Holiday Foods

[Sven Uno Magnusson]

Hi Donald and Thank you!
Chitbulla is the funniest version of the Swedish word köttbullar I?ve ever heard, so far! I couldn?t hardly stop laughing! I can only imagine how you kids where looking forward to eat shit-balls every christmas ...

[Eva Cumner]

Hi Sven Uno!
 
The way Donald has spelt that word is how he remembered his grandad saying it. In that part of Blekinge where he came from it would have been and still is the way it is pronounced by many people. You did learn the difference in pronounciation between sh- and ch- in school i presume?
 
Regards
 
Eva Cumner

[Mats Högberg]

Sven Uno,
I know what I could hardly stop laughing and I couldn't stop laughing means but I have never heard before I couldn?t hardly stop laughing.
Kind regards
Mats

[K.]

I think it is great that there is discussions here on English. I'm sure everyone is making their very best to answer whatever questions that comes in and to feel that they are contributing.  
 
About meatballs - I suppose there are many different ways to make them. I have been taught that in southern Sweden - Skåne - you take half pork half beef and instead of bread crumbs mashed cold boiled potatoes (you really have to boil them the day before for the best result). My grandmother always did that.  
 
I, myself, use a completely different way of making meatballs because my son wouldn't eat anything with even the smallest pieces in and he could spot an onion for miles so I let that out. Then I also reduced the potato-bit because I always forgot to boil them in advance. And the breadcrumbs on my kitchenshelf always seem to have passed best-served-before date. And mix beef and pork is unconvenient since most stores sell 1 lb packages of either beef or pork and I didn't have a freezer before to store food in. That left me with 1 lb grounded beef, 1 cup sourmilk, 1 egg, peppar and salt. It comes out pretty OK meatballs actually. Since my kids now are older I am slowly, however, reintroducing onions in the meatballs and eventually mashed boiled potatoes:-)

[Sven Uno Magnusson]

Thank you Eva and Mats for your comments, I deserved them ...
And mr.Carlson, please accept my apologys for making a rude and silly joke on your behalf.
At least this taught me one thing: never, never write anything on the Internet after having one or two drinks to many...
 
regards
SUM

[Ingrid Månsson]

About the meatballs and the onion: Use a grater and after that even the sharpest eye can't recognise an onion and at the same time you can get the nice taste that belongs to a köttbulle.

[Maud Svensson]

Sven Uno,
You were not the only one to find the unusual spelling of ”köttbullar” most amusing, so cheer up.
 
Mats,  
I do hope your remark above was your first - and above all your last - on linguistic mistakes at Anbytarforum. Most Swedes (including myself) don't have a complete mastery of English. Still, please let us join the forum without being criticized by a linguistic fault-finder. After all, this is a genealogy site, not a language course.  
 
Best regards,
Maud

[Stephanie Carson Feldman]

Hej all!
What great recipes!  Thank you very much for adding them with commentary, it makes them more interesting.  The Swedish part of my Swedish family was stamped out for some reason and I'm trying to regain it.  All discussion has been very useful to me!
 
Tack!  Stephanie
 
P.S.  Oh and I was born and raised in America and I couldn?t hardly stop laughing is used along with any other way you feel like combining the words.  In normal conversation, and especially relaxed conversation, any and all words are put together and often new constructions for verbs are formed and so on.  American and British English are very different, and maybe you heard about the push for Ebonics (not sure of spelling, and who cares?  The word was just made up to suit this new dialect!) a couple years ago?  We just say any ole thing that feels like comin' out our mouths!

[Maud Svensson]

Hej Stephanie,
Thank you for your generous attitude towards all of us who don't write perfect English/American.
 
I know several Swedish skilful genealogists who refrain from replying queries in English, due to defective language knowledge. I hope your P.S. will give them courage, as it did to me.  
 
As long as we can understand and help each other, who cares about spelling and word order?  
 
Merry Xmas & Happy New Year
& kindest regards,
Maud

[Stephanie Carson Feldman]

Hej Maud!
 
Maybe if any Swedes out there are uncertain of their English, just say this is in American and not European!    There IS a bit of a difference but as you say, this is about communication.  
 
And to that, may I communicate a Season's Greetings to all!
 
Best regards, Stephanie, an American 1/4 Swede!

[Clyde Peterson]

Hello,
My uncle who was a meat cutter and emigrated from Grangärde (W) in 1903 made a very good Chirstmas Sausage 'Korv'. Does any one have a receipe for good Christmas Sausage 'Korv'?
Thank you
Clyde

[Stig Hansson]

Sausage is korv in Swedish so there may be a number of alternatives. Traditional Christmas food may also differ between different parts of Sweden. Perhaps someone close to Grangärde can give you a reciepe.
Regards
?Stig

[Monica Svedberg]

Hello Clyde,
I found this reciepe in an old cookbook and translated it.
 
Swedish Christmas sausage
1 kg beef  
1 kg pork
1 kg lard in small pieces
1 kg cold half boiled potatoes
1? - 2 litres cold boiled milk
2 tesapoonfulls grinded ginger
2 teaspoonfulls crushed allspice grains
2 teaspoonfulls white pepper
3 tablespoonfulls salt
5 meters straight sausage skin
 
Cut the meat in pieses and grind it 3 times. The last time, grind the peeled potatoes too. Add all the spices and add the milk, a little at a time. Mix well so the mixture becomes smooth and even. At last add the lard. Work the mixture well.  
Stuff then the mixture hard into sausage skins and cool the sausages at once in ice water. Dry the sausages and rub them with a mixture of 1 tablespoonfull of saltpetre + 1 decilitre sugar + 2 decilitre fine salt. Let the sausages rest over night.
Eat the sausages with mustard and serve for instance with mashed potatoes.
 
Merry Christmas
 
Monica

[Clyde Peterson]

Monica,
Thank you. But that receipe looks more like what my uncle would have called 'potatoe sausage'. I do not think his Jul Krov had potatoes in them.
Clyde

[Monica Svedberg]

Clyde,
I agree. I got the receipe from the Bonnier's cook book of 1963, but in the Princesses' cook book of 1932 the receipe for Julkorv is almost the same, but with 2? decilitres of pork broth and 2 tablespoonfulls of potatoe meel.  
The receipe for Potatoe sausage contains 3 kg potatoes.  
Nowadays hardly anyone makes sausages themselvs. I looked at the ones I have bought and they did not contain potatoes, but potatoe flour.
Perhaps someone else has an old receipe for you
Good luck!
Monica

[Mi Alforsen]

Hello Clyde and Monica!
The above sausage is just the one that I have been making each year for Christmas since 1974 and my mother-in-law used the same recipe for at least 35 years before me. My husband cannot think of any other Jul-korv for Christmas.
Best regards
Mi Alforsen

[Bill Gustavson]

Hello all,
Has anyone ever heard of putting an almond into a rice pudding?  My family has been doing it since as long as I can remember.  My wife asked me what the significance was, and I could only say that is was supposed to mean whoever received it would be pregnant that year.  I was told that it was a Swedish tradition on Christmas.  Is that true?
Also, I have been trying to find an authentic recipe for Swedish meatballs like the way my great grandmother would make.  She passed the recipe down to my grandmother and it has since disappeared when she passed away.
Please help bring back the Swedish traditions to my family
thank you
Bill

[Åke Bjurström]

Hello Bill
An almond in the rice porrige, I think is the original meaning.
Mandel i gröten at Google gives lots of hits.
The one who got it was supposed to be married in a year, in those days pregnant as well.
Perhaps someone can translate more from Google.
Swedish meetballs? You must have missed a lot when you lost that recipe.
Regards Åke

[Chris Bingefors]

Yes, we are doing that every year. The saying is that whoever gets it will be married nexr year, but that may vary with what part of the country you come from.  
There are probably as many recipes for meatballs as there are mothers! They are somewhat different in different parts of Sweden. In the South for example they often use pork and allspice. I just had meatballs for dinner, simple ones: Minced meat stirred into a small amount of mixed breadcrumbs, an egg and full milk. Chopped onion, salt and pepper. Make meatballs and fry. Eat with boiled potatoes and lingonberry jam.
 
One recipe is here: http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/2006/08/how-to-make-your-own-swedish-meatballs.ht ml

[Bill Gustavson]

Thank you both,
At least now I know I wasn't lying to my wife.
I'll look for and try some of the recipes for the meatballs, maybe I'll stumble upon my great grandmothers.
Bill

[Bibi Gustafson]

Hello Bill,
 
The almond is put in the rice porridge (or pudding) on Christmas Eve and the one to receive it will be married during the coming year. An older tradition was that the one who got the almond received an extra little Christmas present. In my parents' families the tradition was that the person who received  it had to recite a small poem in honor of the almond and he or she would receive a gift, i.e. a coin. In my mother's family they would also ad a bitter almond to the porridge... When we quit eating rice porridge on Christmas Eve this tradition was discontinued, I'm afraid.
 
Meatball recipes vary from mother to mother (we usually call them Mamma's meat balls). Anyhow, this is the recipe I've always used: 1 dl milk (100 ml = 1/3 cup + 1 tbs + 1 tsp...), 3 tbs bread crumbs (unseasoned), 1 egg, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/2 onion (grated), 1 lb. ground meat (50 % beef and 50 % pork, finely ground). Let the bread crumbs soak in the milk until it's like a paste. Add the egg and mix, then the salt and pepper, grated onion and last the meat. Roll into balls with wet hands and put on a wet cutting board. Fry in a hot frying pan (with butter or margarine). I often replace the onion with 1-2 tbs sweet mustard.
 
Best regards,
Bibi

[Bill Gustavson]

Chris
Thanks for the web link, I'll try them out this week sometime.
 
Bibi,
I don't think my family knew about getting an extra little Christmas gift when you got the almond, but it sounds like something good to re-introduce at Christmas time.  I believe there is a German tradition of finding a pickle in the Christmas tree.  Whoever found it, got an extra present as well.  If that's true, maybe we can combine both heritages so there's more fun and games to go around!  Do you remember the poem in which you had to recite?
Thanks again, and for the recipe
Bill

[Bill Gustavson]

By the way,
If anyone doesn't believe in the almond tradition, my wife first got the almond and we were married later that year, then she got it again the following Christmas and we had a baby that following year.  Last christmas she got it once again, so we'll see what it brings us this year!
Bill

[Cecilia Löwen]

We´ll hope for a nice surprise for you this year too,Bill
 
I never used potatoes in meatballs,thanks for the tip.I usually skip the egg and use rice flour instead,but that´s just me(I don´t like eggs in minced meat).Grating the onions is a great tip too,my grandma usually just chopped them(and made a sauce from cream and gravy in which she cooked the meatballs ready).My kids don´t like onion chunks in meatballs,so from now on I´ll grate them