Rømmegrøt {Norwegian pudding}
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 should try 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 the rømmegrøt…I still haven’t tried lutefisk!)
Be sure to also try a couple more of our favorites, this Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Ripple and 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 the Sons of Norway in Fargo, North Dakota with Blake’s family.
Stepping inside, there really was no evidence that we were actually in Fargo.
The place gave a nod to 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.
.
It was here that I ran head-on into my first experience with rømmegrøt.
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 and more 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 their rømmegrøt 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 making rømmegrøt 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 directly onto my computer’s desktop. I’ve been waiting almost all year to share this recipe with you!
Rømmegrøt History
This rømmegrøt 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 true rømmegrøt recipe would have sour cream in it. This recipe does not, so it would technically be called fløtegrøt. I am not going to change the title of this post and recipe, as this is exactly how so many people know rømmegrøt, 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 one that 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 simple meal, served plain with soda crackers for dipping, along with a glass of milk
Loree, my mother-in-law, recalls her own mom making rømmegrøt 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 in rømmegrøt 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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Rømmegrøt {Norwegian pudding}
Our family likes to eat this warm, with a hefty drizzle of melted butter and a good sprinkling of cinnamon sugar!
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 continuously so 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: 8 Serving Size: 1Amount 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.
My grandma Betty made this and we would eat it before Christmas dinner! We kids called it flour pudding . We put cinnamon and sugar on top along with some cream.
I think I’ll bring this back this Christmas!
I am smiling. Keep those traditions alive! :)
My very Norwegian family uses whipping cream. My Grandma was raised in Norway and came to Canada in 1925. Our Nygarrd family still lives on her farm in Norway. That’s interesting what you said about families would use the cream on the top of the milk so that’s probably why my Grandmother Beret used whipping cream here in Canada. We now use the microwave to cut down on time and elbow grease to bring the fat out. Thank you for your post.
And Yes She called it Rommegrot!
Hi I was wondering if anyone has the microwave recipe I moved & it got lost during the move. Thank you.
Hi, so what is your exact recipe when you microwave. And thank you for your time
I made this for breakfast on Christmas morning! What a fabulous treat! I put the leftovers in the fridge covered in vanilla cinnamon and sugar. I had it cold the next day. It tasted like my Swedish grandmothers custard! Love it and thank you so much for posting this incredibly delicious recipe.
Thank you so much for coming back to let me know. SO FUN!!!
I love this story! (and the Rommegrot looks really delicious!)
I am a full Norwegian, my siblings and I were raised on Rommegrot. We ate is as a meal. It t was made with sweet cream and milk. The basic recipe is the same procedure as others have listed. We also used melted butter, cinnamon and sugar for a topping. Mom would make a huge kettle full, we all loved it. I made some for myself last week. Tasted just as it did when I was a kid!
This is what our Scandinavian ancestors would call milk mush. It was eaten for a meal. There was no cream in it. Romegrot is made from at least 50% cream!
Can you make this ahead of time and heat up in a crock pot??
I’ve never tried that, but love the thought of it. If you do try it, I’d love to hear how it turned out!
Yes, I help make it for my church bazaar and we make tons and put in roasters to keep warm then transfer to smaller crockpot for the serving line.
Fun to know! That’s exactly how it was served at the Sons of Norway, in big roasters. :)
My Nana used to pour rommegrot over some type of dense bread/cake for Christmas desert. Would anyone know what type of cake that would be? We are taking our kids to Fargo for a trip and I am putting together some of Nana’s recipes to make while we are there. Thank you!
I love that you’re doing this!
I was at Fargo Sons of Norway for lunch today and it was my first time sampling this. I was hesitant but was not disappointed. I wondered how it was made and yours was the first post I found. Thank you for sharing, I’m glad I stumbled across it.
That’s so awesome!! Thank you for leaving a note – I love to hear these kinds of stories. :)
I’ve heard nothing but good things about this! Thanks for sharing the recipe and the story. No matter what it is called, we’re looking forward to having this very soon!
Let me know know what you think!! :)
I haven’t made this specific recipe, yet. But in 1990 I made this from a recipe in Bon Appetite (?), and LOVED it. But I lost the recipe and the magazine stopped publishing. I am so excited, I get to make it again! Thank you!!!
Wonderful!! I hope you like this!
I just heard of rømmegrøt on Twitter, so looked it up and found this post. So I just tweeted a link to this post to the person on Twitter. This is such an interesting dish. I think she was planning to make it with sour cream.
Hello Jean – thank you for sharing!
Thank You for being a great wife and making a Norwegian history dish for your German husband…..
I am 100 % Norwegiam and we had this Rommegrote pudding as an appitiser before the main meal at Christmas and New Years…My dad use to cook it in a double boiler to prevent burning ….
I learned a new way of making it in an electric crock pot……
We use heavy whipping cream and sift in flour to thicken the pudding…I usually ad a little vanilla and almond flavoring…….We cook it 2-3 hrs a bit longer on a low setting…..till the butter cooks off to the top…My relatives would put the butter in a gravy type pour cup and ADD the butter back into the pudding ,,,and add cinnamon and sugar to taste,,,I thought they called it a “Poor mans pudding”
My Swedish mother in law thought it tasted like “School Paste”…… the old white kind…
My family and grand kids LOVE it any way we cook it…
THANK YOY for helping keep Norwegians eating GOOD stuff….Peter Aftreth Minnesota born…Alaskan by choice
I love the idea of adding a little vanilla and almond flavoring!!
I always thought the school paste tasted minty lol Thank you for the crock pot way!
Our family recipe also includes sifting flour into the whipping cream and constantly stirring until the butter had cooked out. Then scalded milk is added to get to a pudding consistency. Salt to the taste is added, followed by sugar. Once finished, the grot is transferred to the serving bowl, sprinkled lightly with cinnamon and sugar, followed by spooning the rendered melted butter on top. It’s labor intensive, but a labor of love in our family.
Scott— That’s exactly how my Norwegian-American friends made it for me when I was visiting their house years ago as a student.
A new favorite dessert in our house! SO good!
What an incredible flavor! I’m definitely going to make this again!
Loved the story behind this recipe. Absolutely delicious!
When I was growing up this was a treat we would get when sick. Amazing sometimes we would all say we were sick and need it, (we called it milk mush). Grandma would laugh and make it for all of us. She also made Lefsa from scratch; I remember peeling the potatoes. Lefsa was once a year treat.
She died at the age of 99 and five months from 100.
I am 67 and her first Grandchild; the Dr. tells me that I come from good genes. Thank God for the Scandinavian in me!
Hi I’m working as a chef in norway this porridge is in Norwegian called velvet porridge rømme is the Norwegian word for sour cream and it’s similar but made manly with sour cream and just a touch of milk . You also boil out some of the fat that you ladle over when you eat it . Best of luck Liv
Mmmmmm! This sounds AMAZING, Brenda. The added butter along with the cinnamon sugar could very well be perfection. ;)
Just want to thank you for the recipe! I grew up in MN with my grandparents who came from Norway. I was a little girl surrounded by our Norwegian heritage! Grandpa was a Lutheran pastor, so we attended MANY lutefisk dinners. This and lease was the reason for us girls to go! My grandmother made this a lot, just like your recipe. She would say that in Norway, they used sour cream. Although I’ve eaten this tons over the years, I’ve never had the sour cream version. Maybe for Christmas this year?!? I think it’s a term many Scandinavian Americans use in reference to a dish minus sour cream – even knowing that’s not the literal translation.
I do see some of the comments, but still, I think there is one very important detail lacking in this ;-)
First of all, true “Rømmegrøt” is made with sour cream. (Rømme = sour cream if you translate it as well)
Second, and here is the fine little detail.. When you make Rømmegrøt with sour cream, you will come to a point where the Rømmegrøt start to separate fat (This is after you just add half of the flour)… This fat is to keep, Then you add the rest of the flour and add regular milk,
When you serve the rømmegrøt, you sprinkle suger and cinnamon on the top, and finish off with some of the fat that was separated from “Rømmegrøten” ….
A very quick video from “Tine” , showing the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHp4lFd613Q