Swedish · appetizer

Smörgåstårta (Swedish Sandwich Cake)

Smörgåstårta (Swedish Sandwich Cake) reads citrus 4.4, sourness 4.2 and salinity 4.1 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Swedish appetizer, about 4 hr 46 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 5.0 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 1.3 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 5.7 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 3.3 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 4.2 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 3.1 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Citrus 4.4 · Sourness 4.2 · Salinity 4.1 · Richness 4.0 · Marine & Briny 3.9 · Smoke 3.2 · Umami 3.2 · Herbaceous 2.9 · Funk & Ferment 1.4 · Sweetness 1.1 · Warm Spice 0.9 · Fruity 0.9 · Floral 0.8 · Heat 0.7

What's in it (14)

• day-old fine-crumbed white sandwich bread — 700 g
• cold-smoked salmon — 300 g
• baby shrimp — 200 g
• eggs — 400 g
• creme fraiche — 400 g
• cream cheese — 300 g
• mayonnaise — 100 g
• smoked cod roe paste — 100 g
• dill — 25 g
• lemon juice — 15 g
• salt — 5 g
• ground white pepper — 3 g
• english cucumber — 200 g
• bleak roe — 50 g

Time & effort: about 4 hr 46 min (46 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 75 kcal, 4.2 g protein, 5.9 g fat, 1.3 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains seafood · Contains dairy · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (9 steps)

1. Boil the eggs for 9 minutes from a rolling boil, cool them under running water, peel and slice them. They should be just set, with no grey ring.
2. Beat the crème fraîche, cream cheese and mayonnaise together in a large bowl with the lemon juice, salt and white pepper until smooth and spreadable, about 3 minutes. If it is stiff enough to tear bread, slacken it with a spoonful of cream — you are going to frost a cake with it.
3. Divide the base into three. Fold the chopped dill and the drained shrimp into the first third, keeping the shrimp whole.
4. Fold the smoked cod roe paste into the second third. It will turn a pale coral; taste it, because Kalles is salty and you may want less salt elsewhere. Buy it in a tube from a Scandinavian grocer — there is no supermarket stand-in, and mashed cod roe with cream is not the same thing.
5. Build the cake on a flat plate. Lay a rectangle of bread slices edge to edge, spread with the shrimp mixture, then a second bread layer, the cod roe mixture and the sliced egg, then a third bread layer, the smoked salmon, and a final bread layer on top. Press the whole thing gently with your palms so it settles, about 15 minutes of unhurried work.
6. Coat the top and all four sides with the remaining plain cream base, working it smooth with a palette knife as you would ice a cake. No bread should show anywhere.
7. Cover loosely and chill at least 4 hours, and preferably overnight. This is not resting time — the bread has to draw moisture from the fillings and turn from bread into cake. A smörgåstårta eaten straight away tastes like a sandwich pile.
8. Just before serving, shingle the cucumber ribbons over the top like roof tiles, spoon the roe into the centre, and tuck the dill sprigs in around it. Cut it with a long knife wiped clean between slices.
9. Substitutions: trout roe can stand in for the bleak roe.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Sheet-Pan Fish Tacos with Crunchy Slaw — Mexican · Baja
• Toast Skagen — Scandinavian
• Crispy Salmon Cakes with Lemon Aioli — American
• Crispy Baked Fish and Chips — British
• Fish Tacos with Baja Crema and Cabbage Slaw — Mexican

Keep reading: what citrus, sourness, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.