I Bought My Wife an Ebleskiver!

I do not have a sweet tooth and so had never been interested in an ebleskiver (also spelled aebleskiver) as they were used almost exclusively to make sweet mini pancakes popular in Denmark.

Then I read a book called Flavors of the Sun, a book of Middle Eastern cooking, which I definitely am interested in. It had a recipe for savoury pancakes (which I love for serving with wine). The author allowed as how a Danish ebelskiver pan was just about ideal for making Middle Eastern dishes that I was interested in.

Given the disinclination on the part of SWMBO to give house room to yet another cooking utensil (and my agreement with Alton Brown about unitaskers) I paused before I remembered that it was the date on which Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49 BC and decided that I could do no less and pushed the 'Buy it Now' button on Amazon. And then like Caesar, I also hit the button for a cookbook of Danish recipes (which do include some savoury dishes).

I am sure I could discern her well concealed enthusiasm for my purchase but will have to demonstrate the wisdom of my decision to buy when it arrives. Does anyone have any suitable recipes (or even know what an ebelskiver is?)

ebelskiver.jpg

I know what poffertjes are.

[Jenise]

I love ableskivers!!!! In texture, they are essentially cake donuts, just round and usually a little crunchier exterior due to the cooking method (which is a plus, IMO). My first experience with them was a savory version served with white (veal) brats at a Danish restaurant in Solvang. Pretty danged delicious. Friends serve them every December 1st at a Norwegian brunch they host on their boat. There's a learning curve involved in turning them to get the desired roundness, but it's fun.

The recipe I want to try is called ejjeh.

It is whisked eggs with onions, parsley, chives, mint, salt, green onions and garlic, Aleppo pepper and black pepper, cooked into little fat discs of flavour and served with wine.

What do you think - my first thought is white wine, but either would probably be interesting.

They are a tradition in our house for birthday breakfasts, Christmas, New Years and Easter mornings. The aluminum pan belonged to my husband's Norwegian grandmothers and is well worn. After many failures I landed on putting a few drops of clarified butter in the pan which prevents sticking and promotes a nice crisp. There is no fool proof way of turning them but it's surprising how well they turn out even if not rotated fully.
I've only made ones filled with lingonberry jam or applesauce and have found that a recipe with buttermilk, baking soda and moderately stiff egg whites folded into the batter makes the best texture.
I love the savory idea and will try it with some ramp sofrito from last springs foraging.

I've considered an ebleskiver for years, but never bit. I often see them in thrift stores. They seem to come and go in waves, depending on whether or not an article was published with ebleskiver recipes.

Hey Jenise - what do you think of an ebelskiver and champagne event.....

[Jenise]

Sign me up!

Showed Herself the book of recipes that arrived today and she understandably gravitated to the dessert style ebelskivers while I looked at the savoury ones, which I figure ill work much better with wine.

Some examples: rosemary/parmesan, smoked paprika and chimichurri, scallion/curry, mushroom, butternut squash, dill zucchini, gruyere souffle puffs, sage/brown butter with goat cheese, lox and cream cheese, plus a whole range of international recipes.

Imagine sitting down to a glass of wine and being handed a racquetball sized puff with any of the foregoing flavour combinations. Should be interesting.

Follow-up - wife's best friend is now the ebelskiver, although I was called on to do the 'simple' stuff like loading it up and actually cooking them (took a bit of trialing to get the best combination of temperature and time).

We made platter of lemon cream filled ebelskivers today:

ebelskiver1.jpg

ebelskiver2.jpg

[Jenise]

And how many did you eat?

And how many did you eat?

A fair few of the non-sweet ones we made as a first trial. Only one or two of the sweet ones she did (shown in picture 2) although not many survived the other two people in attendance.

She used meyer lemons which probably added some flavour intensity to the lemon.

She is now on a hunt for other recipes she wants to try out. I think that the non-sweet (i.e. savoury) versions will be great with wine tasting - hope to do some when you are next up this way in a couple of weeks.

Just ordered one more recipe book for these as SWMBO has really taken to them. Lots of experimentation ahead - with wine of course.

[Jenise]

Bill, be sure to check out that video I linked you to on Facebook. The Japanese chef makes a zillion of these at a time in huge pans that must hold like 40 each and he does them simultaneously, turning with chopsticks. Very impressive, and perfect results.

Thanks - I'll go see now (I usually only drop by FB once a week if I remember).

Excellent video. I like takoyaki and order it regularly. The guy sure was adept with the chopsticks. The size of the balls looks to be larger than the usual ebelskiver pockets produce (must have been big octopus..

PS - maybe I'll try some octopus ebelskivers this week.. Would they be Takoskivers or ebelyaki......

Why stint? "Ebelyaki takoskivers."

I shall be making some little balls of bliss for Jenise later this week (not octopus)

Hopefully they will skiver her timbers as well as go well with wines. I shall do the best that I am ebel.

I shall be making some little balls of bliss for Jenise later this week (not octopus).

Crunchy frog? (Recommended by Chocolatier Gumby.)

I shall be making some little balls of bliss for Jenise later this week (not octopus).

Crunchy frog? (Recommended by Chocolatier Gumby.)

"If you took the bones out, it wouldn't be crunchy." No lark's vomit though (recommend foodies with a strong stomach should listen to this skit).https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zZQQijocRI

[Jenise]

I shall be making some little balls of bliss for Jenise later this week (not octopus)

[Struggling to imagine the moment in which I tell Bill I like his balls.]

I am kicking myself that I didn't buy a cast-iron ebelskiver pan for my mother-in-law when I had the chance. She switched to induction and gave us her old aluminum pan, but the Nordic House store had one that was induction-compatible. Unfortunately, they shut down at the end of the last year. Maybe I will see them again.