Swedish

The long cooking time makes this lamb meltingly tender. Offer noodles alongside.

The children of Jean Garry, wife of editor-in-chief William J. Garry, may have left home, but they come back at Christmas for their favorite bread. The recipe was given to Jean by her mother (who isn't Swedish, but never mind). The bread which is lightly flavored with aniseed and orange, makes great toast for stocking-searching time. Sometimes Jean bakes the loaves in nine-inch aluminum pie tins. After they cool, she puts the breads back into the tins and wraps them up in colorful cellophane for gift giving.

This Swedish stew called Sjömansbiffgryta is one of the most typical family stews, which every Swede knows. This is one of those "lots of bang for the buck" types of stews. It's so simple, yet the taste it delivers is so satisfying. It is best to cook it in an enameled cast-iron casserole because it goes into a very hot oven for quite a while, and all the liquid gets absorbed and the casserole becomes a little crusty. I know it seems like an awfully long time to keep a stew in such a hot oven, but trust me, it works. You can deglaze the casserole with a bit of water if you like and pour it over the stew, which should be transferred to a serving bowl.

"This recipe for Swedish drommar, meaning 'dreams,' comes from my grandmother," writes Elizabeth Wigg Maxwell of New Providence, New Jersey. "She and my mother made these every Christmas when my siblings and I were growing up. As children, we were amazed that my mother had to go to the pharmacy to obtain one of the ingredients: ammonium carbonate. Equally incredible was the fact that something which smelled so horrible helped make such delicious cookies!" "Years ago, I began baking drommar for my own family. I called the local pharmacy to request the unusual ingredient and was delighted when the pharmacist said, 'You must be making those Swedish cookies!'" Ammonium carbonate, used by European bakers, makes especially crisp cookies. Its smell, which you may find off-putting while making the dough, disappears completely in the baking process.

Noodles enriched with the deep golden yolks of farm-raised chickens were a frequent starch on heartland tables. Modern cooks may not have the time to put together noodles from scratch, but when glossed with a Swedish-style, caraway-scented butter, even commercial pasta makes a fine accompaniment to the menu's main dish.

"My grandmother, who emigrated from Sweden to the United States when she was a little girl, passed on to our family a taste for cardamom," writes Lisa Tracy of Marion, Iowa.

In the Venn diagram of chocolate bakes, this recipe falls squarely in the middle of where brownie, molten chocolate cake, and chocolate soufflé meet.

Turn your kitchen into a Swedish bakery with this oversized take on the classic cardamom bun known as kardemummabulle.

Hits of crème fraîche, lemon zest, and dill will guarantee you a rich and zingy shrimp toast. 

A warm ruby red mulled wine packed with enough cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger to make the whole house smell like the holidays.