Scandinavian

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.

Typical Danish ingredients are featured in this easy-to-make condiment; it would be wonderful incorporated into a vinaigrette for cold poached salmon.

Serina Kaker "When a good friend went out of town, I volunteered to water the plants in her apartment, and my reward was helping myself to the Christmas cookies, all nicely stored in a tin," says Jane A. Van Pelt of Alexandria, Virginia. "Well, they were delicious and had completely disappeared by the time my friend returned. She told me that the recipe had come to her through her Norwegian roots and was a favorite in her family. Now these cookies are a holiday favorite in our family, and I hope they will be shared with many others."

Favorite Danish ingredients get dressed up in pretty packages for the holidays. Complete the side dish offerings with some oven-roasted potatoes topped with butter and lightly sprinkled with caraway.

This recipe was created to accompany other canapés: Shrimp Canapés, Pickled Herring Canapés and Smoked Mackerel Canapés.

(Klejner) Every year research editor Karen Hallal serves these spiced diamond-shaped cookies for dessert on Christmas Eve. They are fried like doughnuts and coated with powdered sugar. The recipe for klejner, popular all over Scandinavia, was given to Karen by her Danish mother.

After lingonberry preserves, these pickled cucumbers are the most popular condiment in Scandinavia. They are a traditional accompaniment to Swedish Meatballs, simple salmon dishes, and roasts and other meats. They are even served with frankfurters sold at street kiosks, much like the sauerkraut that often tops the hot dogs sold here.

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

There are a number of variations of this traditional Scandinavian Yuletide drink. Dry red wine, muscatel and sweet vermouth, with aquavit in place of the brandy, may be used. In another version, 2 bottles of dry red wine, preferably Bordeaux, are used with the quantity of aquavit increased to a whole bottle, which is poured over the flaming sugar.

Lingonberries grow wild in forests all over Scandinavia — they have a tartness similar to cranberries but with an earthy, pinelike undertone.

Indian spices have been part of Scandinavian cuisine for hundreds of years thanks to the region's thriving shipping trade.

"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.

(Swedish Rye Bread) A popular offering on the smorgasbords of Minnesota and Wisconsin, this bread has a clean-tasting combination of spice and sweetness that is characteristic of so much Scandinavian cooking.