In the Duolingo Danish lessons I’ve been doing recently a number of words have popped with which are not really translated. One I noticed today is æbleskiver [ɛːbləˌsɡiːwɐ], which is simply translated as appleskives. That doesn’t really help as I don’t know what appleskives are.
Here’s an example sentence: Koen spiser mandens æbleskiver mens han kigger væk (The cow eats the man’s appleskives while he looks away).
From the context I guessed appleskives are something you eat and involve apples – æble = apple, but what?
The bab.la dictionary translates æbleskive as ‘pancake puff’, which doesn’t really help either.
According to Wikipedia, æbleskiver are ‘Pancake Puffs’ that are:
“spherical in shape. The name literally means apple slices in Danish, although apples are not usually an ingredient in present-day versions. Somewhat similar in texture to European pancakes crossed with a popover or Yorkshire pudding, æbleskiver are solid like a pancake but light and fluffy like a popover.”
Apparently they are traditionally eaten at Christmas, and are often served with gløgg (mulled wine). They are also served at children’s birthday parties.
This is more helpful, but what is a popover?
A popover is “a light, hollow roll made from an egg batter similar to that of Yorkshire pudding, typically baked in muffin tins or dedicated popover pans, which have straight-walled sides rather than angled.” [source].
So now we know.
Next time I go to Denmark, I will look out for æbleskiver, and try some. They sound quite tasty. I’ll have to make sure that no cows take them while I’m not looking though.