Flyvende Jacob takes you to new culinary heights
From an air cargo agent’s kitchen to your dining room table
Photo: MatPrat
Flyvende Jacob—Flying Jacob—started out as a potluck experiment to become a culinary sensation.
Kristi Bissell
Taste of Norway Editor
The Norwegian American
It’s been called “every Swedish child’s delight,” a casserole that can be whipped together in a flash, even by the most inexperienced of cooks. It’s been a favorite in Sweden since the 1980s, and over time, it has made its way to Norway and North America.
Called “Flygande Jacob” in Swedish, it translates to “Flyvende Jacob” in Norwegian, “Flying Jacob” in English. In our current issue with a focus on flying and fall being a time when we are all looking for comfort food, it seemed like a natural choice to feature—and it also happens to be one of Editor-in-chief Lori Ann Reinhall’s favorites.
I learned from Lori Ann that the story behind Flyvende Jacob is almost as fantastic as the dish itself.
In 1976, a 32-year-old Swedish air freight worker named Ove Jacobsson took up a challenge to create a dish for a neighborhood potluck dinner. There was one important requirement: the dish should consist only of ingredients already in your kitchen.
So what do you do if have some ready-cooked chicken, bacon, bananas, cream, and some salted peanuts on hand? You simply add some dried herbs and Heinz chili sauce ketchup to the mix to make the very first Swedish Flygande Jacob. Much to the cook’s surprise, his neighbors loved his crazy casserole.
Jacobsson’s culinary creation was such a hit from the outset, that he was persuaded to submit his recipe to the popular Swedish food magazine Allt om Mat (Everything about Food). One of his neighbors worked for the magazine and understood that the simple and inexpensive dish was just what Swedish families were looking for.
Once published, the creamy and inviting casserole became an immediate sensation. It doesn’t matter that the concoction looks a little sloppy, since it is so delicious that even Swedes will refrain from leaving a little in the serving piece, as good Swedish manners dictate. Flyvende Jacob is definitely a dish for the clean plate club.
Over the years, cooks have made their own variations on Flyvende Jacob, which led to a republishing of the original recipe in Allt om mat in 2014. The beloved casserole has become a staple dish in Swedish kitchens, right up there with Swedish meatballs. You can even find ready-made versions of it in frozen food cases in Swedish grocery stores.
“I never thought that a recipe in Allt om mat would have this impact,” Jacobsen later commented. “It’s my contribution to dinner tables and lunch restaurants around the country. I was even a question on Vem vill bli miljonär? [Sweden’s equivalent to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?].”
So if you like chicken, bananas, bacon, and peanuts, this recipe is for you. Over time, you may also want to experiment with it, as so many others have done. Vegetarian and paleo versions have been created, and depending on availability and personal preferences, the bananas have been switched out for other fruits. If someone is allergic to peanuts, they can, of course, be left out or substituted, too.
Because we are a Norwegian-American newspaper, we decided it makes the most sense for us to adapt a Norwegian variant of Flyvende Jacob, developed by our partners at MatPrat. In the end, you simply can’t go wrong—this recipe is a high-flying winner!
FLYVENDE JACOB – FLYING JACOB
Adpated from MatPrat
Serves 4
Ingredients
Vegetable oil for greasing the baking dish
1 roasted chicken* or 3-4 cups roughly chopped cooked chicken
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 cup heavy cream
¾ cup Heinz brand chili sauce
2 bananas, peeled and halved lengthwise
4 slices of bacon
½ cup roasted and salted peanuts
2 tbsps. chopped fresh parsley
*A rotisserie chicken from your favorite grocery store works great here.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 °F. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch x 13-inch ovenproof casserole dish with vegetable oil.
- Shred the meat from the bones of the chicken and tear the meat into rough pieces (you can leave the skin on or take it off, whichever you prefer). Discard the bones. Place the chicken pieces in the prepared dish and sprinkle with the oregano.
- Whip the cream to soft peaks and fold in the chili ketchup. Spread the sauce over the chicken and place the halved bananas on top of the sauce.
- Transfer the baking dish to the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until the sauce starts to bubble and takes on a golden-brown color. Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a medium-sized skillet until crispy. Chop or crumble into small pieces and set aside.
- Sprinkle the baked casserole with crumbled bacon, peanuts and fresh parsley and serve.
Take flight with new variations
From its inception, Flyvende Jacob was about creativity in the home kitchen. You may want to try some of these MatPrat variations, or better yet, come up with one of your own!
- Mix 2 tsps. curry powder into the cream and chilli sauce.
- Cut up 2-3 spring onions and half a red pepper and put them in the casserole dish with the chicken and bananas.
- Substitute the chicken with meat sausage or Bayonne ham.
- Make a vegetarian variation by substituting the chicken with quorn or another vegetarian protein.
- Leave out the banana or substitute it with apple or pineapple.
This article originally appeared in the September 2024 issue of The Norwegian American.
