Swedish Food!

I've been more adventurous than I thought I would be when it comes to food in Sweden. Thanks to Ash and her friends and family, I've tried a whole lot of traditional Swedish and Finnish dishes, and they've actually all been pretty good. So, here's a few of my favourites:

Plankstek - Which is pretty much a steak that comes on a wooden plank, surrounded in mashed potato, with gravy. I also had garlic butter with mine. I don't know how hygienic it is to eat off wood, but it's really very tasty. They put the whole lot into an oven, so the mash is all crispy on top. Mmm. I wanted more.

Tunnbrödsrulle - A traditional Swedish wrap (sort of like a tortilla or lebanese flat bread) filled with mashed potato and one or more sausages (think Vienna franks) that comes with mustard, tomato sauce and mayo. It can also come with salad, onion and räksallad (shrimps, mayo and onion). Actually extremely tasty, although I skipped the räksallad, not being a huge fan of shrimp. A carbo-loaded extravaganza.

Köttbullar (Swedish Meatballs) - Firstly, let me say mmm! I loved 'em. They're served with potato (yeah, those Swedes are big on the potato, aren't they?) and 'brown sauce', a sweetish gravy. Also taken with lingonberry jam, which is more of a sauce. Delicious. The meatballs themselves can also be eaten cold. They sort of taste like kabana. Or, you know, regular meatballs. I would definately advise trying them.

Reindeer Meat - Doesn't taste too much different to beef or lamb. Actually, it sort of reminds me a little of kangaroo, but I'm sure that isn't quite it. Sort of gamey. I liked it.

And now for the Finnish dishes:

Karjalanpiirakoita - Sort of a pastry thing that comes with buttered egg on top. Er, I didn't really like this. Inside is a rice pudding sort of mixture. The pastry isn't too bad, I suppose. Almost like a Danish with egg on it. Traditionally a starter.

Mämmiä - Finnish dessert, eaten during Easter. It looks like chocolate pudding (or brownies?) but it's actually more like pumpernickle bread. It's served cold, and you cover it with milk and sugar to make it slightly less sour. I only tried a little bit, and it wasn't too bad, but I probably wouldn't eat it by choice. I can't really describe what it tastes like, but if you've ever had pumpernickle bread, it tastes like that. Very grainy and rather sour. I suppose like an extreme version of sourdough bread.

We went shopping today and got yet more meatballs (I tried them last night) as well as blodpudding (blood pudding, obviously). Haven't tried that yet. Hmm. I don't know if it'll taste any good, but I suppose I'm going to find out...