Recipes from a Scandinavian-American Family

The Gjenvick-Gjønvik Family has a great love for food and has many Chefs in the extended family. Among them are Master Chef Svein Magnus GJØNVIK of Trondheim, Norway and Chef Johann GJENVICK of Milwaukee. We bring you these delightful, tasty culinary dishes from Scandinavia, developed from recipes handed down from generation to generation. Cousin of Master Chef Svein Magnus GJØNVIK, Larry GJENVICK of Milwaukee prepared the Danish Kringle in the photograph above.

Let's Look at the Menu

A traveler visiting Scandinavia for the first time, on a summer holiday, is almost overwhelmed by the abundance and richness of the food he discovers in the gay, superbly run restaurants and hotels of the capital cities.

If he stays long enough and is welcomed into Scandinavian homes, if he visits country houses, stops at fishing villages, spends some time with farmers, woodsmen, and other workers, he will go on being impressed by the good food he sees in the clean kitchens and on family tables.

Suppose he is gourmet enough to appreciate the quality, sense the inspiration and imagination that distinguish the Northland's cookery. In that case, he will know that this is a superb cuisine.

Remarkable in its traditional allegiance to the ancient French and German court cookery from which much of it has derived, extraordinary in its uniqueness and variety which developed from the produce of Scandinavia's farmsteads and gardens, grain fields, orchards and dairies, the wild fruits, game, and seafood and the precious cargoes brought across the oceans in Viking ships.

The traveler, at home again in England or Southern Europe, in America or South America, remembers with particular pleasure the dishes which were characteristic of Scandinavia, those which were native and different, the least like his Yorkshire pudding, or his spaghetti, his Southern fried chicken and California salad bowl, or his chili con carne.

He remembers the astonishing array of appetizers that precede the luncheon or dinner. They resemble each other but wear a different name in each of the four countries: smørrebrød in Denmark, voileipäpöytā in Finland, koldtbord in Norway, smörgåsbord in Sweden.

The gourmet traveler remembers the soups, the superlative sauces that smoothly caress the good fish dishes, spice the meats and game, dress the vegetables, and add goodness to the already decadent desserts. He remembers the flavor of almonds, the leitmotif which runs through the pastries and puddings, and every kind of sweet — almond extract, almond paste, chopped almonds, sliced, and whole almonds.

He remembers the fragrant coffee and the many special coffee cakes and breads that appear with this beverage in the morning and again halfway to noon, at luncheon and afternoon coffee, and then in a smaller and sweeter form with the dinner coffee.

His memories are delighted when he recalls the pleasant atmosphere of the luncheon and dinner tables.

The Scandinavians enjoy their food; they want the excuse for food, get together to talk and eat, take a little Aquavit and beer, coffee, and wines, listen to some music, dance a little, or dance the night through.

The similarities in the cuisine of the four countries appear as the menus are studied closely, similarities which have developed because of the geographical relationship of the Scandinavian countries and their racial and social interdependence.

The same dishes are found repeatedly in these countries' cuisine, often under names only slightly different in their Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish spellings. The true origin and nationality of these dishes have been lost in antiquity.

Recipe terminology and spelling in Scandinavia are highly controversial, even within national boundaries. Different provinces — in the south, or the north, near the seacoast, or in some other direction — speak different dialects because of geographical, racial, or class origins; they spell old-style, or modern, or colloquial.

A recipe fiercely declared original and native to one province, its name spelled a certain way, nevertheless appears in many other parts of the country (and often across the border in neighboring countries) identical to ingredients but with its title written differently.