Eliza Billingham photo
Old European on Division Street in north Spokane serves aebleskivers made using an old family recipe.
Count of dishes/places: 12
This is an imaginary letter to Grandma Marie, the immigrant and inspiration behind Old European, a breakfast and lunch restaurant in north Spokane.
Dear Grandma Marie,
We never met, nor could we have, since you moved from Denmark to America 90 years before I was born. But today I ate your aebleskivers and thought I should write you this note.
Your family still uses your recipes at their restaurant, which is why I consider them "your" aebleskivers. I'd never heard of aebleskivers — actually, I could barely order them since I couldn't remember the word itself. A very patient waitress was finally fed up enough to tell me to think of being "ABLE to SKI...ver." A very nifty tip, I thought.
Mostly, I wanted to thank you for bringing this recipe with you across the Atlantic. I know these are basically just pancake batter, but you somehow perfected a crispy outside and dense, fluffy inside that reminds me of an old-fashioned doughnut. I didn't think I could love pancakes any more than I did before. I'm thrilled I was wrong.
I was so confused how these breakfast treats were made since I could tell they aren't deep-fried. But there's something called the internet now, and I used it to look at special pans with round divets that mold the aebleskivers. The internet says the oldest aebleskiver pan is at least 300 years old. That's even older than you are ;)
I also came across a story of Vikings coming home after a long battle. Apparently, they wanted to make pancakes but didn't have the right cookware. So they greased up their helmets, dumped pancake batter inside, and heated them over a fire. Thus, the aebleskiver was born. Do you think that's true? Those would be some pretty big aebleskivers.
You must have had a special pan in your kitchen, if it's true that aebleskivers are usually made at home instead of restaurants. Apparently there are some street vendors now that make 'em hot and fresh during the winter. But at Christmas, I'd rather sit in your living room with you and your homemade treats.
I like the sweet ones best, but that's no surprise. I have an insatiable sweet tooth that almost always prefers fruit jam and powdered sugar to sausage and cheese.
I'm confused, though — doesn't "aebleskiver" literally mean "apple slices"? I read another history that said aebleskivers originated in the Middle Ages as a way to batter, bake and eat apples that were about to go bad. That seems more likely to me than the Viking story. Plus, I'd prefer apples in my aebleskiver over sweaty bits of hair.
But no one seems to make them with apples anymore, even in Denmark. Do you know why? It's a shame to me. I would love pockets of apples and cinnamon in this dough. No offense, Grandma Marie, but I might try to add that on my own someday.
One last thing, and then I'll let you go. The website for your family's restaurant (they use the internet, too!) says that you believed a guest in the home was just as important as God in the home. More than anything, I wanted to let you know that your food is still making guests feel loved and cherished, even though you're gone. Thank you for calling this country your second home, and for filling Spokane with such sweet memories. Our living rooms, holidays and tummies are better for it.
All my love,
Eliza
Have an idea for what I should eat next? Wanna make me a favorite dish from your hometown, or share an old recipe from an immigrant grandparent? Send 80 Plates tips and ideas to [email protected].
