Sweden
Toast Skagen
Shrimp in a dill cream on crisp, butter-fried bread, topped with vendace roe
20 min·4 servings
vendace roe
Small orange-red roe of the vendace, a freshwater whitefish from northern Sweden, fine-grained, mildly salty and faintly sweet.
Löjrom is the lightly salted roe of the vendace, a small freshwater whitefish related to salmon, caught mainly in the brackish waters of the northern Gulf of Bothnia. The eggs are smaller than trout or salmon roe, orange to reddish gold, and pop only gently in the mouth. The flavour is mild and fresh, lightly salty with a delicate sweetness, which is why it is served cold and plainly, with sour cream, red onion and toast or blini. Heat makes it firm and grainy and dulls its flavour, so on warm dishes it goes on at the very last moment. It is sold in Scandinavian food shops, at well-stocked fishmongers and by mail order, usually frozen, and should be thawed slowly in the fridge.
Substitute:
Trout roe comes closest: similarly mild and fresh, but with noticeably larger eggs that pop more firmly. Salmon roe is larger still and more fishy. Lumpfish roe looks similarly small but is usually dyed, saltier and flatter in taste, and its colour can bleed into cream or egg.
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