Kleinur árið 1800

Kleinur anno 1800

Now things are getting very culinary and historical here:

Kleinur is made from a recipe that is almost 222 years old. The recipe comes from the oldest Icelandic cookbook - published in 1800.

Marta María Stephensen is the author on the cookbook.

Marta María Stephensen (1770 - 1805)

Marta María Diðriksdóttir Hölter Stephensen was the daughter of a Danish merchant who traded in Iceland. In June 1790, Marta Maria married the Icelandic lawyer Stéfan Stephensen (1767 - 1820) in Copenhagen - although without his parents' knowledge. After the wedding, the couple went to Iceland and lived on Borgarfjörður, first near Akranes and Borganes, later in Hvítarvellir at the mouth of the Hvítá River. Marta María died here in June 1805 at the age of 34, after 15 years of marriage, giving birth to her 10th child. All but one of her children, 5 sons and 4 daughters, survived.

Her brother-in-law, Magnús Stephensen (1760 - 1833), was also a lawyer and was appointed presiding judge of the newly created Supreme Court of Iceland in 1801. He also published several magazines, was very committed to education, published a number of books on law, history and theology and even owned his own printing company.

The “ Simple Cookbook for Housewives of Upscale Gentlemen ” was also published in this printing company in 1800.

The book was the first printed Icelandic cookbook - and the first book by an Icelandic woman, or so it is said. However, it is now certain that the majority of the cookbook was actually written by Magnús himself in the winter of 1783/84, possibly supplemented later by Marta María. Magnús then published the cookbook under his sister-in-law's name.

Unfortunately, I don't know why Magnús named his sister-in-law Marta María Stephensen as the author - whether he had concerns that it could damage his very successful career as a lawyer if it became known that he had written a cookbook...? Or did he think that a cookbook for the upscale housewife would not be bought by potential buyers if it had been written by a man?

Magnús himself only wrote in his biography that he published the book in the name of Marta María because it "suited her better".

The book can now be found online as a PDF document on the Internet.

§ 97 - Kleinur

However, the recipe for Kleinur reads astonishingly imprecise by today's standards:

For the Kleinur you need wheat flour, depending on how much you want, a little grated lemon peel if you have it, 3 or 4 tablespoons of sour cream, a small fistful of sugar and a few eggs.

All ingredients are then kneaded into a smooth dough, rolled out thinly and cut into strips with a knife. You then make two cuts in the dough and pull the ends through each. The Kleinur are then simmered in melted butter until they float to the top and appear sufficiently baked. The Kleinur is then eaten cold and, if desired, sprinkled with sugar.

A certain challenge with the very vague quantities stated...! I experimented a bit, compared it with today's recipes, and the result was this version for "Kleinur anno 1800" .

Ingredients

340 g flour

1 tsp grated lemon peel

3 Tbsp sour cream

80 g sugar

3 eggs

500 g butter

Preparation

Put all the ingredients for the dough (flour, lemon peel, sour cream, sugar and eggs) together in a bowl and knead into a smooth dough.

Then roll out the dough thinly...

...cut into strips and then make two incisions in each piece of dough.

Then pull both ends through the incision and “twist” them together.

Melt the butter in a pot...

...and add the Kleinur in portions with a spoon to the hot fat and fry until they float to the top and have turned nice and golden brown. (Be careful not to let it get too dark, the small ones will darken when exposed to air!)

Then lift the Kleinur out of the fat with a ladle or something similar and let it drain a little on kitchen paper.

Sprinkle with a little sugar to taste and enjoy cooled.

I find it a bit difficult to compare this Kleinur recipe from 1800 with Kleinur recipes today. The quantities (enough flour, enough eggs - but 3 - 4 tablespoons of sour cream and a small handful of sugar) are very imprecise, so I can't say whether these Kleinur were really less sweet than today's Kleinur.

A key difference is definitely the shape - longer and narrower than today, but with two lines.

For comparison - a modern Kleina

PS: Where does the name “kleinur” actually come from?

Kleinur, in different versions and under different names, are widespread throughout Scandinavia and are also popular as Christmas cookies:

In Denmark they are called "klejner", in Sweden "klenäter", in the Faroe Islands "kleynur" and in Iceland they are "kleinur". The name probably means something like “narrow” or “slender”. By the way, in Norway the pastry is called "fattigman", which means "poor man" - they say that the ingredients were so expensive that making this pastry made you poor.

[Translated from here.]