Pytt i panna (fried diced meat with onions and potatoes)

One of the most useful dishes in Sweden is “pytt i panna” (fried diced meat with onions and potatoes).

This dish is one of our many classic national dishes. You can make a “pytt i panna” for lunch when you have some remnants of meat and potatoes, which you want to use. You can also be served it in the middle of the night after a nice big party. Then you say that it's "midnight snack."

“Pytt i panna” consists mainly of prepared meat of any kind. It may be, for example, pieces of steak, smoked pork or meatballs. I also like bacon and sausage in this dish. The meat should be cut into smaller pieces. 

The other main ingredient is cooked potatoes cut into pieces. Of course you can also fry raw potato pieces, but a point with “pytt i panna” is often to use something that is already cooked. You also need chopped onions to get a good “pytt i panna”. Some salt and pepper to enhance the taste. 

You fry all the ingredients together in a frying pan. I normally start with the onion, then the meat and finally the potato pieces.

Classic accessories are pickled beetroots, pickled cucumber and/or lingonberry jam. Ketchup can also be added.

Some pieces of raw carrot,  maybe a piece of boiled parsnip and some pea pods enhances the quality of the meal.

For everyday use I drink milk or plain water from the tap to the “pytt i panna”. 

When you eat it as a "midnight snack" after a party, beer and snaps are the right drinks.

Snaps - "skål"