Re: RE: lutfisk

[Guest guest]

I most recently had lutefisk Dec 24. My 89 year old grandmother makes it

every Christmas Eve. She's in Eugene, OR and buys it from a local fish

market. It has already been soaked - she simply puts it into a cloth bath

and submerges it in boiling water for exactly 5 minutes. The most curious

thing is that if you cook it took long, it disappears - I can only guess

that after being in lye the proteins are so denatured that with too much

heat it just falls apart.

Eating at least a bite is something of a family obligation. We cover it

with large amounts of melted butter, and that's what it tastes like. It's a

little gelatinous, and the lutefisk from this particular market at least,

has very little flavor of its own. It certainly doesn't taste fishy. In

Norway when they still eat it (which isn't very often), they cover it with

bacon grease - this according to my sister who spent a year there as a

student. The same lutefisk stories circle our table every Christmas Eve.

The same grandmother bought the entire family tickets to the Sons of Norway

lutefisk dinner in January. I would guess this organization might have

lutefisk dinners wherever it exists, if you still wanted to try it. Tickets

to a lutefisk dinner can be a very hot commodity in the right community, so

get them early!

-Linnea Berg

----- Original Message -----

From: s_lederman <s_lederman@...>

< >

Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2002 9:58 AM

Subject: RE: lutfisk

> X-EM-Version: 5, 0, 0, 0

> X-EM-Registration: #3003520714B31D032830

> X-Priority:

> From: " Cogswell " <radiantlife@...>

> " Carma Paden " <carmapaden@...>, " "

> < >

> Cc: " Sol Lederman "

> Subject: RE: lutfisk

> Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2002 9:15:2 -0800

> MIME-Version: 1.0

>

> Carma,

>

> I lived in northern Wisconsin as I grew up, which has a big Norwegian

> population. I remember every year there would be lutefisk dinners in

> nearby towns, however I never went because I heard that food was so

> strange

> and strong tasting/smelling! I wish my parents had made me go so I

> could

> know what it was like at least.... Has anyone on the list eaten it?

>

>

>

> (Sol could you post?)

>

>

> > [Original Message]

> > From: Carma Paden <carmapaden@...>

> > < >

> > Date: 1/8/2002 6:02:21 AM

> > Subject: lutfisk

> >

> > This was posted on another list I'm on (the list has nothing to do

> with

> > nutrition or food; don't ask how this discussion got started!), and

> it

> > sounded like something that would interest this list:

> >

> > I've just been reading a kids book called Flaxen Braids (by

> Annette

> > Turngren) about a

> > family who move from Southern Sweden to Northern Sweden, through an

> > accident and

> > poverty, to the wood mills, early in the 1900's and the author put

> in a

> > description of lutfisk.

> > Book was written in 1937, but my copy was printed in 1963.

> >

> > Using salted, dried cod. Water run through wood-ash is lye- and

> very

> > " corrosive. "

> >

> > " Fru Lund set the lutfisk to soak in a wooden tub. Over each

> layer

> > of fish she sprinkled

> > lime and wood-ashes. This was to make the fish soft and flaky. A

> few

> > days before

> > Christmas she drew out the lime by soaking the fish in clear water.

> > knew how

> > good it would taste on Christmas Eve, served in its thick creamy

> sauce.

> > She had eaten it

> > every Christmas Eve since she could remember. One could scarcely

> > imagine what

> > Christmas Eve would be like without lutfisk. "

> >

> >

> > ~ Carma ~

> >

> > To be perpetually talking sense runs out the mind, as perpetually

> > ploughing and taking crops runs out the land. The mind must be

> manured,

> > and nonsense is very good for the purpose. ~ Boswell

> >

> > Carma's Corner: http://www.users.qwest.net/~carmapaden/

> >

> >

> >

> >