Flying Jacob, classic Swedish dish

Some weeks ago I cooked Flying Jacob (Swedish: Flygande Jacob or Flygande Jakob) at my friends Anders' & Amy's place for some lovely dinner guests (pictures at flickr). We had a great time, and at the end of the night I got that greatest of compliments from Marc, he asked for the recipe (he wasn't just being nice, I have since heard that he has actually even used it cooking for his friends, who also loved it).

I think this dish was "invented" in the 70s by a Swedish chef (if anyone knows the story, please contact me). Have since I wrote this found the answer, read full post and scroll down to have the secret revealed!

Photo borrowed from recepten.se since I forgot to take picture of my completed masterpiece... Hope they don't mind.

Usually it is served as a kids' dish, the savoury taste and the mix of sweet, salty and creamy makes it an easy sell I guess (and the pink color is a bit different, which I think also goes down well with our younger co-inhabitants of Earth). Every household in Sweden seems to have their own version of this dish, but this is mine.

For this particular night I even made a vegan version of it, where I replaced the bacon with smoked tofu and the chicken with sweet potato (since Bunny simply loves sweet potato...).

Here is however the carnivore recipe. The name of the dish is "Flygande Jakob" [Fluugannde Iakobb] which means "Flying Jacob". Don't know why really...

You need this for six people:

1 kg chicken breast
200 gr bacon
4 bananas
2 dl chili sauce (HP Mexican Chili is great)
5 dl single cream
1.5 dl peanuts
salt and pepper
rice

Instructions:

Put the rice to boil. Start the oven, 200 degrees celsius.

Cut the chicken to bite sized pieces. Cut the bacon to small bits, like 3x1 cm shreds. Fry the bacon first (season with pepper), put aside. Fry the chicken (season with salt and pepper), put aside.

(Tip: If you want to save time, buy a grilled chicken and rip to bite sized pieces instead of frying chicken breast.)

Mix the cream with the chili sauce.

Put the rice in the bottom of a pan (you know, the typical 33x25 cm oven pan). Put chicken and bacon on top. Slice two of the bananas on top of the chicken and bacon. Pour the mix of cream and chili over it all, distributing it evenly. Slice the remaining two bananas on top of the cream and sprinkle with peanuts.

Place pan in the middle of the oven and let it bake until the sauce gets a bit darker (ten to fiteen minutes).

Serve with salad. Get stuffed.

UPDATE: According to my mother, the name of the "inventor" was Jacobsson and he was indeed Swedish. He wasn't a chef however, he worked in the air freight industry... How odd. But I guess they have kids who have to eat too?

Atleast that explains the name, "Flying Jacob". But shouldn't there be a cute little story to tell to the kids, about the night daddy Jacobsson had to cook since wifey was away, and all he had was cream, bananas, ketchup and chicken? That's probably exactly how it happened.

UPDATE: An acquaintance on a mailing list I am a member of (ah, the aggregate wisdom and power of Trafik truly rocks) provided the following background.

Excerpt from the Swedish book "På svenska bord 1970-2000 Tidernas Mat - Nordiska Museet * Allt om mat" page 137 (translation done by me):

The name of the dish hasn't got anything to do with the chicken, but comes from the name of the creator who was called Jacobsson. His daily job was in the air freight industry - hence "Flying Jacob".

This easy to make and popular dish has become a part of the Swedish household and is today also served in schools. Few people know that it originated in "Allt om  mat" (a well known Swedish cooking magazine // Manne); it was first published in issue 13, 1976.

So there you go. Soon to celebrate its' 30th birthday. The traditional recipe goes like this (from the original article):

Original and traditional Swedish Flying Jacob (serves 8)

Ingredients:

4 rotisserie chickens
1 tsp Italian salad spice
4-5 bananas
4 dl double cream
2 dl "ketchupish" chili sauce
2 packages bacon
1 dl salted peanuts

Instructions:

1. Set oven to 225 degrees celsius.

2. Strip all the meat of the chickens and put in an oven pan. Taste the chicken and if needed season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the salad spice on top.

3. Peel the bananas. Cut them first once in half and then split them length wise making four pieces of each banana. Put on top of the chicken.

4. Whip the cream lightly and mix with the chili sauce.

5. Distribute cream and chili mix over the chicken and banana. Bake in oven about 20 minutes.

6. Meanwhile, cut bacon to small pieces and fry until crispy.

7. Spread crispy bacon and peanuts over the baked chicken.

Serve with a salad and boiled rice.

Comments

[Lisa]

I loathe it. Especially since there must be a rumour on the net that the combination is a powerful aphrodisiac. Or why else do approximately 73% of young Swedish males serve this or a similar dish at the first date in their home?

Lovely blog! Buut pleasae remember that Brits in general do not have a clue what a dl is.

[Angela]

Hey, that´s funny. I ended up on this page just by coincidence, and I was the one who sent the except from the book I had in my bookshelf, with the the history of the dish. It´s a small net... :)

[Manne]

Ha ha! A small Internet it is indeed. Thanks again Angela.

[Sarah]

I did it in barcelona for my catalan colleagues and they LOVED it. It's yummie!!!

[marian]

our swedish exchange students made this dish for us last night but they used filet mignon instead of chicken. It was great!

[Manne]

Never tried it with filet mignon. Sounds like a good suggestion though. :)

[jimmy]

This is probably one of the best taste experiences you can get away with this easy. I have my doubts that 73% of all males serving this on their first date tho since there's not even 73% that know how to use the owen. But i would love to hear about the similar dishes you mentioned. Everyone would have a better life with more dishes like this one

[Sebastian]

The comment about airfreight is true: Ove Jakobsson works within airfreight in Marsta - Sweden. A friend of his was a know chef and introduced it to the public, but it was Ove who invented it.

[rick miller]

absolutly delicious, thanks karen you know who you are

[Mange]

I always found it anoying that I was expected to like this dish just because I was a kid. Never really did, until my mother made a version based on filet of pork instead of chicken! I would recommend pork over chicken as a base of this dish.

[Ellen]

Hej!

I just wanted to say thank you for posting this recipe! I stumbled across it after searching the net for Swedish butter knives but that's another story...

I recall this dish on one of my first visits to Sweden. Made by my friend's mother she used curry powder and tomato puree with the cream and the meat was minced beef (or typically pork and beef I suppose). I totally forgot about the banana!!

Anyway, despite returning to Sweden year after year and to many different regions, I have not seen this dish since that time. And as I did not know the name either, I had given up the search.

However, as I type, my chicken and bacon Jacob is in the oven and I can not wait to try it!

Cheers!

[Ellen]

Hej!

I just wanted to say thank you for posting this recipe! I stumbled across it after searching the net for Swedish butter knives but that's another story...

I recall this dish on one of my first visits to Sweden. Made by my friend's mother she used curry powder and tomato puree with the cream and the meat was minced beef (or typically pork and beef I suppose). I totally forgot about the banana!!

Anyway, despite returning to Sweden year after year and to many different regions, I have not seen this dish since that time. And as I did not know the name either, I had given up the search.

However, as I type, my chicken and bacon Jacob is in the oven and I can not wait to try it!

Cheers!

[Anders]

Hallo.
I've done the same dish, but since I’m allergic to peanuts I use cashews, and instead of chilli sauce use sweet chilli and I also add yellow curry powder. Turns out great served with rice, I call it Swedish curry! ;)

[Ingrid]

I can say that I tasted Manne's Flying Jacob on the weekend. I was most suspicious about a recipe with banana and chicken but I confess I had thirds!

[Jeremy]

I am planning to try this one for my cousins who are going to visit next week. It would be difficult to manage 1 kg chicken breast, may use half a kilo. They will be "flying" I suppose.

[Henrik]

Replacing the meat with Quorn makes a perfect vegetarian dish!!! It's my birthday classic, and my birthday is today! Yahoo! Can't wait for dinner :D