P
Scandinavian
Janssons Frestelse (Jansson's Temptation)
A Swedish anchovy and potato gratin with layered ambition — julienned raw potatoes layered with caramelised onion and Swedish ansjovis (a spiced, salt-cured sprat, not Italian anchovies), then baked under a blanket of heavy cream until the potato is tender, the cream has absorbed into a rich, savoury sauce, and the top is golden-brown. The name's mythology involves a 19th-century Swedish opera singer caught eating fish gratin despite his professed vegetarianism. The key distinction is the Swedish ansjovis — which is sweeter, more lightly brined, and spiced with allspice and cloves — versus Italian anchovies, which would make the dish too salty and lack the spiced sweetness. The cream is added in two stages to regulate absorption.
‹Swipe for the next dish›
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
1 kg
3 large
yellow onions
finely sliced
Your own market
2 tins (approx. 125 g drained)
Swedish ansjovis (spiced sprats)
brine reserved
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
500 ml
heavy cream
divided into two equal additions
Your own market
30 g
unsalted butter
for sweating the onions and greasing the dish
Your own market
1 tbsp
ansjovis brine
from the reserved tin liquid; added to the second cream pour
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.
II
The Method
1
Peel and julienne the potatoes to 3–4 mm. Rinse the julienne in cold water until the water runs clear, then pat thoroughly dry with a clean cloth. This removes surface starch that would thicken the cream prematurely and produce a gluey sauce.
2
Melt the butter in a wide pan over a medium-low heat. Add the sliced onions and cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until they are soft, translucent, and beginning to colour at the edges. The onions are done when all sharpness has left them and they carry a gentle sweetness — this stage cannot be rushed.
3
Butter a gratin dish. Lay half the potato julienne across the base in an even layer. Distribute the ansjovis fillets and all of the caramelised onion across the potatoes. Cover with the remaining potato julienne. Pour 250 ml of cream evenly over the surface. This is the critical layering stage: the ansjovis must be interiorly placed so that their spiced, saline character penetrates upward and downward through the cream as the dish bakes — too little fish coverage at this point and the dish lives as mere cream gratin; too much salt or the wrong fish and it dies entirely.
4
Cover the dish tightly with foil and place in an oven preheated to 200 °C. Bake for 20 minutes. The cover traps steam that begins to cook the potato through before the cream reduces.
5
Remove the foil. Stir the reserved tablespoon of ansjovis brine into the remaining 250 ml of cream, then pour this over the surface of the gratin. Return the dish to the oven uncovered. Bake until the top is deep golden-brown, the cream has been absorbed into a cohesive, savoury sauce, and a knife pressed into the centre meets no resistance from the potato. The surface should be visibly set and coloured, not pale or bubbling liquid.
6
Remove from the oven and allow to rest for five minutes before serving. Taste before adding any salt — the ansjovis contribute significant salinity and additional seasoning is rarely required.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Swedish ansjovis sourced from a Scandinavian importer, packed in their original spiced brine; potatoes from a named floury variety known for even cooking; full-fat unpasteurised cream.
02
Estate — Imported Swedish ansjovis from a specialist grocer; high-fat double cream (minimum 35% fat); large, firm yellow onions slow-cooked without colour.
03
Market — Swedish ansjovis from a well-stocked supermarket Scandinavian section; standard heavy whipping cream; any reliable floury potato julienned finely.
04
House — If Swedish ansjovis are unavailable, the dish as written cannot be faithfully reproduced; no substitute replicates the spiced sweetness. At this rung, the recipe is incomplete.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Sight. The top of the gratin is deep, even golden-brown with no large areas of pale cream remaining on the surface.
◇Touch. A thin knife or skewer pressed into the centre of the gratin meets no resistance — the potato julienne is fully tender throughout.
◇Sight. The cream has been absorbed and set into a cohesive sauce visible at the edges of the dish; it is not liquid or visibly pooling.
◇Smell. The aroma from the oven carries the spiced, sweet note of the ansjovis brine alongside caramelised onion — not a sharp or aggressively saline fish smell.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dish lives or dies on the ansjovis: Swedish spiced sprats give the requisite sweetness and restraint, while Italian anchovies overwhelm the cream with salt and lack the allspice-and-clove character that defines the dish.
Pillar V
Cross-cuisine parallels are part of membership.
The dishes this one teaches you, across the cuisines — on every recipe.
Enter · from $49 a year
VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Charles Joguet Chinon Clos de la Dioterie
Domaine Charles Joguet · Chinon
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Wine
From British Columbia
Wine
Without alcohol
GT's Synergy Organic Kombucha — Gingerade
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Non-alcoholic
Why each one works is part of membership — Enter · from $49 a year →
The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
Enter · from $49 a year