Recipe: Janssons Temptation (Janssons frestelse) (2024)

FAQs

Why is it called Jansson's Temptation? ›

Name and origin

It has often been associated with the opera singer Per Adolf "Pelle" Janzon (1844–1889), remembered as a gourmand, but any connection is unlikely, according to food writer Jens Linder.

Potatoes, onions, anchovies and cream are the essentials for this Christmas dish. Jansson's temptation, or Janssons frestelse − a creamy potato and anchovy casserole − is said to have been named after Pelle Janzon, a food-loving Swedish opera singer of the early 1900s.

Probably the only way to eat pickled sprats! In the U.S. they often substitute herring or anchovy. Very similar, small oily shoaling fish.

Lutfisk is a dried fish, similar to the Spanish bacalao. It is boiled and served with potatoes, white cream sauce, green peas, allspice and mustard. This could also be served as a main course on its own during the holidays.

Ansjovis is normally translated to English as anchovies, but they are rather different to Mediterranean anchovies. Really they are little sprats and they are normally cured in a spiced brine and sold as fillets in tins, but you can also get whole sprats in glass jars.

Sweden doesn't have an official national dish, but many Swedes consider meatballs and lingonberries to be the national fare.

These days, the food is made up of many of the dishes Sweden is most famous for, including meatballs, Jansson's temptation (a potato gratin with cream and sprats) and gravadlax.

Internationally, the most renowned Swedish culinary tradition is the smörgåsbord and, at Christmas, the julbord, including well-known Swedish dishes such as gravlax and meatballs. In Sweden, traditionally, Thursday has been "soup day" because the maids had half the day off and soup was easy to prepare in advance.

Brisling, or sprats, are small, oily fish that when smoked, pack as much flavor as a sardine. These Baltic Sea sprats are lightly smoked over beech wood, which locks in their moist and meaty texture.

A wally is a delicious green vegetable commonly found in a pickle jar in a London chip shop. It's a delicious and tasty gherkin (pickle). “Rock, chips, scraps and a wally please mate!” Goes down a treat!

What are pickles without vinegar called? ›

The pickle without vinegar is actually called a Lacto-Fermented pickle. They are more of a sour pickle, and their shelf life isn't as long as the pickle processed with the vinegar. The fermented pickle has a higher nutrient level.

Other fish that, like sprat, belong to the herring family are sardines and anchovies, also often confused with sprat. The differences in appearance compared to a sprat are not that big: from larger scales than the herring, smaller gills than the sardine, to a shorter lower jaw than the anchovy.

Brisling sardines or sprats are a tiny variety of fish. Sprats may be smaller than regular sardines, but they're still brimming with nutrients, protein and essential omega-3 fatty acids.

They are not. Sprats and sardines are both members of the herring family. Sprats are sometimes called brislings, but then, some fish are sold as “brisling sardines” when they are really sardines, not sprats.

They're different species that live in different places.

Sardines are purely a saltwater fish, while anchovies have some freshwater varieties and those that live in brackish water. Sardines are actually more closely related to herring in the fish world and can sometimes be referred to as herring or sprat.