I remember fattigmann and riskrem, and will try making both of these again, for sure! I was glad to see these recipes reprinted in an old newspaper article written on Grandma Lisa and her Norwegian delicacies!
The Daily Plainsman (Huron, South Dakota)
Sunday, Dec. 25, 1966
Page 16
FUN WITH FOOD
Jule Kake is Christmas Tradition
By Gertrude Lampe
Plainsman’s Women’s Editor
It is not
Christmas without Jule Kake (Christmas Cake), fattigmann (poor men), lefse,
krumkaker and sandbakkels to Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Hammer Sr., 942 Dakota Ave.
S. Some 30 members of their family were
together Christmas Eve to enjoy these traditional Norwegian foods.
Mrs. Hammer had
tins and bread boxes full of the goodies in preparation for the annual
supper. Her recipe for Jule Kake is for
one loaf, but she made four times that much as she knows how well the family
likes it. Lefse, too, she makes by the
dozen. This she freezes and sells during
the fall and winter.
Even though Mrs.
Hammer is busy every day as chief housekeeper at the Hickory House Motor Inn,
she finds time to do plenty of baking, gardening and canning.
A native of
Trondelag, Norway, Mrs. Hammer taught grade school in Norway 39 years before
coming to Huron 14 years ago when she married Mr. Hammer. She has done some interesting Christmas
embroidery, particularly a red wool flannel cloth embroidered in white.
Mrs. Hammer’s
recipes for Jule Kake and fattigmann are as follows:
JULE KAKE (Christmas Cake)
1 C. lukewarm milk
1/2 C. sugar
1/3 t. salt
1/2 t. cardamom (ground)
1 cake yeast
1 egg
2 T. soft butter
3 1/4 C. flour
3 1/3 C. chopped citron
1/2 C. raisins
Mix together milk,
sugar, salt and cardamom. Mix in yeast
and stir until dissolved. Then add egg
and shortening, and finally flour and fruit.
Knead well and let rise twice.
Make a round loaf and place in a greased layer cake pan or loaf bread
pan. Cover and let rise until
double. Bake in a 350 degree oven until
brown, about 30 minutes. If you wish you
can glaze before baking with a slightly beaten egg yolk, it adds to the
appearance. If you make it in a loaf pan
it will have to bake longer.
FATTIGMANN (Poor Men)
6 egg yolks
6 T. sugar
6 T. whipping cream
3 T. melted butter
1 1/2 T. brandy or cognac
1 1/2 t. cardamom (ground)
3 egg whites
Flour enough to
make a light dough suitable for rolling out.
(This varies because of the size of eggs and will require
experimentation.) Beat egg yolks and
sugar until white. Beat cream stiff,
fold into egg yolks and sugar, add cardamom, melted butter, brandy and stiffly
beaten egg whites, then add flour. Cool
in refrigerator overnight, then roll as thinly as possible and cut with pastry
wheel in diamond shaped pieces about 5 inches from point to point.
Cut one inch slit
directly in the middle of each diamond to pull the “tail” through. Fry in deep fat until a very delicate-tinged
brown. Be sure the fat is warm enough so
it will take only a few minutes on each side.
Mrs. Hammer’s
favorite dessert is Riskrem or rice cream, served for weddings and parties in
Norway. Although the recipe calls for a
raspberry sauce, she says cranberry juice thickened is the best topping by far.
RISKREM
(Rice Cream)
3 cups rich milk
1/3 cup rice
Cook until rice is
very well cooked and pudding-like. Add
1/2 cup sugar and 1 t. vanilla, then let stand until cool.
Beat 1 pt.
whipping cream, then soak 1 pkg. plain gelatin in a little cold water. Then add 1/4 cup boiling water, then fold in
cream and lastly boiled rice. Finely
ground almonds may also be added. A
whole almond meat may be put in the middle of the pudding and whoever gets it
is supposed to have good luck, according to the Norwegian custom.
Stir occasionally
while cooling, so rice won’t settle, then let stand until set and serve with
cranberry sauce. (-?--) cranberry juice
thickened slightly with cornstarch and sweetened to taste makes a good
sauce. It should be runny not too thick.
