Kalops – classic Swedish beef stew with allspice, at home or over the fire

Chuck steak, allspice and bay leaves – with beetroot and boiled potatoes

4 servings
Time: 2½ hrs at home + 30 min over the fire (or 3 hrs at the fire)
Difficulty: Easy
15 ingredients
11 steps

Photo: A Healthier Michigan, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Kalops, a Swedish beef stew with allspice, is one of the oldest stews in Swedish cooking. It already appears in Cajsa Warg's cookbook from 1755, and the name comes from the English word collops, meaning slices of meat. Chunks of stewing beef simmer until they fall apart, with onions, carrots, a handful of allspice berries and a few bay leaves. It is served with boiled potatoes and pickled beetroot, and it is the sweet-and-sour bite of the beetroot that makes kalops kalops.

On a January day by the lean-to shelter, when the snow creaks underfoot and the daylight runs out by three o'clock, kalops is almost unfairly good. It is also one of the few dishes that gets better if you make it the day before. The only problem is time: the meat needs about two hours over low heat. So this kalops starts with a choice – where will those two hours be spent?

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Two hours – three ways to make them work

Nobody wants to stand for two hours at a fire pit by the ski tracks with frozen children. So decide in advance where the cooking will happen.

At home and by the fire

Cook the kalops all the way at home the night before, cool it quickly and keep it in the fridge. It thickens and the flavours settle overnight. Outdoors the pot only needs reheating, which takes about half an hour, longer if the kalops is frozen. Pour a splash of water into the bottom before the set kalops goes in, put the lid on and start on low heat so it doesn't burn onto the pot before it has thawed. Stir gently once the edges come loose and let it come to a proper boil before you eat. Then boil the potatoes outdoors, or bring some frying-pan bread to bake while the stew heats up.

The hay bed

The old way of saving fuel: the pot is brought to the boil and then insulated, so it keeps cooking in its own heat. It suits a day when you're staying put at the lean-to shelter or the tent anyway.

Let the kalops simmer for 45 minutes over the fire. Then push the pot into the middle of the embers and let it boil hard with the lid on for a couple of minutes, so that it is piping hot all the way through when you wrap it up. Stand it on a dry log or a thick piece of cardboard, not directly on the sleeping mat, which can melt from the hot base. Wipe off the soot, put a towel or some newspaper around the pot and pack it tightly in a spare sleeping bag, a blanket or down clothing, preferably inside a cardboard box or a large stuff sack. Don't use the sleeping bag you're going to sleep in: the steam makes it damp and the soot sticks, and a damp sleeping bag keeps you less warm at night. Don't lift the lid while the pot is resting.

Allow three to four hours before the meat is tender, but don't leave it for longer than four hours. The pot is cooling all the time, faster in the cold, and below 50 degrees bacteria that survive boiling can start to grow in a stew. So three things always apply:

Bring it back to the boil. Put the pot on the fire, let it boil properly for a few minutes and stir so that the whole pot is boiling. Then eat straight away.
Not tender yet? Let the pot finish simmering on the fire instead of wrapping it up again.
Don't save any leftovers from the hay bed for the next day.

A whole afternoon by the fire

On a winter camping trip, there's time. Light the fire early, brown the meat while there's still daylight and let the stew simmer while the tent goes up and snow is melted into water. It is also the only option where the kalops is truly cooked over the fire from start to finish. How to get the two litres of water for the stew and the potatoes is explained in melting snow for water.

What the cold does to kalops

The fat sets. Beef chuck is marbled, and the fat forms a white lid on cold kalops. If you want a leaner stew, lift off the fat at home once the pot has been chilled overnight. Out in the cold, though, the fat is good fuel for the body, so feel free to leave most of it in.
The cup cools the food. A cold cup draws the heat out of the stew within a few minutes, and the fat sets around the edges. Rinse the cups with hot water from the flask just before you serve. Serve small portions and top up instead.
Frozen kalops is an ice pack. Freeze the kalops flat in an airtight bag or tub at home. It stays cold all the way out and doesn't end up in the danger zone while you're walking. Pack it in the middle of the pulk, in a plastic bag in case the lid comes off.
The beetroot freezes. The pickling liquid in a jar of beetroot can freeze in hard frost, and the glass jar can crack. Transfer the beetroot to a plastic tub with a lid and pack it inside the rucksack.
The flask is not a pot. Only pour kalops that is fully cooked and piping hot into a preheated food flask, and eat it while it is still hot. More about the food flask and cooking in the cold in cooking outdoors in winter.

Safety with a boiling pot

A full cast-iron pot is heavy and holds its heat for a long time. Lift it with a pot lifter or two pot holders and never put it down where people walk. Hot sauce and fat soaking into thick winter clothes hold the heat against the skin, so pull off wet clothing immediately if someone spills on themselves.

For a burn: cool it with cool water, never with snow or ice. Don't cool it for longer than 15 minutes, because the risk of hypothermia increases in the cold. Seek medical care if blisters form and the burn is larger than the person's own hand, if it is on the face, hands, feet or over a large joint, or if the child is one year old or younger. Check the rules and any fire bans in lighting fires outdoors.

Leftovers and keeping it hot

Kalops to be eaten straight from the pot or the flask should be piping hot. Livsmedelsverket, the Swedish Food Agency, uses 60 degrees as the guideline for hot food.
If the kalops has cooled and needs reheating, heat it until it boils. That goes for both the hay bed and yesterday's leftovers.
Leftovers should cool quickly. If it's a few degrees above freezing or colder outside, the pot can cool outdoors with the lid on, or you can divide it into smaller tubs. Then refrigerate or freeze it.
Lukewarm kalops that has sat in a flask, a hay bed or a cold pot for several hours should not be saved for the next day.

Kalops with children

Kalops is mild and sweet from the onions and carrots, and most children like it. What can come as a surprise are the allspice berries, which are hard and taste strong if you bite into them. Hence the spice ball. Let the children count the berries as they go in and count them again when the ball comes out.

Children can peel carrots at home, carry firewood, test with a stick whether the potatoes are soft and put beetroot on their own plates. Beetroot juice stains mittens and snowsuits, so have a paper bag ready for the purple napkins. An adult handles the pot and the potato water. More ideas for what children can do at the fire in cooking with children over a fire.

Tips for tender kalops

The right meat. Chuck, shoulder or shin have connective tissue that melts during long cooking. Rump and topside turn dry and tough.
Big pieces. 3-centimetre pieces hold together for two hours. Small pieces fall apart into strands.
Simmer, don't boil. If the stew boils hard, the meat gets tough. Small, lazy bubbles are what you want.
Hot water. Bring hot water in the flask and pour it into the pot. That way it comes to the boil much faster than with ice-cold meltwater.
Bay leaves and allspice come out. Bay leaves are tough and sharp and should not be eaten.

Common mistakes

All the meat in the pot at once – the meat boils instead of browning and the kalops turns pale.
The pot sits in the middle of the fire for two hours – the bottom burns and the meat gets tough.
Too little time – kalops that has cooked for an hour is tough. Plan for two hours, or cook it at home.
The hay bed is opened and the food eaten straight away – always bring it to the boil first.
The hay bed in the sleeping bag you're going to sleep in – it gets damp and sooty. Bring a spare sleeping bag or a blanket.
Beetroot in a glass jar in the pulk – the liquid freezes and the jar cracks.

Kalops variations

Skåne-style kalops: the one with carrots, as in the recipe above. Without carrots it becomes a simpler stew with just onions.
All in one pot: add the potatoes in chunks for the last 30 minutes and save yourself a saucepan. The stew gets a little thicker from the potato starch.
With game: swap half the beef for moose or deer shoulder. Quicker, creamier wilderness food with sautéed reindeer is in wilderness stew.
Quicker weekday version: when you only have an hour at the fire, a hearty beef stew with strips of beef is a better fit, or a sjömansbiff with thin slices.

Round off with apples baked in the embers while the pot cools.

Allergens

The flour contains gluten. Swap it for cornflour mixed into a little cold water and stirred in during the last few minutes, and the kalops is gluten-free. Butter and sour cream contain milk protein. Many stock cubes and stock concentrates contain celery or lactose, so read the ingredients list.

Frequently asked questions

How long should kalops cook?

About two hours over low heat, until the pieces of meat can be cut with a spoon. Chuck and shoulder may need a little longer, especially if the pot has simmered very gently.

Why is kalops served with beetroot?

Kalops is mild and rich, and the pickled beetroot adds sweetness and acidity that cut through it. That is how kalops has been served for generations, together with boiled potatoes.

Can you make kalops the day before?

Yes, and it tastes better for it. Let it cool quickly, keep it in the fridge and heat it until it boils before you eat. It's perfect to take frozen on a winter camping trip.

How many allspice berries go in kalops?

Between 10 and 20 for a stew for four. Allspice gives kalops its typical flavour. Put the berries in a spice ball so nobody bites into them.

Can you cook kalops in a hay bed outdoors?

Yes. Let the pot simmer for 45 minutes, bring it to a proper boil and wrap it tightly in a spare sleeping bag or blanket for no more than four hours. Always bring it back to the boil before you eat, eat straight away and don't save any leftovers.

What's the difference between kalops and a beef stew?

Kalops is seasoned with allspice and bay leaves and cooked for a long time with onions and carrots. A beef stew can be almost anything, often with potatoes in the pot and quicker-cooking meat.