Toast Skagen | Recipe – The Food and Booze Logs

Toast Skagen is a classic entrée that deserves all the praise it gets. Possibly Swedish in origin it really shows how those vikings could just toss a few ingredients together and achieve a near perfect dish.

For 6 pieces of toast you’ll need 180 g of shrimp, 1 dl crémé fraîche (it’s obviously invented after the Norman invasion), slightly more than 1/2 dl mayonnaise, 1 small red onion, preferably spring onion, 1 lemon, some dill (roughly 3-4 tbsps chopped), salt and pepper.

Chop the onion and dill (use mostly the fine leaves). If using frozen shrimp, sieve the defrosted shrimp to get rid of the liquid in the package. Grate the lemon to get lemon zest.

Mix the shrimp, crémé fraîche, mayonnaise, chopped onion, chopped dill and lemon zest together. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper according to taste.

Fry the toast, preferably full wheat, in butter until browned on both sides.

Place a generous amount of the shrimp mix on each slice of toast and garnish with a few slices of red onion. Extras include roe as a topping, but it’s delicious even without.

Serve with a wedge of lemon, a white wine or lager, and enjoy a piece of Scandinavian cuisine.

List of ingredients

Shrimp
Crème fraîche
Mayonnaise
Onion
Lemon
Dill
Salt
Black pepper

The history of Toast Skagen
The dish dates back to the 1950s and is closely associated with the Swedish restaurateur Tore Wretman. Tore Wretman was a prominent figure in the Swedish culinary scene and is credited with introducing many traditional Swedish dishes to a wider audience. He was also known for his innovative approach to combining flavors and ingredients.

The story goes that Tore Wretman created Toast Skagen at his own restaurant, the Röda Kvarn (Red Mill) in Stockholm, around the mid-1950s. He named the dish “Skagen” after a picturesque fishing port in Denmark. The danes have their own tradition called smørrebrød, which consists of bread topped with various mixtures, so it’s likely to have served as inspiration.

Tore Wretman’s version of Toast Skagen featured a mix of cold-water shrimp, mayonnaise, dill, grated horseradish, and other seasonings. The mixture was then spread over a piece of toasted bread and served as an appetizer. The combination of fresh seafood, creamy sauce, and aromatic herbs proved to be a winning combination, and the dish quickly gained popularity not only in Sweden but also in other parts of the world.