Anyone having lutefisk during the holidays?
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the ringo kid
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Tell us what you really think ringo!
I cant, I already got dinged once today. My first in about a month?
the ringo kid
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S&WIowegan
US Veteran
Lutefisk
My Dad and his two brothers were first generation American born Swedes. Grandpa emigrated and Grandma was first gen. Swede American. My uncles both married Swedish girls. We had Swede Christmas dinner every Xmas eve. None of these Swedes would have anything to do with lutefisk!! What does that tell ya right there?
The standing family joke was that lutefisk was prepared by nailing salted, dried, cod to a board, reconstitute it with lye and whatever, then take the fish off the board, throw the fish away and eat the board!
My Dad and his two brothers were first generation American born Swedes. Grandpa emigrated and Grandma was first gen. Swede American. My uncles both married Swedish girls. We had Swede Christmas dinner every Xmas eve. None of these Swedes would have anything to do with lutefisk!! What does that tell ya right there?
The standing family joke was that lutefisk was prepared by nailing salted, dried, cod to a board, reconstitute it with lye and whatever, then take the fish off the board, throw the fish away and eat the board!
duppie
Member
I'm Norwegian but would rather gnaw on Smalahove than to eat Lutefisk and I stay away from Geitost also.
Ironically eating Lutefisk in most of Southern Norway is all but dead now.
Ironically eating Lutefisk in most of Southern Norway is all but dead now.
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dougb1946
Member
Here's the legend: For everything there is a reason:
"It seems that many centuries ago, Norwegians came to Ireland to escape the bitterness of Norwegian winters. Ireland was having a famine at the time, however, and the immigrants from Norway put increased strain on the food stocks.
"The Norwegians were eating almost all of the fish caught in the sea, leaving nothing but potatoes for the Irish. St. Patrick took matters into his own hands and decided the Norwegians had to go.
"Secretly he organized the IRATRION (Irish Republican Army to Rid Ireland of the Norwegians). Irish members of the IRATRION sabatoged all the power plants in hopes the fish would spoil, forcing the Norwegians to move back to a colder climate, where the fish would keep.
"The fish spoiled all righ,t but Norwegians, as everyone knows, thrive on spoiled fish. Faced with failure, St. Patrick sneaked into the Norwegians' fish storage area hoping to poison the Norwegian intruders by spreading lime over the fish hoards. But the Norwegians thrived on the new concoction and named the new concoction Lutefisk!
"Matters became even worse when the Norwegians began taking over the potato crop and making lefse. Poor old St. Patrick was at his wit's end, and finally on March 17, he told the Norwegians to go to hell, and it worked.
"They all moved to Minnesota."
"It seems that many centuries ago, Norwegians came to Ireland to escape the bitterness of Norwegian winters. Ireland was having a famine at the time, however, and the immigrants from Norway put increased strain on the food stocks.
"The Norwegians were eating almost all of the fish caught in the sea, leaving nothing but potatoes for the Irish. St. Patrick took matters into his own hands and decided the Norwegians had to go.
"Secretly he organized the IRATRION (Irish Republican Army to Rid Ireland of the Norwegians). Irish members of the IRATRION sabatoged all the power plants in hopes the fish would spoil, forcing the Norwegians to move back to a colder climate, where the fish would keep.
"The fish spoiled all righ,t but Norwegians, as everyone knows, thrive on spoiled fish. Faced with failure, St. Patrick sneaked into the Norwegians' fish storage area hoping to poison the Norwegian intruders by spreading lime over the fish hoards. But the Norwegians thrived on the new concoction and named the new concoction Lutefisk!
"Matters became even worse when the Norwegians began taking over the potato crop and making lefse. Poor old St. Patrick was at his wit's end, and finally on March 17, he told the Norwegians to go to hell, and it worked.
"They all moved to Minnesota."
Unfortunately, I won't be having any, but I wish I was. My Better-half grew up in North Dakota and she hates it. I spent seven years at Minot Air Plane Patch and loved lutefisk the first time I ate it.......mmmmmmm. While in NoDak my first wife bought some and made it. My kids' little dog was begging at the table so I put a little bit down on the floor for him........he smelled it and then laid down and rolled in it. I actually miss the stuff.
At the risk of thread drift - I got this in an email today:
==============
Pastor Ole is the minister of the local Norwegian Lutheran Church, and Pastor Sven is the minister of the Swedish Covenant Church across the road. One morning they pounded a sign into the ground, which said:
DA END ISS NEAR!
TURN YERSELF AROUNT NOW
BAFOR IT ISS TOO LATE
As a car speeds past them, the driver leans out of his window and yells, "Leave people alone, you Scandahoovian religious nuts!"
From around the curve, they hear screeching tires and a big splash.
Shaking his head, Pastor Ole says, "Dat's da terd one dis mornin."
"Yaa, sure" Pastor Sven agrees, then asks:
"Do ya tink maybe da sign should yust say, 'Bridge Out?'"
======
To get back to the topic -
My now-gone MIL was old-skool Swedish, and 45 years older than Mrs. B. (another story!)
30 years ago, my then-new wife thought it would be one of the last Christmas' we would get to spend with her mom, so she asked mom what she wanted for dinner. "Lutefisk and rice pudding."
Being the not so traditional Swedish daughter, Mrs. B. had to find out where to get the lutefisk, and how to prepare it. She vaguely remembered the white sauce that went with it, so off she went to make mom's wish come true. After stinking up the kitchen preparing this mess, and everyone at the table ready to eat, she served it up into a nice silver bowl to take to the table. I swear that silver turned black before the stuff even touched it!
Her mom ate two helpings of it, claiming it was great. The rest of us ate the "backup" ham.
Oh, and I used to make a great rice pudding, so at least that part was a success we could all share.
==============
Pastor Ole is the minister of the local Norwegian Lutheran Church, and Pastor Sven is the minister of the Swedish Covenant Church across the road. One morning they pounded a sign into the ground, which said:
DA END ISS NEAR!
TURN YERSELF AROUNT NOW
BAFOR IT ISS TOO LATE
As a car speeds past them, the driver leans out of his window and yells, "Leave people alone, you Scandahoovian religious nuts!"
From around the curve, they hear screeching tires and a big splash.
Shaking his head, Pastor Ole says, "Dat's da terd one dis mornin."
"Yaa, sure" Pastor Sven agrees, then asks:
"Do ya tink maybe da sign should yust say, 'Bridge Out?'"
======
To get back to the topic -
My now-gone MIL was old-skool Swedish, and 45 years older than Mrs. B. (another story!)
30 years ago, my then-new wife thought it would be one of the last Christmas' we would get to spend with her mom, so she asked mom what she wanted for dinner. "Lutefisk and rice pudding."
Being the not so traditional Swedish daughter, Mrs. B. had to find out where to get the lutefisk, and how to prepare it. She vaguely remembered the white sauce that went with it, so off she went to make mom's wish come true. After stinking up the kitchen preparing this mess, and everyone at the table ready to eat, she served it up into a nice silver bowl to take to the table. I swear that silver turned black before the stuff even touched it!
Her mom ate two helpings of it, claiming it was great. The rest of us ate the "backup" ham.
Oh, and I used to make a great rice pudding, so at least that part was a success we could all share.
I can't say I actually like lutefisk, but I'll eat it. Sometimes I'll even take seconds. But mostly I think of it as the dues you pay to get to the meatballs, mashed potatoes, slaw, lefse, drawn butter (Norsk), cream sauce (Svensk), krumkake, rommegrot, mashed, buttered rutabagas, etc.
I also like to experience the event itself. These dinners are extremely well-attended. You buy a ticket and get a number, then wait, sometimes for more than an hour to be seated. in the meantime, you wait in the sacristy, maybe listen to live music, and visit with old friends. Some have driven 50 or 60 miles out from the Cities. Some are local folks I have met over the years of motorcycling around the countryside. And it is an evening out in the company of my good friends in my motorcycle club.
I also like to experience the event itself. These dinners are extremely well-attended. You buy a ticket and get a number, then wait, sometimes for more than an hour to be seated. in the meantime, you wait in the sacristy, maybe listen to live music, and visit with old friends. Some have driven 50 or 60 miles out from the Cities. Some are local folks I have met over the years of motorcycling around the countryside. And it is an evening out in the company of my good friends in my motorcycle club.
I actually kind of like lutefisk, but I'm not likely to get any of it anytime soon unless I visit my brother and Norwegian sister-in-law.
Yeah, you probably are going to have to travel some from Orange Co. to find a countryside littered with little white Norwegian lutheran churches.
proctorflash
Member
I remember when i was young, my mother had to soak the dried Lutefisk in the bathtub for a couple of days and rinsed it often to get it just right for cooking. We had that awful smelling stuff every Christmas Eve and invited the neighbors over and they had both cream sauce and melted butter available and boiled potatoes. About 10 years ago my Dad had cooked a little too much Lutefisk and nobody was left that liked it, so he ended up throwing the leftovers off the patio deck for the crows to eat. Guess what? they picked it up and dropped it, even they would not eat it.
Every culture...
Every culture and ethnicity has to have a traditional dish that tastes terrible and you wonder if the people that say that they like it are really telling the truth or just going along with the crowd.
Being from the south I can say that the worst thing I've tried was chitterlings. They smell like where they came from and they taste just like they smell.
Every culture and ethnicity has to have a traditional dish that tastes terrible and you wonder if the people that say that they like it are really telling the truth or just going along with the crowd.
Being from the south I can say that the worst thing I've tried was chitterlings. They smell like where they came from and they taste just like they smell.
I had a very good client who had emigrated from Lithuania.One Christmas she had made some borscht and I ate and smiled and said yum! Every time I was over there for the next week she fed me more! Food should not be pink :-O
Sven
Member
Ya, you betcha.
The mashed rutabaga puts their dinner a bit above the rest. That and some purty good fisk:
Mashed potato, rutabaga, meatballs, cranberry sauce, fisk, slaw, lefse and a roll. for dessert, rommegrot, krumkake and pie.
Rutabagies! That's what's missing from the local Lutheran church's lutefisk feed! Should have lingonberries instead of the cranberries, but I guess I'll just save them for my Swedish pancakes. I always look forward to the last Saturday in October!
Herknav
Member
I tried some for the first time last week. It was a 2-course Julebord (Christmas dinner). You could choose between Lutefisk, Pinechot (sp?-lamb), and Ribbe (pork). The Americans all chose lutefisk and ribbe. All the Norwegians (save one) chose "anything but lutefisk."
photocosmo
Member
A lot of the "old guys" at the bar always claimed that the best lutefisk feed was at the Lutheran church in Nerstrand so I went down with them once a few years ago. There were literally hundreds of people there and it turned out to be an all-day deal. I'm not much on lutefisk, but like you I will eat it because it's different and while waiting to be seated I was lucky enough to be invited to sample some Akvavit (also an "aquired taste"). All in all a great experience not widely available in most areas of the country,
straightshooter1
US Veteran
I've eaten a lot of "strange" food in my life. I spent some time with the Vietnamese people when I was over there and never had anything I didn't like.
I meet Vietnamese here in the US and, sometimes, they bring me native foods. I still like them.
But this Lutefisk sounds terrible.
I'm afraid I'll have to put it in the same category as New York City-ain't never been there, ain't never going. Ain't never ate no Lutefisk (or smelled it), ain't never gonna.
Please help yourself to my portion.
Bob
I meet Vietnamese here in the US and, sometimes, they bring me native foods. I still like them.
But this Lutefisk sounds terrible.
I'm afraid I'll have to put it in the same category as New York City-ain't never been there, ain't never going. Ain't never ate no Lutefisk (or smelled it), ain't never gonna.
Please help yourself to my portion.
Bob
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