With its unique foods and hand-crafted gifts, a Scandinavian Christmas is special. This December, Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant & Butik in Sister Bay is serving a traditional version of the famous Swedish Julbord, a multi-course Christmas smörgåsbord (or buffet) that is a holiday tradition throughout the country of Sweden.
This year’s Julbord is being served on both Friday, December 8 and Saturday, December 9. Reservations are required and multiple seatings begin at 5 pm on both nights.
The Swedish Julbord — perhaps Sweden’s best known culinary tradition — has specific customs to follow. Despite the meal’s pick-and-choose display, dishes should be eaten in a specific order and a clean plate should be used with each new trip to the food table. The first course would typically be a variety of fish. The second course is often a selection of cold sliced meats, the most important being the Christmas ham. It is also common to serve the cold meats with sliced cheese, pickled cucumbers and soft and crisp breads. The third course would be warm dishes, including roast pork, potato sausage, meatballs, red cabbage, and Jansson’s Temptation, a baked dish of potatoes with anchovies. Desserts and coffee come last.
Al’s will also be serving its own version of Swedish Glögg, a hot spiced wine made of red port, spices, fruit and nuts.
From Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant, 10698 N. Bay Shore Drive, Sister Bay, WI 54234; 920.854.2626.