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THE LOCAL LIST

CHRISTMAS

Five Swedish winter recipes to warm you up this Christmas

Hearty food is the best antidote to winter gloom, so we've compiled a selection of our favourite traditional Swedish recipes for the holiday season.

Five Swedish winter recipes to warm you up this Christmas
Make sure your Christmas smorgasbord includes these classics. Photo: Carolina Romare/imagebank.sweden.se

1. Gravad Lax

Raw fish might not seem Christmassy, but this salmon dish is a favourite in Sweden. The name literally means 'cured fish' and the recipe dates back from the Middle Ages, when fishermen buried their fish in order to preserve it. Gravad lax is probably Sweden's most famous culinary export, enjoyed all year round but especially during the Christmas season. The good news is it's simple to make at home.

Click here for the full recipe.


Another kind of gravad lax, with blackberries. Photo: Christine Olsson/TT
 
2. Potato and fish gratin (Janssons frestelse)

Janssons frestelse translates to Jansson's Temptation, and though Swedes don't know for certain who exactly Jansson was, it's easy to see why he couldn't resist this hearty casserole. Made with potatoes, onions and cream, it has secured its place as a staple on most Swedes' julbord (Christmas buffet tables). Serve it piping hot, with bread, and you've got the ultimate Swedish comfort food.

Click here for the full recipe.


Jansson's Temptation. Photo: Malin Hoelstad/SvD/TT

3. Gingersnaps (pepparkakor)

A delicious accompaniment to glögg (see below), tea or coffee, the Swedish version of gingersnaps is thinner and crispier than variants in other countries, which helps it make a satisfying 'snap' sound when you break it apart. Our recipe will help you make around 150 of these sweet biscuits so you can give some as gifts to friends and family and still be left with a generous supply for yourself. You can cut them into festive shapes, decorate them with icing, or – if you can resist the temptation to eat them – hang them up as decorations.

Click here for the full recipe.


Gingerbread cookies. Photo: Gorm Kallestad/NTB/Scanpix

4. Saffron buns (Lussekatter)

Also known as Lucia buns, these golden pastries are particularly celebrated on Saint Lucia Day (December 13th) but are also enjoyed throughout the festive season. Lucia comes from the word for 'light' and the Italian saint is seen as a symbol of hope in the dark winter. We think the same can be said for these buns. Made with saffron and raisins and usually rolled into a spiral 'S' shape, they make a delicious choice for a December 'fika' (coffee and cake break).

Click here for the full recipe.


Lussekatter. Photo: Anders Wiklund/Scanpix

5. Mulled wine (glögg)

After all that hearty food you'll need something to wash it down, and what better drink than Sweden's take on mulled wine? It's fun to say, it's fun to drink, and it's fun to make, so curl up with a mug of the spice-infused drink this holiday. Here's our favourite recipe to start you off, but once you've got the hang of it, the amounts and kinds of spices can be adjusted to suit your tastes.

Click here for the full recipe.

How to make Swedish mulled wine: glögg
Glögg. Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad/TT

Article first published in 2015.

FOOD AND DRINK

OPINION: Are tips in Sweden becoming the norm?

Should you tip in Sweden? Habits are changing fast thanks to new technology and a hard-pressed restaurant trade, writes James Savage.

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. 

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.

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