Aurell Brontë - Scandikitchen christmas: recipes and traditions from Scandinavia

SCANDIKITCHEN

Christmas

SCANDIKITCHEN

Christmas

recipes and traditions from Scandinavia

BRONT AURELL

Photography by Peter Cassidy

Dedication
Til Mor og Far

Senior Designer
Sonya Nathoo

Senior Editor
Gillian Haslam

Head of Production
Patricia Harrington

Art Director
Leslie Harrington

Editorial Director
Julia Charles

Publisher
Cindy Richards

Food Stylist
Kathy Kordalis

Prop Stylist
Tony Hutchinson

Indexer
Hilary Bird

First published in 2018 by

Ryland Peters & Small

2021 Jockeys Fields

London WC1R 4BW

and

Ryland Peters & Small

341 E 116th St

New York NY 10029

www.rylandpeters.com

Text Bront Aurell 2018

Design and commissioned photographs

Ryland Peters & Small 2018

ISBN: 978-1-78879-025-3

eISBN: 978-1-78879-138-0

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The authors moral rights have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed and bound in China.

CIP data from the Library of Congress has been applied for.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

Notes for cooks

* Both British (metric) and American (imperial plus US cups) are included in these recipes; however, it is important to work with one set of measurements and not alternate between the two within a recipe.

* All butter is salted unless specified otherwise.

* All eggs are medium (UK) or large (US), unless specified as large, in which case US extra large should be used. Uncooked or partially cooked eggs should not be served to the very old, frail, young children, pregnant women or those with compromised immune systems.

* Ovens should be preheated to the specified temperatures. We recommend using an oven thermometer. If using a fan-assisted oven, adjust temperatures according to the manufacturers instructions.

* When a recipe calls for the grated zest of citrus fruit, buy unwaxed fruit and wash well before using. If you can only find treated fruit, scrub well in warm soapy water before using.

Authors credits

The author would like to thank neighbours Mac & Wild/Ardgay Game Inverness for supplying the best venison, The Swedish Church in London for the Dala horse, and Jon Anders Fjelsrud for help with aquavit cocktails.

Photography credits

All photography by Peter Cassidy except: p28 left Merethe Svarstad Eeg/EyeEm/Getty Images, p28 right Johner Images/Getty Images, p29 left Jo Tyler/Ryland Peters & Small, p29 centre AnjelikaGretskaia/Getty Images, p29 right Johner Images/Getty Images, p76 left Torbjorn Arvidson/Getty Images, p76 centre Johner Images/Getty Images, p77 right Johner Images/Getty Images, p100 left Cultura RF/Christoffer Askman/Getty Images, p100 right Johner Images/Getty Images.

CONTENTS

The first Christmas at ScandiKitchen, over a decade ago, was a revelation to my husband Jonas and I. We didnt quite appreciate what it meant to run a caf and shop that could provide all the foods that our fellow Scandinavians in London were missing. The emotional impact it had on our customers was overwhelming. To have people standing in our little shop with tears in their eyes because they couldnt make it back home and to help them enjoy their foods and traditions was a humbling experience then, and every Christmas since. No matter where youre from, when the call of home pulls at your heartstrings, only something genuine can help to relieve the ache. Food reconnects us in the form of scents, tastes and deep memories of years gone by. In one bite, youre back home even if only for a brief moment.

To help a Norwegian recreate the cookies her grandmother used to make, to give a Dane the right sort of cherry sauce, to present a Swede with a bottle of glgg Jonas and I feel so privileged to help Scandinavian families far away from home and to teach people how to incorporate new foods into their own Christmas meal, and over the years Ive written down numerous instructions for cooking our festive dishes.

By the First Sunday of Advent were ready not only to provide relief from homesickness, but also to teach anyone who will listen about the joy we Scandinavians find in Christmas. It may be dark and bitterly cold outside, but our hearts are some of the warmest youll ever find. Our homes are lit by candles, we offer home-baked goods and spiced wines to everyone, and we let people into our usually reserved personal worlds. Everything in Scandinavia starts to smell of cinnamon and ginger, and we long for any sign of snowflakes to make us huddle up even more in our cocoons of Christmas hygge. Scandinavians embrace this season with such authenticity that I think people from elsewhere find it hard not to be swept along.

Scandinavia is so very big, and our food culture varied, so there are aspects I simply couldnt include in this book or it would stretch to several volumes. I have tried to balance tradition with a few new things, and hope you find inspiration to create a taste of Scandinavian Christmas.

This book was written by candlelight in my warm kitchen, with a never-ending scent of spice and festive music playing in the background, and the recipes were all tasted by the people I love. This is the book I hope my daughters will one day give to their grandchildren to show them how we did Christmas when they were Scandinavian kids growing up in London.

God jul, Bront x

What can I use instead of is probably the most common question Im asked when it comes to Scandinavian recipes. What is this spice called in English is the second (Im also asked to translate from English to Scandinavian languages for plenty of homesick Scandis, too). Sometimes the answers are not that simple, so here are some of the most common ingredients we use for Yuletide cooking, along with their names in Danish, Swedish and Norwegian.

BERRIES
Cloudberry
Multebr (D), Hjortron (S), Multe (N)
These orange berries, which look a bit like plump raspberries except for the colour, are found in the wild and are almost impossible to cultivate artificially. They cant be picked by machine, only by hand, and even that is tricky as the berries burst easily. Cloudberry season is around three weeks long, so that only adds to the cost and scarcity of the fruit. Frozen cloudberries are much easier to get hold of than fresh, but they are still expensive. Most Scandinavian shops stock cloudberry jam/preserves, which can be substituted for fresh berries in almost every recipe. In North America, cloudberries are often referred to as bakeapples.