Medvinden is a 10km plowed ice track that stretches from Vinterparken in Östersund to Kungsgårdsviken on Frösön. On a sunny winter’s day the track is full of people on iceskates, skis, pushing prams and kicks but today there is more headwind than tailwind and we are almost alone on the ice. The wind is cold and the snow swirls around the legs, but it still feels like spring is on its way. The sun is starting to feels warm and it’s a good day for a skate!

The season for long-distance iceskating is long if you like Jonas, start chasing frozen lakes at high altitude in October! He is a real enthusiast and has recently started a course to become an iceskating guide. When Jonas is not enjoying the outdoors, he works as a product developer at Trangia. It was his interest in the outdoors that made this Umeå resident apply for a job at Trangia last year, despite his plans to move to North America. The sooty coffee pot he inherited from his forest-loving grandfather, filled with memories from the forests of Västerbotten, became the inspiration to get involved in designing the Trangia stoves of the future.

“When I am in the forest I feel calm and relaxed”

Having forest-loving grandparents is something Madeleine can relate to. It was her grandmother who made her appreciate nature and everything around it. “If I broke off a branch in the forest, grandma would say, what has that little branch done to you,” says Madeleine and remembers. Weekends were always spent in the mountain cabin in Gevsjön, where they picked mushrooms and berries, fished, swam and went skiing. The Trangia stove was always packed.

“It feels good to work for a company that does good and stand for good things”

Again, it was largely the relationship with nature that made Madeleine look to Trangia. In her last semester at Umeå University, she decided to do her internship in strategic communication at Trangia, and was permanently employed as a communicator a few months later. “It feels good to work for a Jämtland company that does good and stands for good things,” she says.

The ice skating session was cold and windy so we took shelter in a small hut. The strong wind helped the snow get in through the cracks in the walls, and forced us to keep out gloves on. Luckily, the batter was already prepared in the thermos, so all we had to do was to light the stoves and start frying. Jonas and Madeleine brought the Triangel stove, to be able to fry and keep the bacon warm at the same time as they were frying the potato pancakes. Jonas had brought the lingonberry jam from home, made on last year’s lingonberries.

“Raggmunk”, or potato pancake is one of the Swedes’ absolute favourite dish, a lovely flavour combination of sweet, sour and salty. It can be served with a number of different toppings, but bacon and lingonberry jam are the most common. Warm and filling traditionally home-cooked food that tastes amazing, especially after a long distance ice skating session in headwind!

Raggmunk à la Jonas and Madeleine

Portions: 2
Preparation: 10 min
Cooking time: 20 min

INGREDIENTS

400g grated potato
1 dl flour
2dl milk
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
200g bacon
Butter for frying

Lingonberry jam (alternatively cranberry jam)

METHOD

Prepare at home:

1) Whisk fluor, egg, milk and salt to a smooth batter.
2) Grate the potato and fold into the batter.

Outdoors:

1) Brown some butter in a frying pan.
2) Pour the batter into the pan, ca ½ dl better per raggmunk.
3) Fry the raggmunk a few minutes each side until golden brown.
4) Fry bacon in a dry frying pan until crispy.
5) Serve with varm, crispy bacon and lingonberry jam.

Enjoy the raggmunken feel free to share your #trangia_moment with us!