# What to serve with Swedish potato sausage? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2011, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-serve-with-swedish-potato-sausage/568175 "2011-01-19T04:56:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-serve-with-swedish-potato-sausage/568175/21 "2012-12-15T19:22:24Z")
Lefse - a flat potato (or not) Scandinavian bread. Looks like a flour tortilla. Butter it, sprinkle with brown or white sugar and a little cinnamon and roll it. Or mix soft butter with almond extract and white sugar to spread. It’s difficult to get really good lefse anymore. What I find in stores is often thick as shingles. It’s best nice and thin. And all the church basement ladies are so busy these days they resort to using powdered milk and potato flakes. Ugh. I call it “concentration camp” lefse because it’s something you’d feed to people you didn’t care very much for. If you are fortunate to have a few little old lady friends who still have the heavy old lefse irons and the patience and muscle to roll thin, the generosity to use real potatoes and cream, then you have a friend indeed. Bless them for they are leaving us (soon lefseless) daily. Red cabbage and rutabaga are traditional. We mash the rutabaga with butter, salt and pepper. Boiled potatoes with a sprinkle of dill. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-serve-with-swedish-potato-sausage/568175/22 "2012-12-15T19:34:26Z")
Forgot the cookies. Spritz, sandbakkelsa, rosettes, krumkaka, kringla, kringler - a stark white cooky platter that looks like what the landscape must have by the North Sea at Yule. If you imbibe. You could serve glogg, a mulled wine. Now if only people still went Julebukking. You think if I brought a plate of lefse I could get in on a Posadas somewhere? Oh yeah, I know it would be a little more sedate but it’s certainly nice to see people carrying on their traditions. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-serve-with-swedish-potato-sausage/568175/23 "2012-12-15T20:53:43Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Swedish meatballs played an important role in 1948’s _I Remember Mama_, about a Norwegian-American family. I remember and loved that show - but ever since I tasted that Fish Jello the Norwegians make, I have not trusted Scandinavian cuisine… ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-serve-with-swedish-potato-sausage/568175/24 "2012-12-15T23:40:07Z")
> [@pwmeek](#): > > I have recently heard that Gamla Gubbe has connotations of “Dirty Old Man” or pervert, which is puzzling as a Christmas decoration. As I recall from my days of learning Swedish from native speakers, _Gubbe_ means simply “Old man,” as in, “I say, old man, have you any more of that simply scrumptious lutefisk?” The _gamla_ is interesting, as it would imply he is an _old_ old man, which certainly does sound pejorative to my ears. I remember the song _Gubben Noak_, in which Old Man Noah was a man of good standing (though this was admittedly many, many years ago). ---
**Author:** ![Juggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/juggler/32/3194_2.png) [@Juggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juggler)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-serve-with-swedish-potato-sausage/568175/25 "2012-12-16T14:33:12Z")
Gubbe has a slightly negative connotation. I would never understand gamla gubbe as dirty old man though. **Pwmeek** what you call Julen gröt should be julgröt. I always called it [risgrynsgröt](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risgrynsgr%C3%B6t) I have never heard of swedish potatoe sausage. ---
**Author:** ![pwmeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@pwmeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pwmeek)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-serve-with-swedish-potato-sausage/568175/26 "2012-12-16T15:37:02Z")
> [@Juggler](#): > > Gubbe has a slightly negative connotation. I would never understand gamla gubbe as dirty old man though. > > **Pwmeek** what you call Julen gröt should be julgröt. I always called it [risgrynsgröt](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risgrynsgr%C3%B6t) > > I have never heard of swedish potatoe sausage. (Having read the Wiki article) Ah, right. I forgot about hiding a single almond in the _julgröt_. Finding it in your bowl is supposed to confer good luck for the following year (or sometimes indicate the next to be married). (Julen gröt was a suggestion from google-translate) ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2012, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-serve-with-swedish-potato-sausage/568175/27 "2012-12-17T10:44:47Z")
> [@pwmeek](#): > > _knakebrot_ (like Ry-Krisp), several kinds of mustard (_slotts/slöts/??sp??-senap_ - which seems to mean either castle mustard or closed mustard depending on how you spell it Make that _knäckebröd_ and _Slottssenap_. Slottssenap could be translated as castle mustard, but it’s just a trade name and I notice that Unilever, who owns it, call it Slotts senap, which would be Slott’s mustard in English. As for _lefse_, it’s a Norwegian thing, not Swedish. ---
**Author:** ![anystroem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@anystroem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anystroem)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-serve-with-swedish-potato-sausage/568175/28 "2018-07-18T17:51:20Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > These sort of things happen all the time. I’m still confused by people talking about Swedish pancakes. All the pancakes I have seen here have either been American style or Crepes. Well, Swedish pancakes are not crepes, but the are served as such here, and they do resemble crepes more than “American Pancakes,” so when trying to describe them, the path of least resistance is “crepes” to let the conversation move forward. Potatiskorv (Potatoe Sausage) is not as unknown as people try to imply. However, it is more of a dish on the Swedish X-mas table (a version of a smorgasbord or buffe) these days. Another trend is of course that the Swedes, like any other people in the western hemisphere, are working more and eating out in greater scale, and in the restaurants or fast food joint (McD’s BK, Subway, etc), you will be hard pressed to find anything but traditional fast food. With that being said, I’m not sure how a Swede living in Sweden doesn’t know what potatiskorv IS. It would be like saying that one doesn’t know or have heard of chicken and dumplings, red beans and rice, black eye peas, or grits for an American. It’s not something I eat, even rarely because of choice, nor is it served in the area I live in any larger capacity, but I certainly know what it is and how to get a hold of it if I wanted to. To answer the original question. Potatoe Sausage can be served with boiled or mashed potatoes. Sauerkraut or pickled red cabbage is also associated with this type of sausage. If you choose to give a quick browning, for texture and taste, after you’ve boiled it, you can dice up some cold, boiled potatoes and fry that up (like home made hash). Swedes also used to like their “brown beans” (beans that had been soaked and then boiled with a little bit of syrup, vinegar, and a few other spices). I would also venture to guess that those worried about carbs could steam some cauliflower, broccoli, green peas, and add a few pickled red beats (or red cabbage) on the side for color. However, the most frequent sightings of potatoe sausage these days is as a part of the Swedish “Julbord,” and at that point, the sausages are just served by themselves in on a serving tray for people to pick if they want. As with most Swedish food (Husmanskost), you’re not going to go wrong with a slightly chilled beer (in this case I would recommend a lighter beer), milk, or water. Because of the possible inclusion of pickled veggies, I would stay away from sweet drinks, such as soda pops, as the contrast would be a bit much. All this IMHO, of course! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![anystroem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@anystroem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anystroem)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-serve-with-swedish-potato-sausage/568175/29 "2018-07-18T17:56:46Z")
> [@Juggler](#): > > Gubbe has a slightly negative connotation. I would never understand gamla gubbe as dirty old man though. > > **Pwmeek** what you call Julen gröt should be julgröt. I always called it [risgrynsgröt](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risgrynsgr%C3%B6t) > > I have never heard of swedish potatoe sausage. You have never heard of “Potatiskorv”? 😕 [Potatiskorv - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potatiskorv) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-serve-with-swedish-potato-sausage/568175/30 "2018-07-18T18:22:47Z")
> [@Juggler](#): > > I have never heard of swedish potatoe sausage. I’ll bet Dan Quayle has. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-serve-with-swedish-potato-sausage/568175/31 "2018-07-18T22:11:06Z")
> [@anystroem](#): > > You have never heard of “Potatiskorv”? 😕 > > [Potatiskorv - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potatiskorv) The last post before yours were six years ago, so you might not get much of a response. And you could note that the English wikipedia article you link to has this line: “_In most parts of Sweden, the word “potatiskorv” is unknown_” and that the Swedish language article is titled Värmlandskorv and only includes “potatiskorv” as a dialect word in Värmland and a word known to Swedish-Americans. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-serve-with-swedish-potato-sausage/568175.md?page=1)