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I was pleased to find that a lot of the herbs and spices used in Danish cooking are some of my most beloved, including marjoram, caraway, and cardamom. I also learned about the Danish specialty called Aebleskiver (apparently pronounced ay-ble-skewer), which are surprisingly tasty and addictive Danish pancake balls. With endless variations on the recipe, the most common way to cook Aebleskiver is with a slice of apple or jam inside, served with a dusting of powdered sugar and raspberry jam.
You need a special pan to make Aebleskiver. The traditional is a cast iron pan indented with seven holes, about 2-1/4 x 1 inch deep, which gives you a finished Aebleskiver the size and shape of a golf ball. Getting them rounded is the interesting part. To do so, heat the pan, brush the holes with oil or butter, then drop in about 2 tablespoons of batter in each hole. As soon as the batter starts to bubble and rise, use a fork to turn each Aebleskiver upside down. The uncooked batter, previously on top, fills the hole and rounds up.
No one really knows how Aebleskiver and pans came to be, though there are a number of colourful theories. The Solvang Restaurant, which specializes in Danish food, posts the following Aebleskiver Creation Story on their website:
Back in the good old days, when the Vikings were roaming up and down the coasts of Europe and the waters of the Atlantic, one band of these Vikings had been particularly hard hit in battle, so, when they got back on their ship with their horn helmets and shields all dented and banged up, they decided to have one of their favorite dishes to help them regain their strength -- pancakes!! In those days they did not have modern conveniences such as frying pans, so, they greased their shields and poured the pancake batter on them over the fire but, guess what! Aebleskiver!
In the 2001 Post-Gazette.com article ‘The pan where East meets West,’ writer Marlene Parrish says they have similar pans in Thailand but with smaller diameter holes, to cook the delicacy called kanom krok, a coconut milk and rice flour breakfast food, often topped with green onions, chilies, and shrimp. Her speculation is that in the 1600s when the Siam government pushed the European Christian missionaries out of the country that:
Some Dane, accustomed to eating what had become his favorite snack, crammed a kanom krok pan into his duffel bag before going up the gangplank.
Once back in Denmark, the missionary tried to make the snacks for his pals, and failed. The flavors of coconut milk, chilies and rice flour were too foreign, not to mention unavailable. The inventive fellow then converted the recipe to pancake batter and got rave reviews. He christened his result aebleskiver, and the rest is gastronomic history.
No matter the origins, Aebleskiver are beloved in specialty food niches throughout the world. Here is an excellent Aebleskiver Recipe recommended by the folks at the Solvang Restaurant:
Aebleskiver
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp sugar
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs separated
1 to 3 tbsp melted butter
powdered sugar
raspberry jam
Sift dry ingredients. Beat egg yolks, add to buttermilk. Combine with dry ingredients, add melted butter. Let rest about 30 minutes. Fold in beaten egg whites. Cook in lightly oiled or buttered Aebleskiver pan. Remove from pan and generously sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve with raspberry jam. Delicious.
The holidays are the time for family, whether or not our family is here with us now or long gone. In our information age, it’s easy and heartening to be able to revive culinary traditions even if the knowledge hasn’t been handed down directly. The information is not lost. Someone somewhere recorded his or her grandma’s recipes and is now posting them online in recipe forums or archives. Or is publishing them in ethnic cookbooks. All you need do is a little searching then experimenting, and in no time you’ll be enjoying the tasty holiday treats your ancestors ate.
Photo Credit: Lars Sundström
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