Traditional Swedish Food – Try some Home Made ‘Husmanskost’, the Swedes love it!

My friends often ask me what traditional Swedish Food is like. Its not an easy question to answer, especially as I have lived in London for the last ten years and my tastebuds have have grown accustomed to everything from Indian Curries to Thai stir fries!

Traditional Swedish food – also called ‘husmanskost’, is generally quite basic (some might even call it bland). The dishes consisting of some sort of meat, potatoes, cream sauce and a little salad on the side. Swedish cuisine doesn’t use any fancy herbs or spices – a pinch of basic white and black pepper and salt usually does the trick along with some cream to enhance the flavor of whatever you’re cooking!

If you’re living in Sweden and work in the city – lunchtime usually consists of ‘Dagens rätt’ (meal of the day) and you’ll quickly realize that the Swedes can make endless combinations of these basic ingredients!

Köttbullar med Lingon – Swedish Meatballs with lingonberry jam. These little yummy meatballs are really easy to make and taste fantastic! The ready made versions are perhaps not as great, but I happily eat them anyway as they are so easy to prepare. If you live in England, look for Scan’s Pork & Beef Swedish Meatballs in the beef isle of Sainsbury’s and add plenty of freshly ground pepper when you cook them. They also sell them in the Swedish shop section at every IKEA around the globe.

Makaroner och Falukorv– Falu sausage and macaroni This is a very popular children’s dish, probably because it can be ready in five minutes! Simply slice the falukorv and fry it. Then cook some macaroni and serve with plenty of ketchup. Advanced version is served with ‘stuvade makaroner’ (mashed macaroni) which is simply macaroni cooked with milk – sounds horrible but gives the pasta a really lovely creamy taste.

Pytt i Panna – This is the daddy of all left over meals. Do you have potates, ham and onions in your fridge? Just chop it all up in little cubes, fry it and season with black pepper and salt. Add a sunny side up egg on top – and if you have some beetroots slice them and serve on the side.

Sjömansbiff – Sailor’s beef. This is a very manly beef casserole cooked with beer.

Kåldomar – The yummy little rolls are so incredibly delicious with potatoe mash and cream sauce. Some posh restaurants now serve them as starters or fancy side dishes but traditionally these meat filled cabbage rolls were meant to be a very filling main meal.

Blodpudding – Blood-pudding/black pudding. Many school children are having nightmares about blodpudding days in school – its not for everyone but tastes delicious with lingonberry jam.

Janssons Frestelse – Jansson’s Temptation. This dish has a given place at every Christmas table and its made from potatoes, cream, onions, and herring. Imagine Potatoe dauphinoise but with the potatoes sliced into little matchsticks. Oh, and there’s herring in there (look out for the kiddie version with ham!)

Ärtsoppa med pannkakor – Pea soup with pancakes. Another dish Swedish schoolchildren have nightmares about. Traditionally eaten on Thursdays, today pea soup is often served as ‘dagen’s rätt’ on Thursdays in lunch restaurants around the country. Top tip – fast forward to the pancakes, they are the best part of the meal!

Nyponsoppa – Rosehip soup. A very versatile and sweet tasting soup that can be eaten heated with ice cream on top, or drunk cold as a sort of fruit drink.

This article was written by Linda Bliss. I am earning money online by writing here at HubPages.com. Would you like to earn money online too? Read the success stories and sign up today to get started!