4 Swedish dinners: #1 - Biff Rydberg

Well, here we go.

I've been wanting to document a few nights of traditional Swedish dinners and I finally have gotten the opportunity.

Thought that I would begin with an easy start: Biff Rydberg.

Biff Rydberg is really just an improvement/refinement of a traditional Swedish dish called "pyttipanna". Pyttipanna is basically what we would call hash. Biff Rydberg (apparently named after a Stockholm hotel that invented the dish) calls for finer ingredients and a softer touch in preparing them.

To the pictures!

Ingredients:



Parsley, onion, dijon mustard (condiment, really), fingerling potatoes, beef tenderloin, egg and butter. I'll get to the drinks in a minute...

First, pan-fry the potatoes in butter and oil (rapeseed/canola is popular over here):



As they begin to brown (after maybe 10 minutes), add the diced onion:



Give the onions a few minutes to soften and add the cubed tenderloin to another preheated pan:



When the beef is ready (it should be medium rare), plate, spinkle with parsley and place an egg yolk on top (I served with a few pickled beets and dollop of dijon mustard):



Enjoy! Quite satisfying despite the simple preparation and ingredients.

A bit about the drinks. The beer is brewed in Stockholm and the name, Kalasöl, translates to "party beer". It's a dark lager and tasty although I personally would have chosen a Czech dark lager if I didn't want to stick to Swedish products. The snaps is called "Rånäs". The name "Rånäs" comes from the farm/manor that developed the recipe in the late 1700's. It's flavored with bitter orange peel, cinnamon and licorice and has an underlying bitterness. It works wonderfully with this rich dish.



As usual, hope you don't mind my addition of a little Swedish culture on this wonderfully Chicago forum!

Bravo! Many thanks, Bridgestone. Another interesting and visually enticing post (great pics once again). The recipe involves some nice little twists on and union of some basic northern European dishes. I very much look forward to giving it a try in our kitchen.

Skol!

In haste,
A

P.S. I think you've put me in the mood to listen to some Mats Ronander a little later on today, when I'm enjoying a bevvy while cooking.

HI,

How do you eat this? Specifically how do you work with the yolk? Are you dipping the meat and potatoes in it? Or do you throw caution to the wind and mix it into everything present?

The pan roasted/fried potatoes (without the onions) and meat, quite similar to what you have there, I saw in Moscow years ago. I never saw the egg yolk. In the era I was there, people didn't have access to filet, though I did and would supply it.

Thanks for taking us on a tour of the Swedish kitchen.

Regards,

Well, I dumped the yolk over the rest of the dish and enjoyed!

Sweden, being a relatively small country, has more or less excellent control over its eggs and chickens. Salmonella essentially does not exist. All chicken farms are inspected regularly and if salmonella is discovered the livestock is immediately eradicated. Feels a little like Fahrenheit 451, I suppose. Brutal but effective.

One way or another, I can certainly recommend raw egg yolk as an excellent condiment to steak/beef if you can find a reliable supplier of eggs.

Oh, man. I'd love to try some "party beer" but I'm going to guess there's nowhere near here that stocks it. Does anyone know the legality of intercontinental beer shipping? I know we went over interstate via plane a while ago...

Bridgestone, is there any way we could work out a transaction?

Sure! I'll take:

1) an order of tips and links from Lem's

2) anything Thai that ErikM has introduced the rest of the forum to/tortured me with

3) a selection of masa-based products from the Maxwell Street Market

Fix me that selection and I'll fix you a selection of Nils Oscars Bryggari's fine products (including the "party beer").

(O.K., just kidding! However, just in case you are serious - I have no idea what kind of hassle and beaurocratic red tape shipping alcohol from Sweden involves. However and sadly, my initial reaction is to put your kind request into the realm of impossibility.)