Lutefisk Racks
For all of the goodness and joy the Christmas season brings to millions, there is a dark, sinister side to the holiday if you're from the upper midwest.
Wikipedia gives a detailed history of Lutefisk for the uninitiated. Colorado may have their offal, as Richard Taylor in Denver has written. We have Lutefisk.
Well, we tried the lutefisk trick and the raccoons went away, but now we've got a family of Norwegians living under our house!
The very name for most conjures up dread and horror at the thought of consuming such a thing. It is, served, in the traditional fashion, as a dried or salted whitefish soaked in a potash or soda lye. It is not to be taken lightly in the cooking, for if not done properly the stuff will either kill you or disintegrate into soap.
Lutefisk "season" usually starts in November and extends through Christmas in the Nordic Countries and the heritage in the upper midwest, being what it is, celebrates this time of year with lutefisk feeds as well as a Christmas seasonal dish. Glenwood, Minnesota, just up the road from South St. Paul and the Twin Cities, claims the mantel of Lutefisk Capital of the World, a dubious distinction for most of us. Madison, MN also claims the title and they're pretty posessive about it.
I’d be told, "Just have a little." Eating a little was like vomiting a little, just as bad as a lot."- Garrison Keillor
The history of Lutefisk may date back as far as the Vikings, the European kind, not the Minnesota Vikings NFL kind. It is generally served with lefse, meatballs, bacon, green pea stew, or mashed rutebaga, but the side dishes vary greatly from household to household. It's a pretty good bet that the Obamas have not tried this delicacy, though as they make their way to the White House it may cement an already solid political base among the taciturn populace of the upper midwest.
Lutefisk. It's an item that will put the fear of God in you, thereby making Christmas all that more memorable and spiritual.
Comments
In the east, some are tortured by gefeltifish. Fish not eaten soon after being caught is just nasty in any sense.
---Thanks for the Nordic lesson.
I really have to try this stuff!
Marie
Lutefisk is not for wipms, just for real vikings,,, just kidding. Actually there is not a whole lot of taste to lutefisk, if anyone says it's like vomiting, it's not from the taste of it, it's because of a predisposition of the taster. "If my mom did not feed me with then I don't like it" or "I don't like to eat things that wiggle like jelly" - it does!
to Mik C - I don't agree with your statement that fish must be fresh. Millions and millions of people just love salmon that is either cured or smoked and millions of people love pickled herring - unlike lutefisk both the salmon and the herring both really have distinct (wounderful) taske - I would recommend anyone to try dill pickled herring. To complete the limited perspective of mine on this subject - there is another (Swedish) fish dish. By thousands and thousands considered the ultimate delikatess, by others (including me) considered as spoiled fisk. It's fermented herring (Surstromming in Swedish) It's a several hundred years old tradition that came about due to high import taxes on salt - so the perservative (salt) was not used in adequate quantities - consequently the fish (in a wooden barrel) started to ferment (rot) before it was eaten. Beware; - the taste is very different, but the smell, oh boy, the smell will land you in jail if you opened a can in the wrong place.
Stinky!
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