Third Culture Kitchen

Just the recipe: Janssons Frestelse-Recept Jansson’s Temptation Recipe

The name of this dish is literally Jansson’s Temptation. I don’t know who Jansson (a common family name in Sweden) was, nor why this dish tempted him so incredibly that it was named after him, but it is very tasty. The “anchovies” called for in this recipe are not actually anchovies, but a type of herring found in the Baltic Sea. In the Nordic countries, cans of fish that say “anchovies” are herring in a spicy liquid. While flavorful, they are not nearly as strong in flavor as real anchovies. My mother discovered this in the States, when she bought a can of anchovies (real, unbeknownst to her) and they made this dish incredibly strong, overpowering all the potato and cream flavor. If you can’t get hold of these fake anchovies, ham is a common substitute. In the pictures, I’m cooking with ham for that reason. If you don’t eat pork and can’t buy fake anchovies, you can probably simply omit the ham.

½ kg potatoes (6-8 potatoes)
8 canned ”anchovies” or a little ham and a bouillon cube
2 yellow onions (100 g)
½ tbsp butter
2 dl cream

1. Wash the potatoes, peel them, and cut them into thin rectangles.

In Western home cooking, cut things any way you like that makes things the right shape. Here’s how to cut potatoes into strips quickly and easily.

First, cut potatoes in half.

Then, cut them in quarters.

Cut each quarter into slices.

Then cut across the slices to make strips.

2. Debone the ”anchovies” and cut them into pieces. Save the canning liquid. If using ham, cut the ham into little strips.

3. Peel the onions and cut them into pieces.

4. Butter a dish.

5. Put potatoes in the bottom of the dish. Layer anchovies, onion, and potatoes until you run out of ingredients, but make sure the top layer is potatoes.

The first layer.

Top layer is potatoes!

6. Mix half or all of the ”anochvy” canning liquid with the cream and pour the mixture over the temptation. If using a bouillon cube for flavor, dissolve the cube in some hot water and then mix the bouillon with the cream.

7. Bake in the oven approximately 45 minutes at 225°C. If the surface of the temptation is about to burn, cover the temptation with a lid or some aluminum foil.

Finished temptation.