Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Lutefisk,share yer memories

Lunde - when is it she makes the prunes on noodles?

Best washed down with Buckley's Mixture.

A few years ago I had a post office box in Sumas, WA and the husband of one of the women who worked there was of Norwegian descent. On the back of her car was a bumper sticker that read: LEGALIZE LUTEFISK.

I had a girlfriend of Swedish descent when I was in university. She said that her dad used to make lutefisk (or it might have been surstr�mming; about equally vile to those of us not of Scandihoovian descent.) As I recall, her mum wouldn't allow him to make it in the house; he had to get in the car and drive out to the cabin! I bet there is a barren, infertile patch somewhere around Williams Lake, B.C. to this day.

Stuart

It might seem every ethnic group has a food that the mainstream finds repulsive.
It would be a dull world indeed if we all liked the same things.

My mom has been making lutefisk every Christmas Eve since I can remember.
She bakes(steams?) her's and it is very good, nice texture and flavor. Looking forward to it!

Noodles and prunes on Good Friday.

Viannatarte

Prune filling between cake layers.

Ya gotta love it.

Medicman--fish stew in Finn is Kulla Moyakka--there are no C's in Finnish. You can still get it at the Hoito Resturant on Bay Street in Thunder Bay. They make thiers with whitefish the old timey way. In Season they will also have Lippia Kulla (Lutefisk).

Lutefisk was just a way to preserve white Cod - soaked in a weak lye solution and then dried. It is packed dry in cardboard barrels. The fish has to be re-hydrated and the water changed many many times before it is steamend to cook it. If done properly it should be almost tasteless.

I like what Garrison Keillor says about it, which pretty well sums-up my own view:

Lutefisk is cod that has been dried in a lye solution. It looks like the desiccated cadavers of squirrels run over by trucks, but after it is soaked and reconstituted and the lye is washed out and it's cooked, it looks more fish-related, though with lutefisk, the window of success is small. It can be tasty, but the statistics aren�t on your side. It is the hereditary delicacy of Swedes and Norwegians who serve it around the holidays, in memory of their ancestors, who ate it because they were poor. Most lutefisk is not edible by normal people. It is reminiscent of the afterbirth of a dog or the world's largest chunk of phlegm.

All this Scandihoovian haute cuisine is beginning to put me off my impending Christmas dinner.

Merry Christmas/God jul och gott nytt �r, alla!

Stuart

No good memories of lutefisk but I grew up on lefse. Great stuff! Sandbakkels are also nice this time of year.

Eric

The lutefisk we enjoyed last night was very good.

Of course I am blessed with a mother who knows how to prepare it(and where to buy it).

Guessing it was a 3-4lb fillet, delicious, all gone. My wife likes it, sister won't eat it, mom does it for tradition, that and my dad and uncle Butch and I all had seconds. Lutefisk and Swedish meatballs.

I draw the line at pickled herring roll mops. Those actually taste like food.

When I escaped the Swedish enclave in which I grew up, one of the things that I did not miss was lutefisk. After living away from it amongst the Bohemies for a number of years, I came across some in a grocery in Cedar Rapids. Overcome by waves of nostalgia and displaying a complete lack of sense, I brought some home and proceded to cook it. My wife and son had all sorts of things to say about not being able to wear any of the clothes currently in the house out in public. When the preparation was completed, they refused to even try a bite. After taking a bite myself, the totality of the dish was transferred to the snow-covered back yard. When the snow melted in the spring, it was found in exactly the same state and amount as when it first took up residence there.

5sdad,

That whole story could have come straight out of the PBS feature on Garrison Keillor we just watched!

Now that they have the elevator at Hoito I go more often. My first trip was when I was six and they had the long tables and serving bowls. Just like a family meal at Grandmas except Finnish spoken not Hungarian. Please excuse the spelling. My wife is Finnish and she has given up on me. I will be in Thunder Bay tomorrow and that will be dinner aka lunch by those not familiar with a mid day meal.

They have an elevator at the Hoito?
Shows how long its been since I was there. Like you Randy--I'm not Finn. Was married for many years to a Finnjin but she has been gone now many years.
Lot of Native People on this side of Lake Nipigon spoke Finn before they learned English.

ah yes, like fiberglass insulation soaked in fish oil. good times, good times

I saw some once...and ran the other way. I dont even like 'good' fish...Im sure Lutefisk is not good....

Not without gagging!!!!

How many of you that turn up your nose at lutefisk eat salt cod?