Hey, hey, hey! It's Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras and that means
your last chance to gorge yourself before 40 days of lenten fasting.
If you do Lent, if not then it's just Tuesday.
But in Sweden it's a day to glut your gut on semlor or hetvägg but a word of warning these delectable buns can be
quite dangerous. In fact they once killed a king of Sweden.
Semlor this time on Tasting History.
So this dish was brought to my attention from one of my Patreon patrons, Tova, and she actually did
a lot to help with this episode because she did all the translating. Helped me with pronunciations
and did a lot of the research because a lot of stuff was in Swedish and I couldn't even find it.
Also thank you to today's sponsor the city of Linsburg, Kansas but more on that later. So
these semlor, or semla, which is the singular are also known as fettisdagsbulle which means
Fat Tuesday bun, and typically today they are served with whipped cream and an almond filling
or sometimes a custard, but in the 18th century they were often served in a dish of warm milk and
still today they can be done in the same way but not exactly the same way that our recipe calls for.
Today's recipe is from 1755 and is called Hetwägg med-Mandel, or hot wall with almonds.
It comes from the Hjelpreda I Hushallningen, or Guide to Housekeeping for young women by Cajsa Warg. Take small round
wheat bread buns and slice a round plate from the top, then dig out all the insides and put it in a bowl,
soak it with sweet cream or milk, and mix it well with a spoon; take an egg for each bun
and mix it into the wet bread, add to it peeled and fairly finely crushed almonds, sugar,
2 tablespoons of melted butter for each bun, and a little salt. Stir this well together and put on
a fire pot so that nothing solidifies, then fill the empty buns, and lay the round plate on top.
tie well around with a thick string, so that the plate remains in place,
and put the buns in a wide pot so that they can stand next to each other, then pour milk in the
same pot, but not so much that it submerges them, and then let it boil for half an hour..
In another container boil a "stop" of sweet milk or more depending on the quantity of the bread,
and put in it a little sugar and butter; when it is to be served the string is removed and the
buns are placed in a deep dish, the boiled milk is thickened with two egg yolks, then a little milk
is poured on the buns and the rest is poured into the bowl to carry in when eaten.
So the recipe just calls for wheat buns which leaves it open to interpretation so I'm going to be making a
modified version of the Sally Lunn bun that I made last Spring. It comes from the same time period so
I figured it will work. The difference is going to be instead of adding saffron to the bun I'm going
to add a little bit of cardamom because that's the traditional way of making the bread today.
So for the dough what you'll need is four cups or 480 grams of bread flour, 1 packet or 7 grams of dry yeast,
1 1/4 or 280 milliliters of whole milk, 6 tablespoons or 85 grams of softened butter,
a quarter cup or 50 grams of sugar, two eggs, one and 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and one teaspoon of cardamom.
So before we actually get to making this bread I need to tell you about the weirdest
coincidence that happened to me. So I was writing this episode like actually typing out the words,
and an email pops up from Little Sweden. Little Sweden... Turns out there is a town in Kansas called
Lindsborg which is known as Little Sweden. It was founded by Swedish immigrants,
and still to this day they celebrate a lot of Swedish festivals: midsummer, Saint Lucia's day,
and the highlight of the year Svensk Hyllningsfest [Swedish Honoring Festival].
So when I told them that I was doing an episode on semlor they asked to sponsor the video, and I said okay!
So thank you to the city of Lindsborg, Kansas and I will put a link to all the festival details down in the description,
but until I can get to either Sweden or Lindsborg, Kansas the only way to get my Swedish fix-
want to say Swedish fish, Swedish f-, Swedish fish, Swedish fix. Try saying that five times fast
is with today's semlor. So first warm your milk to around 100 degrees Fahrenheit or 38
degrees Celsius, and dissolve the sugar into it. Then take the flour and add the salt the yeast,
the cardamom and whisk that together. Then pour the milk solution into the flour,
and work everything together into a ragged dough. Then add the eggs and the softened butter,
and work to combine. Now you can absolutely do this with your hands, but it is a really really
sticky dough. So if you have a Kitchenaid stand mixer now is the time to use it.
Knead the dough until it becomes nice and smooth though it will still be quite sticky. Then cover
the dough with a tea towel, and let it rise for about an hour or 90 minutes, or until it's doubled in size.
Once the dough is well risen, punch out the air and divide it into eight to twelve pieces.
Really depends on the size of semlor that you're going for. I went big, so I went with eight.
Then shape them into buns by stretching the dough out and folding it back in on itself until you have
a circle. Then flip it over and roll it into a ball. Set the dough onto lined baking sheets.
These will expand quite a bit, so and to stop them from running into each other which I failed at
keep them pretty far apart. Also I would recommend either putting down some parchment paper, or the
saving grace of baker's everywhere some Silpat. Link in the description.
Then cover your buns, and let them rise another 45 minutes. That was my best Way West by the way.
While they're rising set the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit or 200 degrees Celsius. Now this part is merely aesthetic so not
necessary, but if you want your buns to shine like the top of the Chrysler building just give
them a nice little egg wash before you put them into the oven. Then bake them for 15 minutes.
Once they're done take them out of the oven and set them on a wire rack to cool completely,
and they do have to be cool before we can make our filling. Once they are cool the recipe calls for
us to cut the top off and dig out the insides. Now for the filling besides the inside of the buns,
what you'll need is one cup or 235 milliliters of cream, eight medium eggs or six large eggs beaten,
two cups or 260 grams of almonds ground. Now the Swedish word in the recipe implies that these are
done with a mortar and pestle, so it shouldn't be as fine as almond flour. So you can hand grind
this with a mortar and pestle, or you can just use a food processor for like five or six seconds.
A half cup or 100 grams of sugar, 16 tablespoons or 226 grams of melted butter,
and a teaspoon of salt. So first put the bread in a large pot, then pour the cream onto it and
soak it well. Then add the beaten eggs, the ground almonds, the sugar, the melted butter,
and the salt and mix everything together. Then set it over a low heat and stir. You want to
make sure that the egg is pretty cooked, so about five minutes is what you want to do but make sure
to keep stirring it or else it will burn very quickly. Once it's cooked, fill the buns with
the filling, and then put the little hat back on. Then the recipe says to tie the top onto the
bun and I found that it was necessary simply because getting the bun out without that tie
becomes a mess. Then set the buns into a large pot. Also it's best to actually set them onto
like a little trivet at the bottom of the pot so they don't touch the pot else they'll burn,
but it's hard to get too many in if you do that. So I was only able to do two at a time. Took me a
while but worth it so they weren't burned. Then pour in some milk. It should come about halfway
up the buns. Then boil the milk for 30 minutes.
Now while those buns are boiling I'm going to
pop a bottle of champagne, and pour myself a glass which will make more sense when we talk
about our history which we should do right now. Cheers!
Adolf Friedrich was the Prince Bishop of Lübeck in modern-day Germany.
In 1739 his cousin Karl Friedrich died and so Adolf administered his
lands because Karl's son was too young to do it himself, and that son was also named Karl,
Karl Peter Ulrich, and he was invited to Russia by his aunt the Empress Elizabeth and this little boy
would grow up to beat Czar Peter III of Russia, who if you've ever watched the show The Great
about Catherine the Great. Catherine's husband is this kid, Czar Peter but all grown up.
Huzzah!
It's a great show, they take a lot of liberties historically but it's still worth watching and
is quite a hoot. What else I find a hoot is that both Karl or Peter, and Catherine the Great were
both German-speaking natives who then moved to Russia to rule the country while speaking French
because that was the language of the court.
Kind of confusing.
And this importing of foreign monarchs
was actually not that uncommon. In the 18th century as it happened a lot of monarchs ended up coming
from what's now Germany. Russia did it with Peter III, and Catherine the Great. England
did it with George the First, and Sweden did it with our dear Adolf Friedrich, and he was dear.
He was supposedly a wonderful father, and a great husband and really kind to his servants which was
not that common at the time. So hats off to him. Which speaking of the Hats were the ones that put him in power.
In 1743 he was elected heir to the throne of Sweden by the Hat faction or Hattarna named
after the little tri-corner hats that they used to wear, which I really want one of those. There was
also another faction in Sweden at the time called the Caps or Mössorna. The Hats and the Caps,
like the Sharks and the Jets, or the Yooks and the Zooks from The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss.
Unfortunately other than being a nice guy Adolf Freidrich is not really remembered for much during his rule
because he was lucky enough to rule during a time of relative peace, and when there was governing
to do was actually carried out by the Riksdag of the Estates which was like a Parliament,
and honestly he was fine with that because he had hobbies. He made snuff boxes and loved to eat,
but his wife, Queen Louisa Ulrika was not so easily entertained, and basically the moment
that she got on the throne she started planning a coup d'etat against the Riksdag, and the history
of it reads like a freaking novel with every overused trope that you could possibly think of.
First she funds the coup by pawning the crown jewels but she's ratted out by a scheming lady
in waiting who tells Riksdag that the jewels are gone, but nothing can be proven because the
queen refuses to let anyone do an inventory of the jewels, but with all eyes watching the plan has to change
so she brings in some new people into the plot including her husband the king's illegitimate
and ne'er-do-well nephew named Ernst.
But just before the plan goes into action
Ernst gets drunk at a bar and spills the beans.
I mean the writing could not be worse.
So he's arrested, interrogated and of course sings like a canary. Plan falls apart and most of the leaders, not the queen,
are decapitated including Ernst. Just goes to show it never pays to snitch if you just followed the
plan Ernst you'd still have your head,
but now the government is really watching the queen very
closely and by extension the king who doesn't seem to have had any idea what was going on,
but it's no wonder that for the rest of his reign he pretty much just kept to his snuff boxes,
and honestly that was a good thing because under Adolf Friedrich Sweden flourished. Besides being
a time of unprecedented peace for the country it was also the height of a period called the Age of Liberty,
which saw civil rights really grow, and a freedom of the press that was enjoyed by few
other countries in Europe at the time.
And that is what our dear Friedrich should be remembered for
but it's not because poor old Adolf Friedrich died in a humiliating way and that is what we remember him for.
See having nothing to do as king it gave Adolf a lot of time to pursue other interests like
eating, and eat he did. He was known for having quite the king-sized appetite to match his royal status.
And on Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday in 1771 he dined on lobster, caviar, sauerkraut,
and kippers and then he washed that all down with some champagne (told you it'd be relevant),
then with a hankering for his favorite dessert he indulged in some hetvägg or semlor in warm milk...
14 servings of it! The man could eat.
"On February 12, 1771 his Majesty felt quite well most of the day.
He had eaten a fine dinner with a good appetite: after the meal his Majesty was
cheerful happy and content, but at about eight o'clock in the evening his Majesty was attacked
rather hastily by a violent stomach cramp. His Majesty sat down on the nearest chair by the door.
The color of his face changed, and then at once gave up his precious spirit."
The king of Sweden died from eating too much dessert,
and lobster, and caviar, and champagne,
but the semlor always gets the credit. The royal doctor Herman Schützercrantz wrote about
the king's stomach being packed solid with food. Some of it not even being fully chewed.
Then he goes into excruciating detail about the autopsy which I will not share except for the fact
that during the embalming the king had nutmegs put under his eyelids to keep their shape.
Now as sad as dying from acute indigestion is, the country really mourned because of who succeeded him.
His son Gustav III took after his mother and was absolutely horrible. He accomplished that coup
that his mother had failed at, and then got rid of most of those pesky human rights, and curtailed
freedom of the press, and led Sweden into a war with Russia before finally being assassinated.
So the moral of this story is no matter how good these semlor are, do not eat 14 of them,
or else your country might fall into ruin and you'll end up buried with nutmegs for eyes.
Oddly enough I'm still really looking forward to them,
so as our buns finish boiling let us
make the sweet milk that they're served in. What you'll need is four and a half cups or
1.3 liters of whole milk. The recipe calls for a stop of milk and that is a very old
and archaic form of measurement equaling about 1.3 liters. A half cup or 100 grams of sugar,
4 tablespoons or 56 grams of butter, and two egg yolks. Add the milk to a medium pot and bring
to a boil. Then add in the sugar and butter, and whisk them in. Then finally whisk in the two egg yoks.
Simmer it for a couple more minutes so it will thicken just a bit. It's not going to become
like a custard, but it will become thicker than milk. Then once your buns are done, remove them
very gently from the pot. Remove the string and pour a bit of that thickened milk on top,
and around the semla. So i made several of these hetvägg in the 18th century style,
but then I also made some in a more modern style where it's not boiled so it won't be soggy bread.
You just add a little bit of whipped cream on them, and maybe some powdered sugar for a flare,
but before I try that modern version I've poured myself another glass of pink champagne
to enjoy with the 18th century version just like King Adolf Friedrich did oh so many years ago,
and here we are hetvägg med-Mandel. I'm so glad that I found such an ornate dish. I figured you know
it's for a king so I needed something ornate.
It's actually plastic. I got them on Amazon for like five dollars,
but it looks fancy and if I hadn't told you- eh, you'd still probably know but
let's give this a shot.
It's way too big a bite. Okay.
It's still a big bite but I don't care.
[Endorphins activate]
Hm!
That's amazing.
Yeah I could eat 14 of those.
His were probably smaller. I could eat seven of these.
I'm not going to but I totally could. Is it soggy? Yes, but it doesn't matter.
That's so good and I love that that the filling is not super smooth. It is smooth but there are
still chunks because we ground it by hand. There are still chunks of- pieces of almond that are just
"Oh sweet mystery of life at last I found thee and thy name is semlor, because
oh amazing. Let's try the modern version.
Now I don't know the traditional way of eating these
so i'm just going to bite into it and probably make a mess on camera.
*chomp
Mhm. Hmmm!
They're both awesome. I like the cream. I do like the the whipped cream. It's a little bit more
like a pastry because it's not soggy, but they're both fantastic. Make them. Make both.
Do it. It's-
I cannot recommend it any more than I already have. There it is also if you do make these,
and I think you should please share a picture either on our Reddit or on Instagram because
that's my favorite thing to do, it's look at other people making the food that I
made here on the channel,
and I will see you next time on Tasting History.
[heartburn incoming]