Risalamande
Risalamande, also spelled as ris a la mande or ris à l'amande, though risalamande is the only spelling authorized by Dansk Sprognævn[1]; from the pseudo-French riz à l'amande meaning "rice with almonds"; Danish: ris med mandel) is a traditional Danish dessert typically served at Christmas.
Risalamande was created in the last part of the 19th century. It is made out of rice pudding mixed with whipped cream, vanilla, and chopped almonds; and is usually served cold with a cherry sauce (kirsebærsauce).
It gained popularity when rice pudding became more common. Until then rice pudding had been a very exclusive dish, as making it required two expensive, imported ingredients: rice and cinnamon. After World War II, risalamande experienced an increase in popularity, being touted as a "savings" dessert: adding whipped cream (which was easily available) to the still fairly expensive rice would make the rice last longer. In order to minimize costs, risalamande was frequently made without almonds during this time, too.[citation needed]
Nowadays, it is very common to make a large batch of rice pudding for dinner on lillejuleaften ("Little Christmas Eve", i.e. December 23rd), a part of which is kept until Christmas Eve and used to make risalamande, which is eaten as dessert after the big Christmas dinner.
Normally, a whole almond is added to the dessert, and the person who finds it wins a small prize - such as a chocolate heart, a marzipan pig, or a small board game.[2] Part of the game involves the finder concealing his discovery as long as possible, so that the rest of the company is forced to eat the entire dish of risalamande, even after they have already devoured a large Christmas dinner.
[edit] In Sweden and Norway
- Read more at Rice pudding#Nordic_countries
In Sweden, this dish is also common around Christmas, but is called ris à la Malta, which is a corruption of the Danish name. Norwegians have a similar dish called riskrem (“rice cream”), but instead of hiding an almond in the dessert, Norwegians usually hide it in the rice pudding itself. The dessert may contain almonds, but this is more common in Sweden and Denmark. In Norway, the sauce is also normally made of raspberry (or even strawberry) rather than cherry.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Den Danske Ordbog, risalamande entry. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
- ^ Danish Christmas Traditions. Retrieved 25 July 2009.
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