Bröllopudding

I sat in the Kaffestugga with MariAnn and Gloria.  MariAnn came to Minnesota from Sweden many decades ago to run the Swedish Collections at the University of Minnesota, and Gloria arrived here in the 50s when her husband became pastor at Grace Lutheran (also on campus).  We were discussing Gloria's food memories when she described a pudding her mother made that sounded like flan or perhaps creme brulee. 

"Brylépudding is what we say in Swedish. That’s caramel pudding," MariAnn told us.

Gloria added, "I remember being served a dinner once down in Mexico City by this family and they served it. They said they wanted to have a typical Mexican dessert and I said, ‘It is just like my Swedish mother used to make!’"  She added, "'It is very Swedish,’ I said."

The cashier sat close enough to us to listen to our conversation and she interjected, "No, no, my mother called it Swedish pudding or weddingris."  Ris is Swedish for rice and I assumed she was referring to rice pudding, but she continued. "With caramel in the bottom.  Custard." 

MariAnn asked her, "What was it in Swedish?"

"Brölle," the cashier answered.

"Brölle. Yes, that’s brulee," MariAnn rolled the words with her Swedish accent and we heard the similarity.

"So, wedding pudding!" I was proud to show off my limited but occasionally useful knowledge of Swedish.

"Oh, that’s funny!" MariAnn chuckled at the journey of the custard's name.  The French word "brulee" was pronounced "brölle" in Swedish which became "bröllopudding."  "Bröllop" is Swedish for wedding.  So the American family called their Swedish brulee "weddingpudding."

Comments

stef said…
This is like the Russian Teacake, Mexican Wedding Cake and the Swedish Teacakes are all the same. Each culture trying to adopt a successful product.
patrice said…
YES! exactly! i love that!

Popular Posts