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Rømmegrøt is a warmed Norwegian pudding that our family likes to eat with a hefty drizzle of melted butter and a good sprinkling of cinnamon sugar. It’s a longtime family tradition from my husband’s side!
Rømmegrøt is a Norwegian Family Tradition
My heritage is mostly German. Blake’s is 75% Norwegian, 25% Swedish. And ever since our first Christmas together (1999), I had been hearing about Rømmegrøt in different conversations across his family.
While Blake’s family members were saying I shouldtry rømmegrøt, some were also telling me to give lutefisk a fair shot. Now I’m a fairly adventurous eater, but I could die quite happily never letting lutefisk cross my lips. It’s just something I don’t feel the need to accomplish in my lifetime. Ever since then, I have (unfairly) lumped these two Norwegian foods together in my mind, summing them both up as unworthy of my taste buds.
Boy, was I wrong. (At least about therømmegrøt…I still haven’t tried lutefisk!)
Be sure to also try a couple more of our favorites, this Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Rippleand our favorite Sour Cream Banana Bread!
Sons of Norway and my First Rømmegrøt Experience
It was a cold March day, sun-less and dreary, when we visited theSons of Norway in Fargo, North Dakota with Blake’s family.
Stepping inside, there really was no evidence that we were actuallyin Fargo.
The place gave a nodto its Norwegian ancestry everywhere we turned. The whimsical wood carvings of trolls, beautiful rosemåling, huge framed paintings of valiant Vikings, and oh-so-lovely wallpaper designs were the only decor in this space of dark paneled walls.
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It was here that I ran head-on into my first experience withrømmegrøt.
And I gave in and let the kind lady hand me a bowl of this simple, warm Norwegian pudding. I was advised to pour some melted butter over the top, followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon sugar.
After finishing bowl #1, I went back for bowl #2. With more butter andmore cinnamon sugar the second go ’round. That stuff was wonderful!
Rømmegrøt Recipe
Then I asked one of the servers if they might be able to share theirrømmegrøt recipe with me. Because, first, I wanted to make this at home because it was so delicious. And, second, I wanted to preserve a bit of Blake’s heritage, to pass this tradition on down to our own daughters.
I was immediately invited back into the kitchen, where I met Vivian.
Standing at the stove with a red apron tied around her back, Vivian was stirring the thickening milk mixture, watching the thermometer rise. She chatted me through the recipe and was happy to share it with me.
The recipe showed obvious visible signs of being well-loved, with its crinkled paper and bent corners.Several lines in the directions had been crossed out, with revisions handwritten in ink. Those are always good signs of a tried and true recipe.
So why did it take me so long to actually get around to makingrømmegrøt myself? There’s an easy answer to that >>>I lost the recipe and the photos I took that day.
But, thankfully, while organizing photo files earlier this year, I found them again. I proceeded to make a duplicate copy of the photo file and placed it directlyonto my computer’s desktop. I’ve been waiting almost all year to share this recipe with you!
Rømmegrøt History
Thisrømmegrøt recipe is a simple mixture of milk, butter, flour, sugar, and salt, the very same recipe that I enjoyed at Fargo’s Sons of Norway and basically the same recipe that I’ve found in many cookbooks and on many online sites.
But I am now (Dec. 17, 2016) updating this post due to reader feedback. “Rømme” translates to sour cream in Norwegian, meaning a truerømmegrøt recipe would have sour cream in it. This recipe does not, so it would technically be calledfløtegrøt. I am not going to change the title of this post and recipe, as this is exactly how so many people knowrømmegrøt, including my husband’s entire side of his very Norwegian family. All I can say is that everybody makes their own variations on recipes, in both ingredients and recipe titles, and this is onethat has obviously found its own alterations along the way from Norway to America.
How to Serve Rømmegrøt
Blake’s mom (now 84 years old) shared with me that she grew up eating this warm dish two different ways:
- as a side dish, a special treat (especially during the holidays) topped with melted butter and cinnamon sugar
- as a simplemeal, served plain with soda crackers for dipping, along with a glass of milk
Loree, my mother-in-law, recalls her own mom makingrømmegrøt whenever there was excess cream from milking the cows. This provided an inexpensive way to put food on the table.
And when making this for her own family, Loree remembers her three sons being in favor of her switching from cream to skim milk. This resulted inrømmegrøt that was less rich…which simply meant that her sons could eat more of it.
Loree was sure to share her best advice with me, about how to most enjoy a bowl of warm rømmegrøt:
“Drizzle with melted butter and then add a good layer of cinnamon sugar. Eat the top layer of rømmegrøt, skimming off the tasty crust of cinnamon sugar with a spoon. Then repeat, and repeat, and repeat, until you see the bottom of the bowl.”
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Ingredients
- 1 qt. whole milk
- 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
- 1/4 c. sugar
- 1/8 tsp. kosher salt
- 1/2 c. salted butter, plus more for serving
- cinnamon sugar
Instructions
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, heat milk to 195° F. Stir almost continuouslyso milk does not burn, scraping the bottom of the saucepan.
- While milk is heating, whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
- While milk is heating, melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Turn off heat and hold until milk has reached 195° F.
- Once milk temperature has reached 195° F, stir flour mixture into melted butter to form a thick paste. Transfer to the heated milk and stir constantly until milk starts to boil. Turn heat down to low and let cook for 5 minutes more, stirring often. Remove saucepan from heat.
- Spoon into individual bowls and serve with warm melted butter and cinnamon sugar (the more, the better!).
Notes
Adapted slightly from the recipe that Vivian Wensel shared with me in the Sons of Norway kitchen in Fargo, ND.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 270Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 34mgSodium: 140mgCarbohydrates: 39gFiber: 2gSugar: 27gProtein: 2g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by Nutritionix. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee accuracy. If your health depends on nutrition information, please calculate again with your own favorite calculator.
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