Get ready for some serious controversy! Today we’re talking about scrambled eggs. But not just ANY scrambled eggs. MENNONITE scrambled eggs.
Okay I have no idea just now Mennonite these really are. Maybe it’s a regional thing and only Mennonites in Steinbach do this. Well, probably Grunthal too, since “Rear’ei” can be found in Jack Thiessen’s Mennonite Low German Dictionary.
I’ll tell you what though… I’d never heard of Ruehrei until I met Andrew. We’d been dating a few months when he mentioned Ruhrei to me, stating that he enjoyed Mennonite food… such as Ruhrei.
“Say what?” I responded.
“You know, Ruhrei!”
I did not know. And so… he made some for me, and I took a photo:
He told me that it means “scrambled eggs” — which both Jack Thiessen and the Mennonite Treasury agree with — but he does not subscribe to this idea, that it’s a way of stretching the eggs to feed more people. Andrew insists there should be WAY more flour than eggs, “if you want to make it the good way”.
In my opinion, this is then no longer scrambled eggs, but rather, scrambled dough.
When I asked my mom about this, it turns out she knew all about Ruhrei. She just didn’t like it, so she never made it, and that’s why I’d never heard of it.
But that’s not the end of Andrew’s opinions about Ruhrei. He also insists it must be eaten with vinegar:
I don’t really agree with that.
He also insists that the ideal side dish to Ruhrei is bologna with brown sugar:
This I can actually get behind, basically just because I’m a huge fan of sugar.
And here is the finished product! Andrew’s version of Ruehrei (“scrambled eggs”):
And here is me, about to take a bite:
