Best Scandinavian Christmas recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is Scandinavia's Christmas food? ›

In Norway, two traditional dishes are contenders for the most popular Christmas dinners – “ribbe” (pork rib) and “pinnekjøtt” (lamb or mutton rib). Whilst the former has been the overall prime choice for years, the popularity of pinnekjøtt grows for each passing year.

At 5 p.m., the churches ring their Christmas bells. Most people have a dinner of ribbe (pork ribs) or lutefisk (a cod dish) at home, so restaurants are usually closed. Christmas Eve dessert usually includes gingerbread or risengrynsgrot, a hot rice pudding, and mulled wine, glogg, for the grownups.

Christmas presents are under the lighted tree, candles shine brightly and the smorgasbord (or smörgåsbord, as it's written in Swedish) has been prepared with all the classic dishes: Christmas ham, pork sausage, an egg and anchovy mixture (gubbröra), herring salad, pickled herring, home-made liver pâté, wort-flavoured ...

Christmas food, drinks and snacks

The most popular Christmas Eve dinner is the ribbe (pork ribs or pork belly, bone in), but lutefisk (cod cured in lye), pinnekjøtt (dry-cured ribs of lamb), boiled cod, ham roast and turkey are also common dishes.

Just like other Danish Christmas traditions, the Danish Christmas food has not changed much over the years. Among the Danish favourites are æbleskiver, risalamande with cherry sauce, crispy Christmas duck, and caramelised potatoes.

The main dish is usually a large Christmas ham, which is eaten with mustard. The ham is served with beetroot-carrot-potato-salad called rosolli, mushroom salad and casserole (laatikko) made with swede, carrot or potato or all three kind of casseroles, occasionally also a liver casserole.

Swedes eat traditional dishes like pickled herring, gravlax, meatballs, Christmas ham, and ris ala malta on Christmas Eve.

In Swedish, Santa Claus is called Jultomten (pronounced: /jul-TOHM-tehn/).

Christmas table (like a smorgasboard or a buffe style lunch or dinner) consisting of pickled herring, boiled potatoes, sausages, meatballs, eggs, smoked salmon and or gravlax, beet salad, “Janssons frestelse” (a baked dish based on potatoe, onions, and anchovy), cheese, bread, and the ham as the center piece.

Yule (also called Jul, jól or joulu) is a winter festival historically observed by the Germanic peoples that was incorporated into Christmas during the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples.

What is the Christmas buffet in Sweden? ›

Julbord, Smorgasbord

It's basically a smorgasbord with a few dishes that is only available during christmas. The julbord is available in many restaurants in Sweden from the end of november until christmas eve. The food served at restaurants is more or less the same as what people eat in their homes on christmas eve.

Julmust (Swedish: jul "Christmas" and must English: 'must' "not-yet-fermented fruit juice") is a soft drink that is mainly consumed in Sweden around Christmas. During Easter, the name is påskmust (from påsk, "Easter").

In Sweden you generally have the choice of three Christmas trees: the Rödgran (Picea abies) AKA the red spruce, Norway spruce or European spruce which is the most common. It smells divine BUT, the needles drop - so if you bring it in too early, you'll be looking at twigs by Christmas Eve!

The traditional main meal on Christmas Eve is a smorgasbord called julbord which has been prepared with all the classic dishes. A good quality restaurant would typically serve more than fifty (or even a hundred) different dishes at a julbord. A family-julbord being much smaller.

Raised for meat, milk, and fur for thousands of years by the Sami peoples of northernmost region of the Scandinavian peninsula, reindeer are so commonly eaten at these northern latitudes that packages of ground reindeer meat can be found in almost every grocery store.