Mämmi: Can we make it better?

[un3735928559]

Mämmi is a Finnish pudding style thing which is basically rye malt and rye flour that's been mashed then baked (though commercial variants often cut corners and use molasses to sweeten it instead). It's traditionally an Easter dish, but is no less tasty for the rest of the year... though I admit it takes a few serves for it to grow on you.

Problem is, it takes a whole bloody day to make.

Which is why I bring to you lot the question: Can we make it better?. I figure that the longest process involved is very similar to an all grain mash, so brewers should be able to figure out if there's good reasons behind each step, and possibly brainstorm ways to do it better/faster. I found a decent recipe* (Finnish version) a while back, and it worked out alright when I made it (again, a while back).


Temperature control is obviously one way it might be improved -- a constant mash temp should ensure constant enzymatic activity, consistent conversion, and avoid the risk of damaging enzymes. I'm not sure why the malt and flour are added piecemeal (perhaps to allow the continued addition of hot water?), so that might be something else that could be changed (if more advanced temperature control is used), but I don't know enough about the mashing process to know if there's something involved that I don't know .

Anyway, I look forward to any input/suggestions you guys have .

*I've copied it for posterity:

Spoiler

5 l water
1 kg rye malts
1.5 kg rye flour
0.5 tsp salt

If you wish:
2 tbsp powdered bitter orange rind (Of course this isn't an original spice but it is commonly added. Funny thing is that I've never seen any other recipe even mention the whole fruit.)

Heat 2 l water to a boil and pour it into a 10 l bucket. Add half of the malts and one fifth of the flour. Whisk well. Sprinkle a thick layer of flour on the surface. Cover the bucket tightly and leave it to sweeten for about two hours hours in a warm place.

Pour another round of hot water into the bucket. Add the rest of the malts and some flour. Whisk, sprinkle and cover as you did last time. Keep adding water and flour every two hours until they're finished. (I for example made four rounds.)

After the last sweetening whisk the mixture cool. Add the salt and the bitter orange at this point. Fill casseroles (or tuokkonens if you're happy enough to have some) half full but be careful not o overfill since mämmi may flood. Put them into a 150°C oven for three hours. Stir occasionally to prevent a hard crust from forming.

Conserve in cold. Mämmi is at its best after couple of days. The classic way is to serve it in a tuokkonen, a box made of birch park. Even commercial mämmis often have a birch print on their carton boxes. Try sugar and oat milk, whipped oat cream, vanilla sauce or ice cream with it.

Besides on its own, mämmi can be used in many, many ways in desserts, breads, beverages, sauces and even main courses. Anywhere you wish to have its smooth and sweet but malty flavour. We'll get back to that.

 

[DeGarre]

Is the rye malt whole, crushed or flour?

 

[mr_wibble]

If it's an old recipe, there's probably no whole oranges because they never travelled that far north to arrive in saleable condition.
This looks like a very old recipe - since there's no sugar. Sugar used to be a very expensive luxury.

The recipe is quite nonspecific about water temperature. I guess so as long as the temperature was in range, (for a cake) you don't so much care what sort of sugars it gets. But perhaps a slightly elevated mash temperature would give you different sugars (more complex unfermentable ones) that *might* give a more interesting flavour.

@DeGarre: I wondered about the crush too, but then I figured it must be something like pumpernickel bread - https://www.google.com.au/search?q=pumpernickel+bread where the whole grains are the body of the loaf, and the flour the binder.

 

[un3735928559]

The malt is crushed. According to Wiki, mämmi dates back to at least the 16th century, and may go back as far as the 12th (possibly even earlier).

I assume the lack of detail regarding temperature is due to primative or limited understanding of the process involved -- it is a recipe for cooks, after all, not brewers (and even if it were for brewers, I don't imagine the medieval guys had specific thermal measurement ).

My thinking with the temperature is about the the speed of conversion, not so much the types of sugars; keeping it at a steady sixty-whatever degrees might work better than the up-and-down of mixing in boiling water every couple of hours, and might allow me to just dump everything in at the start and mash it all in one go (thereby saving several hours), rather than doing it bit by bit. My focus here is on improving the process more than improving the end product .

 

[DeGarre]

Obviously when eating mämmi non-Finns might find the looks a bit revolting as it looks like one had stout for a week and then sat on the toilet...

Taste is great though, very filling, and one doesn't need any extra roughage to do the heavy lifting...

I have mine with heavy cream, great flavour combo.

 

[lukiferj]

My mummi (Finnish for grandma) makes it all the time. I'm not sure of the exact recipe but I can find out from her. Have grown up eating this all my life. I know she dries a bit of orange peel and uses this in it somehow. I should probably know more about it than this...