"One
thing the Please send questions Revised: 2/24/05 - kj
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You Are Here: IC Network : Fresh Tastes : January 2003 Swedish Cuisine Can Be Very IC Friendly! Those of us
in the central plains and northeastern United States can relate to the
hardy Swedes this year. Recent record snowfall and a string of freezing
winter blizzards have kept us indoors more than usual. But perhaps the
Swedes can relate to us, too. One thing the U.S. and Sweden have in common
is that quite a few people there have interstitial cystitis. Culinary innovation from the land of the northern lights "The truth is that Swedes have a keen interest in food and an unusual openness for foreign flavours. This year 250 new cookery books were published in Sweden, a country with a mere nine million inhabitants-- the highest number of new titles per capita in Europe." Not surprisingly the Swedish national culinary team recently won the top prize at Expogast 2002 this last November in Luxembourg. (The honor is equivalent to soccer's World Cup.) Taking a cue from
innovative chefs, the Swedes are expanding their diet far past the traditional
foods our bladders can't tolerate: smoked fish and meats, lingonberries,
and pickled foods. Luckily for us, they've come up with some excellent
(bladder friendly) versions of some old Swedish standbys. Some of these
can be made entirely with ingredients found in the United States. Modern
Swedish cuisine is anything but boring. Here are some of my personal bladder-friendly
favorites: Potatis (Swedish-style
baked potatoes) 2 medium-sized baking
potatoes Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Peel the potatoes. Carefully make slices across the potatoes, cutting only about three-quarters of the way through the potatoes. Leave the bottom half inch or so of the potato uncut. Make many thin cuts, one about every 1/8 inch. Place the potatoes uncut side down in a buttered baking dish. Pour the melted butter over the potatoes, allowing it to run between the slices. Sprinkle with salt. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes at 425 degrees F. With a brush, brush the potatoes with the butter in the pan. Bake another 20 minutes and brush the potatoes again with butter. Sprinkle potatoes with crumbs and cheese. Bake another 5 minutes. Remove and allow to cool 5 minutes before serving. Finding a Cheese You Can Tolerate The key to making this recipe bladder-friendly is using cheese your bladder can tolerate. Not everyone can have Parmesan cheese. The block kind that you buy and grate yourself is very well aged which means it's pretty high in tyramine and other monoamines that could bother your bladder. The pre-grated kind in a cylindrical cardboard container is not so well aged and is cut with other ingredients including "cellulose", a fancy name for what is essentially sawdust. Some IC people can get away with that kind of Parmesan cheese. But the canned kind too has drawbacks-- preservatives that could bother some bladders.
Parmesan is a tasty
cheese to put on these potatoes and other recipes, but it can be a darned
if you do and darned if you don't choice for IC bladders. Because it's
so popular in so many recipes, I think it may be worth the risk of bladder
pain to establish if and when you can have a little Parmesan cheese. If
however you can't have any Parmesan, then here are a couple of safer alternatives
for this recipe: grated Mozzarella cheese is mild and not aged. It's fairly
easy for many IC bladders to tolerate, and melts well. If American cheese
agrees with your bladder, try melting a strip of that on top. Or, just
leave the cheese off altogether and perhaps try another approach... Pear Sauce for
Pork Roast This is a bladder friendly version of applemos, Swedish stewed and mashed apples, a sweet sauce traditionally served with meat. It is quick to make and especially delicious served hot over slices of pork roast. 2 med. pears (greenish
pears, not ripened) Peel and core the
pears and chop into small pieces. Place pears and water in a small covered
saucepan over low heat and simmer for about 12 minutes until most of the
pears are quite soft. Add the sugar. Bring to a boil while mashing and
mixing the pears. Remove the pears from the heat and stir in the cardamom.
Place in a serving bowl or spoon a few tablespoons over each slice of
hot pork roast. Swedish Meatballs
The Swedes love meatballs in any form. They serve them with and without sauce, made from every meat imaginable, and there are meat ball recipes for every meal and occasion. Most of the American versions of this recipe seem to require sour cream (a real bladder-burner). This authentic recipe uses (bladder-friendly) cream. meatballs: gravy: In a small dish whisk
together the egg, nutmeg, allspice and salt for the meatballs. Add to
the ground beef and quick oats. Mix well and set aside. In a large skillet,
fry the onion in a little oil until all the bits are translucent and few
are starting to brown. Remove the skillet from the heat. Mix the onion
into the meat and form meatballs, about an inch to an inch-and-a-half
across. Place on a plate and set aside for the moment. In a small dish add the remaining 1/4 cup water to the cornstarch and blend until smooth. Stir in the cream. Add the cream mixture all at once to the simmering meatballs while carefully stirring. Over low heat allow the gravy to thicken and reheat (but don't allow it to boil). Serve over hot cooked noodles. NOTE: The one real change I made to this recipe is to fry the onions before using. That's because IC bladders seem to handle cooked onions better than raw ones, and the higher the temperature they are cooked at, the better tolerated they are. If however, cooked onions still bother you, then try substituting 2 tsp. or more onion powder for the onions. One other thing to
notice. Most beef broth and bouillon contains MSG, yeast extract, or soy
protein-- all bladder-burners. The kind of beef broth used can be crucial
to this recipe being bladder-friendly. I specified the Health Valley brand
because they are one of a diminishing number of manufacturers who make
beef broth products without these ingredients. Many natural foods stores
and some regular grocery chains carry this brand. If your store doesn't
carry the it, you can ask the manager to stock it for you. Here's the
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The
short growing season close to the Arctic Circle limits what can be grown
locally in Sweden. Perhaps that's one reason Swedes have taken so avidly
in recent years to cooking up their traditional dishes with a foreign-influenced
twist. Lisa Winbladh, writing for the 
A
third alternative is the "gourmet" pre-grated Parmesan in plastic
containers in the refrigerated section. Delia from Los Angeles says: "Theres
one brand of grated Parmesan I can tolerate and maybe some of your readers
can too... Maria Masconis brand. Its imported from Italy so maybe thats
a difference??" That brand appears to have no preservatives.