The Christmas smorgasbord
KÖTTBULLAR: Swedish Meatballs, a classic on the Christmas smorgasbord.
PRINSKORV: small sausages or "Prince sausages" if translated directly.
GRAVAD LAX: Cured salmon, often served with 'hovmästarsås', a sauce with mustard and dill. Enjoy it on top of a slice of hard Swedish rye bread ('knäckebröd').
INLAGD SILL: Pickled herring, either you love it or you hate it. There is a large variety in how the pickled herring is seasoned, traditionally with onions and carrots or local seasonings with local berries such as sea buckthorn or lingonberries. There is even a new edition of pickled herring every year.
JULSKINKA: Christmas Ham is traditionally made with a breadcrumb and mustard crust and usually served cold with mustard.
JANSSONS FRESTELSE: "Jansson's temptation" is a potato casserole with anchovies, onions and cream.
RISGRYNSGRÖT: Rice pudding often served with cinnamon, sugar and milk. Traditionally, a peeled almond is tossed in the pot and whoever finds the almond will, according to the 1800's traditions, get married the following year. The almond might also give luck or make wishes come true.
DOPP I GRYTAN: “Dip in the pot” – Using the rich flavored Christmas Ham broth, it is very traditional to dip dark bread and to eat the soaked bread along with Christmas dinner.
Dip in the pot used to be a common lunch food on Christmas Eve and a way to circumvent the fasting rules and still be able to taste meat before it was allowed to eat meat by dipping bread in meat broth. The meal's strong connection to Christmas is still evident today by the fact that we often call Christmas Eve the "dipping day" (Dopparedan).