No, not lutefisk

April 18, 2007 1:55 PM

Somewhere in the office chatter I agreed to bring food from my "culture" to an office happy hour Friday. I'm a European mutt with let's say a Scandinavian plurality. Any recommendations on something I could pick up at the average supermarket?

Appetizer, dessert, whatever, enough for at least 10 people, budget up to $20. I'm not going to get cute and bring Doritos and beer, either, accurate though it would be.

posted by lbergstr to food & drink (18 comments total)

- Swedish meatballs?
- Pickeld herring served on some sort of heavy rye bread?
- Danish (pastry)?
posted by AwkwardPause at 2:16 PM on April 18, 2007

Many supermarket deli's have Swedish meatballs. But I totally think you need to go with pickled herring.

(Seriously though, do you have to go to an average supermarket? Depending on where you live, there's bound to be a Swedish bakery, market or deli where you could get something really interesting.)
posted by nax at 2:16 PM on April 18, 2007

If you did bring lutefisk, they'd never ask you to do this again. Maybe that would be a good thing.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 2:28 PM on April 18, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Cheese fondue.
posted by box at 2:36 PM on April 18, 2007

According to your profile you're within 10 Miles of an Ikea store.

They generally have a small food section at the exit. You should be able to pick up large bags of frozen Swedish Meatballs cheaply as well as Lingonberry Jam, Reindeer Sausages etc.
posted by Olli at 2:39 PM on April 18, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Gravlax is easy to make and a little goes a long way. Make some mustard dill sauce to go with it. Being Swedish myself I'm a bit confused about the Cheese fondue suggestion.
posted by Ferrari328 at 2:39 PM on April 18, 2007

There's an Ikea a few miles from your GPS coordinates, on the other side of the 110; they have a Swedish food market which sells all sorts of goodies. The salmon paste tubes or a jar of lingonberry jam + Kodsbreth crackers for the cheap end, or any of their frozen desserts.

Or, there's always their 5' bags of frozen meatballs.
posted by jamaro at 2:40 PM on April 18, 2007

Isn't there an IKEA near you? In Burbank? If it is at all close, you can pick up various snack foods there.

When you say Scandinavian? You are talking Swedish? (I'm only guessing from your name on your profile, as I assume others here are too)

I googled swedish bakery los angeles and found a few options, a couple in the valley. Is that convenient to you?

What I wouldn't give for some meatballs and lingonberries right now....
posted by Jazz Hands at 2:41 PM on April 18, 2007

Thanks all. I said average supermarket because my schedule for the next couple of days will be tight, doubt I'll be able to stray much from my usual commute. But maybe I can route myself by one of those Swedish bakeries.

Jazz Hands, it's been a while since I saw the genealogical breakdown my grandfather did, but the Scandinavian part of me is Swedish and Norwegian, with maybe some Danish and (I know this isn't technically Scandinavian) a bit of Finnish.
posted by lbergstr at 2:49 PM on April 18, 2007

If you don't want to make as lasting an impression (on and in several senses) as you would make with pickled herring or (torment of the damned) lutefisk, you could get some gjetost, a caramelized brown Norwegian cheese with a sharp, sweet flavor which will be memorable without opening you up to lawsuits over PTSD.
posted by jamjam at 2:53 PM on April 18, 2007

If that supermarket has a deli, it might have Havarti (Danish) and Jarlberg (Norwegian) cheeses.
posted by Robert Angelo at 3:02 PM on April 18, 2007

If you go to Ikea, they sometimes have a toothpaste tube of cod roe. It is salty, slightly fishy, and a little sweet and most Americans think it is bizarre. One way to eat it is to place a dab ontop of a slice of cheese on a cracker.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 3:03 PM on April 18, 2007

Grilled cheese sandwich, tell them you're an American mut?
posted by croutonsupafreak at 3:17 PM on April 18, 2007

Der, you said you don't want to do that sort of thing. Sorry.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 3:19 PM on April 18, 2007

Lutfisk isn't that bad at all. A bit strange consistency but doesn't taste that much and doesn't smell either. You probably confuse it with surströmming, which is a totally different story. That's the fermented herring with a smell to wake up the dead. (Which doesn't say it's not great to eat!) Lycka till!
posted by pica at 3:30 PM on April 18, 2007

If you go to Ikea, you should definitely pick up something that's in a tube - maybe Kalles Kaviar, like MonkeySaltedNuts said. My tube-food of choice is generally some salmon-flavored-cheese or ham-flavored-cheese in a tube.

I swear, every American I have served it to just can't get over the fact that its cheese in a tube. Weird, I know!

Hm, just thinking about it will have to mean a trip to Ikea this weekend...
posted by gemmy at 4:19 PM on April 18, 2007

Note: If you go for the meatballs, don't forget the lingonberry jam. The thing with eating meatballs (besides their shape) is the contrast between the meat and the sort of soursweet jam.
posted by pica at 1:08 AM on April 19, 2007

Lefse rolled up with some kind of cheese and/or meat, maybe?
posted by flod logic at 9:04 AM on April 19, 2007