Lutefisk & Lefse & Norwegians

[Steve <bboy_mn@yahoo.com>]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, illyana delorean
<illyana at m...> wrote:
> Anne U wrote:
> >
> >And here in southcentral Wisconsin, the Norwegian forbears saddled
> >their descendants with "delicacies" known as lutefisk (cod fish
> >soaked in lye, rinsed off and then dried, I think) and lefse (a 
> >kind of Norwegian tortilla made of potato flour(?)). 
> 
> Lutefisk sounds completely disgusting. My only experience with 
> lutefisk was watching an episode of "King of the Hill" in which
> Bobby Hill becomes kind of obsessed with a dish of the "food" at 
> some kind  of church-related get-together. Needless to say, eating
> so much lutefisk makes him very sick!
> 
> However, this "lefse" sounds pretty good. I like tortillas, and I 
> like potatoes (a lot - the obsession is probably unhealthy!), so I 
> think I would probably like potato tortillas!
> 
> illyana

bboy_mn:
Ahhh yes, the great Minnasota tradition, the annual Lutefisk supper at
the local church; at EVERY local church, thousands of them.

Notice that the Lutefisk is orginally soaked or 'pickled' in LYE which
makes is a deadly poison if not prepared correctly. Basically, you
just have to soak and rinse it several times in water to make sure all
the lye is rinsed out. Understand when I say lye, I mean the same
stuff they make drain unclogger out of.

For those of you who are visually inclined; Lutefisk is a large blob
of pearlly greyish white gelatinous mass that is really quite
disgusting to look at. I personally have never had the guts to taste
any. It's usually served with big bowls of melted butter which you dip
it in to presumably mask the disgusting taste.

I've been told that people in Norway don't really eat that much
Lutefisk. It's sort of a last resort food, they eat when everything
else runs out. In the beginning it was probably the only Norwegian
food that could survive the journey across the Atlantic, and that's
how it became a tradition over here. I had a old guy tell me that when
he was young and living in Norway, his mother used to use Lutefisk as
a punishment; "Junior, you better be good or I'll make you eat some
Lutefisk". Very effective I presume.

Now Lefse is like a Norwegian art form. You take mashed potatoes add
flour and butter then squeeze it all through a ricer which is a
kitchen tool that squeezes 'whatever' through small holes. Then you
roll it out very thin like a soft tortillas. Now comes the art form,
you cook it over a special grill/griddle like a pancake until it has
dark brown to black spots on  both sides. True artist always use a
special wooden Lefse knife-like tool to turn the Lefse over on the
grill/griddle.

Once cool, although hot isn't bad, you smear it liberally with butter
and pour lots of sugar on it, then fold it in half, roll it up, and
eat it. It's actually OK, a little bland though. I've tried to
convince people that you can put anything on a lefse; jam, jelly,
peanut butter, whatever, and you would think that I was speaking
sacrilege. People absolutely refuse to even consider anything but
butter and sugar. They look at me like I'm crazy.

So ends out little leason in Minnesota/Norwegian traditional foods.

Actually, I'll end with a Norwegian joke. Most of you won't get it,
but to a Scandinavian, this is hysterical.

Joke:
"Did you hear about the Norwegian who loved his wife so much that he
almost told her."

Seriously, that's funny joke to a Norwegian.

Just a few thoughts.

bboy_mn