Äggakaka — Swedish egg pancake with bacon and lingonberries

Prepare a nonstick skillet about 24 cm across, with sides at least 4 cm high. Choose a flat rigid lid without a vent, slightly larger than the skillet, and dry oven mitts. Weigh the cracked eggs without shells, milk and remaining ingredients. Bacon should be raw and require frying, thinly sliced, without skin or bones.

Put all 100 g flour, 2 g salt and 0.2 g pepper in a bowl. Add about half the weighed milk and whisk smooth without lumps. Add all 250 g eggs, then the remaining milk, 350 g in total, and mix without whipping into foam. Rest 15–20 minutes while frying the bacon; stir briefly again before pouring into the skillet.

Arrange about 100 g bacon in a cold skillet in a single layer. Cook over medium-low heat about 8–12 minutes, turning the slices, until cooked and clearly browned. Fat should render gently without smoking or blackening. Transfer bacon with tongs to a plate without paper towel. Keep all fat and juices in the skillet; do not drain anything off.

Add the remaining 100 g bacon and fry the same way about another 8–10 minutes, adjusting heat so the deposits do not burn. Transfer cooked slices to the same plate, still without draining. Keep the juices collected there too. Both batches take about 18–22 minutes in total. Briefly remove the skillet from heat; all its fat remains an ingredient of the pancake.

Once the skillet stops sizzling strongly, add all 20 g butter and spread it over the base with the bacon fat. Pour in the plate juices too, leaving the bacon slices on the plate. Set the skillet over low heat. Briefly stir the rested batter and pour in all of it, scraping the bowl with a spatula. The butter should melt, not brown before the batter is added.

Cook over low or medium-low heat about 6–8 minutes. As the edges begin to set, draw the soft mixture from the edge toward the center a few times with a wide spatula, tilting the skillet slightly so liquid batter fills the gaps. Do not stir constantly as for scrambled eggs. If the base browns quickly, lower the heat; finish by leveling the mixture into one even pancake.

Cover with an ordinary lid and cook over low heat about another 4–6 minutes. The mixture should form one cohesive pancake, pull away from the edges and have no pools of raw batter on top. Direct steam away from you when removing the lid. If the center is still liquid, extend gentle cooking a few minutes; do not try turning a loose runny mixture.

Remove the skillet from the burner and wait for the sizzling to ease. Loosen the edges with a spatula, cover with the flat lid and, holding both firmly through dry oven mitts, invert them together over the counter. Slide the pancake from the lid back into the skillet, less-cooked side down. Cook about another 3–4 minutes over low heat until the center sets throughout and the second side browns; do not add fat.

Rest the pancake about 3 minutes, then slide onto a platter and divide into four quarters. Spoon remaining skillet butter, fat and juices over them; do not discard these. Divide all cooked bacon among the four servings. Add 30 g ready-made lingonberry jam beside each, using all 120 g. Serve immediately without extra bread or decorations.

The pancake and bacon have their best texture straight after frying. Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours at the latest and eat within 2 days, keeping jam separate. Reheat pancake and bacon over low heat under a lid until hot throughout. Do not leave the dish on the kitchen counter overnight; store opened jam according to its label as well.