Layered potato gratin with sweet pickled Swedish anchovies (sprats), onions and cream, baked until the top crusts golden and the centre stays silky. The Swedish Christmas julbord (smorgasbord) staple.

Janssons Frestelse (Jansson's Temptation) appears in Swedish recipe collections from the late 1920s. The name was popularised when Elvira Stigmark, an Östermalm Stockholm hostess, served anchovy gratin under the name after seeing the 1928 Swedish film 'Janssons frestelse'; an earlier association with the 19th-century opera singer Per Adolf 'Pelle' Janzon is improbable since the dish was not called that during his lifetime. The recipe defines the modern Swedish julbord. Pelikan and Den Gyldene Freden run defensible Stockholm renditions through December.

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Make it at home

Serves 61 hr 45 minEasy

Ingredients

  • 1.2kg waxy potatoes (Maris Piper or Charlotte), peeled
  • 3 medium yellow onions, finely sliced
  • 60g unsalted butter, plus more for the dish
  • 2 tins (125g each) Swedish ansjovis (pickled sprats, NOT salted anchovies; the brand Abba is canonical)
  • 300ml double cream
  • 300ml whole milk
  • 1/4 tsp white pepper
  • 1 tsp salt, plus more to taste
  • 40g dry breadcrumbs
  • 30g unsalted butter, melted (for topping)
  • 1 small bunch fresh dill, chopped, to garnish
  • Crispbread, to serve

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 200C. Butter a 28 by 20cm oven dish.
  2. Slice the potatoes into matchsticks 5mm thick; do not soak (you want the starch).
  3. Melt 60g butter in a large pan. Add the sliced onions and a pinch of salt. Cook 10 minutes over low heat until soft and translucent; do not brown.
  4. Drain the ansjovis from their tins; reserve the spiced brine (you will need 100ml of it).
  5. Layer half the potatoes in the buttered dish. Season with white pepper and a touch of salt.
  6. Spread the cooked onions over the potatoes. Lay the ansjovis fillets evenly across the onions.
  7. Top with the remaining potatoes. Season again.
  8. Whisk the cream and milk with the reserved ansjovis brine and 1 tsp salt. Pour evenly over the layered dish.
  9. Mix the breadcrumbs with the melted butter and scatter across the top.
  10. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes until deeply golden on top, the potatoes pierce easily, and the cream has reduced to a glossy coat around the bottom layer.
  11. Rest 10 minutes. Sprinkle with dill and serve with crispbread.

Editor tip. Use Swedish ansjovis (sweet-spiced pickled sprats), not Mediterranean anchovies in olive oil; the difference is the dish. Use the spiced brine.

Common allergens: Fish, Dairy.