small bowl. Add the vinegar and sugar and stir. Leave to marinate for about half an hour.

2. Break the knäckebröd into suitably sized pieces for canapés.

3. Cut the smoked eel into pieces (about 2.5cm x 1cm). Place one piece of eel on half of each piece of knäckebröd. Season lightly with freshly ground black pepper.

4. Drain the onion and discard the marinade. Make sure it is well drained. Place a half teaspoon of the chopped onion on the other half of each piece of knäckebröd next to smoked eel.

5. Place a dollop of crème fraîche on top of the eel and onion.

6. Garnish with herb leaves and serve.

READ ALSO: How to bake your own Swedish crispbread

Swedish eels. Photo: Björn Larsson Rosvall/TT/SCANPIX

Tips

– The canapés will keep for about an hour, but are best served fairly soon after you make them otherwise the knäckebröd will become soggy.

– Buy flat smoked slices of eel if you can. These are smoked without the bone and sliced thinly. Although it is slightly more expensive, it is less gelatinous, better value and highly recommended.

– Use half fat crème fraîche, you don't need to use the full fat version because there is enough fat in the eel.

– If you think your guests may be prejudiced against trying eel don’t tell them what it is! Most people like these canapés and will be surprised to discover that they have been eating eel.

– Use a good quality knäckebröd. Some come in small boxes and have herbs or spices added. Or here's now to make your own.

This recipe was originally published on food writer John Duxbury's Swedish Food website.

OPINION: Are tips in Sweden becoming the norm?

The Local’s guide to tipping in Sweden is clear: tip for good service if you want to, but don’t feel the pressure: where servers in the US, for instance, rely on tips to live, waiters in Sweden have collectively bargained salaries with long vacations and generous benefits.

SEE ALSO: What’s the tipping etiquette in Sweden?

But there are signs that this is changing, and the change is being accelerated by card machines. Now, many machines offer three preset gratuity percentages, usually starting with five percent and going up to fifteen or twenty. Previously they just asked the customer to fill in the total amount they wanted to pay.

This subtle change to a user interface sends a not-so-subtle message to customers: that tipping is expected and that most people are probably doing it. The button for not tipping is either a large-lettered ‘No Tip’ or a more subtle ‘Fortsätt’ or ‘Continue’ (it turns out you can continue without selecting a tip amount, but it’s not immediately clear to the user).

I’ll confess, when I was first presented with this I was mildly irked: I usually tip if I’ve had table service, but waiting staff are treated as professionals and paid properly, guaranteed by deals with unions; menu prices are correspondingly high. The tip was a genuine token of appreciation.

But when I tweeted something to this effect (a tweet that went strangely viral), the responses I got made me think. Many people pointed out that the restaurant trade in Sweden is under enormous pressure, with rising costs, the after-effects of Covid and difficulties recruiting. And as Sweden has become more cosmopolitain, adding ten percent to the bill comes naturally to many.

Boulebar, a restaurant and bar chain with branches around Sweden and Denmark, had a longstanding policy of not accepting tips at all, reasoning that they were outdated and put diners in an uncomfortable position. But in 2021 CEO Henrik Kruse decided to change tack:

“It was a purely financial decision. We were under pressure due to Covid, and we had to keep wages down, so bringing back tips was the solution,” he said, adding that he has a collective agreement and staff also get a union bargained salary, before tips.

Yet for Kruse the new machines, with their pre-set tipping percentages, take things too far:

“We don’t use it, because it makes it even clearer that you’re asking for money. The guest should feel free not to tip. It’s more important for us that the guest feels free to tell people they’re satisfied.”

But for those restaurants that have adopted the new interfaces, the effect has been dramatic. Card processing company Kassacentralen, which was one of the first to launch this feature in Sweden, told Svenska Dagbladet this week that the feature had led to tips for the average establishment doubling, with some places seeing them rise six-fold.

Even unions are relaxed about tipping these days, perhaps understanding that they’re a significant extra income for their members. Union representatives have often in the past spoken out against tipping, arguing that the practice is demeaning to staff and that tips were spread unevenly, with staff in cafés or fast food joints getting nothing at all. But when I called the Swedish Hotel and Restaurant Union (HRF), a spokesman said that the union had no view on the practice, and it was a matter for staff, business owners and customers to decide.

So is tipping now expected in Sweden? The old advice probably still stands; waiters are still not as reliant on tips as staff in many other countries, so a lavish tip is not necessary. But as Swedes start to tip more generously, you might stick out if you leave nothing at all.

Url copied to clipboard!