beef

pytt i panna (little pieces in a pan)

servings
4

method

I wish I’d known about this dish earlier in my life, because it’s the sort of brilliant everyday dish I absolutely love. Essentially it’s a hash. Everyone I spoke to in Sweden seemed to have their preferred method of making theirs; this is mine. The one thing that seems to be consistent is that it usually involves using leftover meat and potatoes. The idea is to chop and slice all the ingredients into roughly 1–2cm cubes and add them to the pan as you go. So you're prepping and frying until everything is beautifully cooked.

Swedes always serve this topped with a raw egg yolk. That might freak some people out, but you’ve got to get your head around it because the idea is that you toss it all up yourself and the yolk enriches the whole thing as it slowly gets cooked by the residual heat.

Heat a really wide shallow non-stick pan on a medium heat. Chop your bacon into small pieces and fry for 2 to 3 minutes so that the fat starts to render out. While that's happening, chop up your sausage, brisket and salami into cubes, and add to the pan as you go. Do the same with the onions, carrots, potatoes and herbs. Keep stirring to make sure nothing catches, using your spoon to scrape all the goodness from the bottom of the pan. Turn the heat down if you think it’s cooking too fast. Have a taste to check the seasoning; the salt in the smoked meats will probably be enough, but add a pinch of salt and a good pinch of pepper if you think it needs it.

Keep stirring as it cooks and after about 20 minutes, once the potatoes and carrots have softened and everything looks delicious, make your dressing by putting all the dressing ingredients into a jar (reserving the dill flowers if you have them). Pour the dressing into the pan – the acidity will be fantastic with all that rich meat. Carefully separate the egg whites from their yolks and put them to one side. If you want to, leave the yolks in their shells so everyone can tip their own egg yolk into their dish and stir it through. That will give the dish a bit of a theatrical edge.

Divide your pytt y panna between the plates. Make a well in the top and add a yolk (or eggshell with a yolk in it) to each one. Load up a side plate with dill pickles, and roughly chop your dill flowers and scatter them over. The combination of meaty comforting hash, egg for sheen, dressing for acidity and herbs for freshness is insane. Go for it!

• from Jamie does...

ingredients

• 2 thick slices of smoked bacon, or 6 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, the best quality you can afford
• 2 smoked or regular sausages, cooked, the best quality you can afford
• 300g cooked brisket or other leftover cooked meat
• 80g salami, skin removed
• 2 small onions, peeled
• 3 large carrots, quartered
• 1kg potatoes, scrubbed clean
• a few sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme, leaves picked
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 quail’s eggs
• a jar of dill pickles, to serve

For the dressing
• 1 teaspoon good mustard
• 1 tablespoon good-quality cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• a small handful of fresh chives, finely chopped
• a small handful of fresh dill, roughly chopped
• a small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked

share this page

daily recipe rss

new recipe rss

tried this recipe or a similar one? share your tips...

1. by Sanna on Sat 19 Nov 2011 @ 07:01

Where I come from (Finland) pytt i panna (pyttipannu) is usually made of "yesterday's" left over cooked potatos and sausage, I never thought one could do it with raw potatos. Anyway, a nice dish that I prefer to serve with fried egg, sunny side up :-)

2. by ashley on Tue 20 Sep 2011 @ 20:30

Omg this is one of my go-to recipes whenever I don't know what to cook, except I often don't have all that much meat on hand so it generally ends up being mostly veggies! xD Well, I would often quickly scramble the egg in the pan with the other ingredients instead of cracking one on top, but that was more because we don't always have access to good eggs direct from the farm, and I'd be kinda iffy on using regular store-bought eggs for that... Glad to know this dish actually has a name, though, as now I can stop calling them my random-scramble-thing.

3. by Sarah on Fri 10 Jun 2011 @ 08:19

Leaving out the pickled beetroots is half the dish. Ok maybe not but it's a delicious condiment.<br /> Rikard, come back when you've had the pyttipanna in more places than one, egg yolk is NOT uncommon (but fried egg is better).<br /> There are also variations to this dish. You can add cream and make it almost stew-like. Yummy!

4. by Filippa on Tue 19 Apr 2011 @ 14:07

Hi, what about Beef a la Lindstrom?? What do you think of veal beef burgers mixed with beetroot and capers? KR

5. by Rikard on Sat 09 Apr 2011 @ 00:35

I've eaten pyttipanna every now and then during the past 34 years and none have been served with a yolk. Don't know where you've heard it, but traditionally we use a fried egg or pickled beetroots. Or both. Never a yolk.

6. by maria on Tue 21 Dec 2010 @ 19:45

i`m sorry i missed the episod when you wore in my country! but i just want to say that you are fantastick! i wish i could cock like you!
thanks for a great show!

7. by jenny on Fri 10 Dec 2010 @ 13:23

It´s not WRONG to serve it with a raw egg yolk, i´ve seen it. I think it´s the more traditional way to serve it. But I like it fried.
But, as already said, the most important thing left out is the pickled beetroots! It´s not really a genuine pytt i panna without them!

leave comments

related recipes

jools’s favorite beef stew
Jools goes mad for this stew in the colder months of the year, and the kids love it too. It’s a straightforward...
Read more