Sweden's signature buffet table: pickled herring in five sauces, gravlax, meatballs, Janssons frestelse, ham, cheese, knäckebröd, served as Christmas julbord and summer midsommar tables.

The smörgåsbord codified in the late 19th century as a Stockholm hotel-and-restaurant format and was exported to global recognition through the 1939 New York World's Fair Swedish Pavilion. The Christmas julbord is the contemporary version: ham, herring, lutfisk, meatballs, Jansson's temptation, prinskorv. Operakällaren, Sturehof and the saluhalls all run julbord sittings in December; the year-round version anchors hotel breakfasts.

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Make it at home

Serves 624 hrIntermediate

Ingredients

  • Three pickled herring sauces (mustard, dill, curry; buy pickled herring fillets and dress)
  • 200g sliced gravlax with mustard-dill sauce (see gravlax recipe)
  • 20 meatballs with cream sauce (see köttbullar recipe)
  • 1 small Jansson's frestelse (anchovy-cream potato gratin) made in advance
  • 200g sliced ham, 200g sliced kassler ham
  • Selection of three Swedish cheeses (Västerbotten, Prästost, Herrgård) with knäckebröd
  • Boiled new potatoes with butter and dill
  • Pickled beetroot, pickled cucumber, lingonberry jam
  • Hardboiled eggs cut in halves with anchovy paste
  • Snaps and beer to serve

Method

  1. Make Jansson's frestelse a day ahead: layer sliced potato, onion, anchovy with cream and breadcrumbs; bake 50 minutes until golden. Refrigerate, reheat just before serving.
  2. Cure the gravlax 48 hours ahead. Slice thin just before service.
  3. Make the meatballs and cream sauce the morning of; keep warm.
  4. Boil new potatoes 15 minutes before service; toss in butter and dill.
  5. Open all the pickled herring jars: drain, transfer to small bowls, garnish with chopped onion and dill. Three sauces minimum (mustard, dill, curry).
  6. Arrange on a long table: herring first, then cold fish (gravlax), then cold meats and cheeses, then hot meatballs and Jansson's at the warm end. Eat in that order; reset plate between rounds.
  7. Snaps with the herring; beer with the meatballs; coffee at the end.

Editor tip. Eat in the correct sequence: cold herring first, then cold fish, cold meats, hot meats. Reset your plate between rounds; do not mix cold and hot. The snaps tradition is one glass per herring round.

Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy, Egg, Fish, Shellfish.