Ingredients
Gratin
- 1 kgfirm potatoes
- 3onions, thinly sliced
- 2 tinsSwedish anchovy fillets, about 250 g, with their brine
- 300 mldouble cream
- 150 mlwhole milk
- 50 gbutter
- white pepper
Top
- 3 tbspdried breadcrumbs
- 20 gbutter
Directions
- Use Swedish ansjovis, which are spiced sprats cured in a sweet brine with allspice and sandalwood, not Mediterranean anchovies.
- This is the one thing that decides the dish. Italian salted anchovies are a different fish and a different cure, and they make it aggressively fishy and salty rather than sweet and savoury.
- Peel the potatoes and cut them into matchsticks about 5 mm thick.
- Cut them by hand into batons rather than slicing them into rounds. The strands tangle together and hold the cream, and rounds slide into flat layers that go watery.
- Do not rinse the cut potato. Its starch is what thickens the cream.
- Soften the onions in the butter over a low heat for 10 minutes without colouring them.
- Butter a gratin dish and lay in half the potato, then the onions, then the anchovy fillets spread evenly.
- Cover with the rest of the potato and level the top.
- Pour over the milk and about half the cream, along with two or three spoonfuls of the anchovy brine.
- The brine goes in. It carries the allspice and the sweetness of the cure and it is half the seasoning of the dish; there is no other salt.
- Scatter the breadcrumbs over and dot with the remaining butter.
- Bake at 200°C (390°F) for 30 minutes.
- Pour the remaining cream over at that point and bake for a further 25 to 30 minutes.
- Adding the cream in two stages stops the top drying out while the potato underneath is still cooking through.
- It is done when a knife slides into the potato with no resistance and the top is deep golden.
- Let it stand 10 minutes before serving.
- It appears on the julbord at Christmas, and also at midnight after a party, which is when most Swedes actually eat it.
Technique
- Whether it is named after the opera singer Pelle Janzon or the 1928 film Janssons frestelse is still argued about in Sweden.
- It should be rich enough to be a side dish rather than a main, though nobody stops at one spoonful.
- It reheats well and is often better the next day.
Substitutions
- Sprats in spiced brine, sold as Swedish or Baltic anchovy.
- Matjes herring at a pinch, accepting a different flavour.
Variations
- With a layer of grated cheese under the crumbs, which purists reject.
- Made with matjes herring.
- In individual dishes, as a starter.
History
Potato, onion and pickled sprat gratin whose name was fixed in a 1940s cookbook and is linked to the opera singer Pelle Janzon.
Frequently asked questions
What is Jansson’s temptation?
Jansson’s temptation is a salad & side from Sweden: creamy potato-anchovy gratin on Christmas tables. Potato, onion and pickled sprat gratin whose name was fixed in a 1940s cookbook and is linked to the opera singer Pelle Janzon.
How long does Jansson’s temptation take to make?
Jansson’s temptation takes 25 min of preparation and 1 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Jansson’s temptation?
Yes, within limits. Sprats in spiced brine, sold as Swedish or Baltic anchovy. Matjes herring at a pinch, accepting a different flavour.
What is the most important thing to get right in Jansson’s temptation?
This is the one thing that decides the dish. Italian salted anchovies are a different fish and a different cure, and they make it aggressively fishy and salty rather than sweet and savoury.
