Julebordmeny Menu - Christmas Season Menu

As with the smörgåsbord, the traditional julbord is typically eaten in three courses. The dishes express a smaller variation than the smörgåsbord, but typically includes local and family specialties. It is customary to eat particular foods together to ensure the appropriate combination of taste and textures. For example, herring is typically eaten with boiled potatoes and hard-boiled eggs and is frequently accompanied by a snaps of vodka with or without spice.

The first course would typically be a variety of fish, particularly pickled herring and gravlax. Other traditional dishes would be (smoked) eel, baked herring (baked rollmops), herring salad, smoked salmon and crab canapés, accompanied by sauces and dips.

The second course is often a selection of cold sliced meats, foremost of which will be julskinka (Christmas ham) with mustard. Traditional cooking would include homemade sausages, leverpostej and several types of brawn. It is also common to serve the cold meats with sliced cheese, pickled cucumbers and hard and soft breads.

The third course would be hot dishes, including köttbullar (Swedish meatballs), prinskorv (small sausages), revbenspjäll (oven-roasted pork ribs), and Janssons frestelse (literally "Jansson's Temptation", a baked dish of matchstick potatoes layered with cream, onion and sprats).

Other dishes are fläskkorv (pork sausages), isterband (smoked pork and potato sausages), kåldolmar (meat stuffed cabbage rolls), baked beans, omelet covered with bechamel sauce and shrimps or mushrooms. Side dishes include beetroot salad and warm stewed red cabbage.

Traditionally, the third course would begin with tramping bread in the [[stock (food]|stock]] from the julskinka, but the habit is rapidly falling out of use as hams are more seldomly cooked in homes but prepared by stores/producers. Another dish that has seen a rapid decline is jellied pigs' feet. Also in decline is lutfisk, a reconstituted dried cod served with thick white sauce) and green peas that can be served with the warm dishes or as a separate fourth course.

Julbord desserts include risgrynsgröt, rice porridge sprinkled with cinnamon powder. Traditionally, an almond is hidden in the bowl of rice porridge and whoever finds it receives a small prize or is recognized for having good luck. There is also a traditional saying that the one who gets the almond will get married within a year.

Source of Menu: Lawrence Gjenvick; Source of Informational Text: Wikipedia

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