Øllebrød med Æggesnaps
Øllebrød, an almost forgotten old Danish dish? I have not had Øllebrød since I was a child and it’s a dish that I remember being served on a cold winter morning and a dish that I absolutely love. I think we may also have had it for dinner on rare occasions. It’s a dish that is great for using up the leftover end-pieces of Rye bread, but of course it doesn’t have to be leftover bread. It is high in fiber, low in fat and it has a slightly tart taste. It’s a solid meal which leaves you with a sensation of fullness and you often see it feed to babies. Ideally you want to use Rye bread without kernels but all I could find was Whole Rye bread, so in that case you simply just press the Rye Porridge (Øllebrød) through a sieve to remove the kernels. As for the topping used with this dish, it can range from milk, cream, whipped cream (flødeskum) to creamed egg topping (æggesnaps). My mother either served it with æggesnaps or milk.
Øllebrød and Æggesnaps
Now for the æggesnaps you are supposed to use pasteurized egg yolks, however, the stores around here only sell pasteurized egg whites and egg beaters. You CAN make æggesnaps with egg beaters BUT I feel weird about it because there are egg whites in egg beaters. I tried it out and the taste is different from a real egg yolk, more perfumed if that makes any sense. Why don’t they sell pasteurized egg yolks? If anyone out there has more information on pasteurized egg yolks, please let me know. Anyway, I decided to live dangerously for this one and I used a real egg yolk. I know, you’re not suppose to do that….but I did and it was fabulous. Do as I say, not as I do 🙂
Ingredients:
Øllebrød (Rye Porridge):
4 slices Rye bread, broken into pieces
cold water to cover
2 tbsp sugar
Æggesnaps (Creamed Egg):
1 egg yolk (pasteurized)
2 tbsp sugar
Directions:
To make Rye Porridge:
Break Rye bread into pieces, place in a bowl and add cold water just until covered. Cover with plastic wrap and let soak in refrigerator anywhere from 1 hour till overnight.
Pour rye bread and water into a cooking pot, simmer, stirring occasionally, until it starts to thicken. Remove from pot and place in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Note: if you’re using Whole Rye bread you’ll need to strain it through a sieve to remove the kernels that don’t break down. Place back into pot and keep warm until ready to serve. If the porridge gets too thick, simply just add a small amount of water.
To make Creamed Egg topping:
Whip together egg yolk (pasteurized) and sugar until it’s thick and pale yellow (1-2 minutes). Serve Egg topping on top of warm Porridge. Enjoy.
Source: My mother Åse
My Danish Kitchen 