Every once in a blue moon, it’s nice to branch out and appropriate another culture’s food so that you can stuff your face with international goodness. This week, I attempted such a meal in making the ebleskiver. No, I didn’t just sneeze and write out the sound it made; the ebleskiver is essentially a round pancake with space in the middle to stuff full of jelly, jam or whatever your heart truly desires – but nothing sexual, please.
Ebleskivers are a traditional Danish food that has been called a mix between a pancake and a popover, but what really stands out about the ebleskiver is the cooking process and the tools you need to make them. The ebleskiver pan, which is reminiscent of an egg poacher, is a must, and they aren’t very expensive at about $25.
Unlike many of the other things I’ve tried for The Curious Kitchen, this has a very active cooking process after making the batter. Before pouring any batter into the pan, be sure to use some oil or butter in each one to allow for an easy turning process. The recommended amount of batter for each well of the pan is two tablespoons.
Once each well has been filled, you should immediately check to see if you can rotate the partially cooked ebleskiver. Traditionally, the rotating is done with a knitting needle, as a wooden skewer can stick to the batter and cause problems with consistent shapes.
If it is ready to turn, gently coax the inside of it until it is about halfway out of the well and the rest of the batter fills the well. Continue to turn them until there is only a very small opening about the size of a dime on each one. This is a very active process; do not leave the pan while batter is cooking under any circumstance.
If you don’t get the proper shape for your ebleskiver, don’t worry and just keep cooking away until you get it down, this isn’t a recipe that you can walk into and get it perfectly right away.
Now for the curiosity! While cooking these is much simpler without any filling, all manner of things can be shoved into the batter as it starts to cook. If you do decide to try to fill it before they are finished cooking, put the filler in when about half of the batter is added, then cover the filler with the rest of the batter. Try not to use as much batter because the filling will take up space.
While frying away, I decided that sweet ebleskivers were getting too much love, and added sausage to the mix. After they finished, I added some cheese, cheddar for some and gorgonzola for others, and they were delicious. But while turning, it was very difficult to get the shape right. Others I filled with nutella or fig jam, and while those were easier to get the right shape, I would suggest being very careful when using a semi-liquid because they can and will leak.
If you can get past the intimidating cooking method, ebleskivers are delicious at any time of the day, and learning new things about another culture is never a bad thing.
****It’s not immediately clear HOW you’re supposed to cook these things. You need a special kind of pan, which makes me think of an oven, but then you talk about turning them which makes me think of frying them. Pictures with this would be nice since you talk a lot about how they are supposed to look.
