Minnesota Lutefisk Recipes

Basic Information About
The Preparation of Lutefisk

I have been told many times that "lutefisk is really good if you know how to cook it." Since most of the lutefisk I have been served was mushy--more like a "fish pudding" and not at all appetizing I can attest that is true.

Lutefisk purchaed in the U.S. has been rehydrated and must therefore be cooked carefully so that it does not fall into pieces.

Lutefisk does not need any additional water for the cooking; simply place it in a pan, do not use and aluminum pan as the lye in the fish will discolor the pan)salt it, seal the lid tightly, and let it steam cook at very low heat for 20–25 minutes.

You can also do this in your oven. Place the fish in an ovenproof dish, cover with aluminium foil, and bake at 225 °C (435 °F) for 40–50 minutes.

Another option is to parboil the lutefisk. Wrap the lutefisk in cheesecloth and gently boil until tender. This usually takes a very short time, so watch the fish and remove it before it is ready to fall apart.

Accompaniments vary from bacon or pork drippings, white sauce, mustard sauce, or melted butter which seems to remain a favorite. Boiled and steamed potatoes, stewed whole, and green peas are a must as a vegetable accompaniment. The only other necessary additions are freshly ground pepper, lefse, or flatbread. In some parts of Northern Norway, lutefisk is served with melted goat cheese.

The History Of Lutefisk

It is said that the lutfisk was invented because some fumbly person happened to drop some lye on a piece of dried, soaked fish and thus discovered that the dry fish re-took its original shape and became white. Whether it was by mistake or not, it must have been a successful discovery in those days. Since salt was very expensive and hard to get, it was considerably cheaper to dry fish than to salt it. In some parts of the country, the dry fish could substitute bread. Dry fish was also brought on travels and for those who worked far away from home. We are told about sturdy men from Dalarna who brought dry fish on the haymaking. It was soaked in some swamp to later be banged to a relatively soft and palatable consistency.

The lyed dry fish has its origin in the medieval times. Olaus Magnus, who lived during the first half of the 1500s and wrote History on the Nordic People, tells us, "Above all, the Nordic people eat dry fish such as pike, perch-pike, bream, burbot, and the fish which in the Gothic language is called "sik" (whitefish). All these different kinds of fish are stapled like wood. When you want to prepare these fish to eat, you put it for two days in strong lye and one day in clean, pure water to make it as soft as you want it. After boiling it with an addition of salty butter, you can put it upon the very tables of princes as a well-liked and delicious dish."

Lutfisk on the Christmas Eve table is a remnant from the Catholic days, when all meat was strictly forbidden during fasting. Fish and porridge were the substitution foods, and since (more or less) only dry fish was accessible at Christmastime, this fish came to be the Christmas fish.

There are split opinions concerning the accompaniments to the lutfisk. Butter has already been commented by Olaus Magnus. Samuel Ödmann (born in 1750) writes about Christmas Eve in his grandfather's home, when "the meal was started by strongly PEPPERED lutfisk." Mustard and mustard sauce was used with fish already by the Romans. In this country, mustard seems to be just as medieval as the lutfisk itself.

Many want their lutfisk with white sauce, salt, and pepper. Cajsa Warg writes in her cookbook, For Young Women, published in 1755, about a thick buttery sauce, thickened with flour, which was to be served with the lutfisk. And Dr. Hagdahl has a recipe for green pea purée, which you can serve with lutfisk or meat.

The pea purée, which is today substituted with canned or frozen small peas, doesn't seem to be a very common accompaniment with lutfisk. There's a recipe from the region of Dalarna, where you make the lutfisk with salted pork. On the West Coast some people pour hot pork fat over their fish, while others mix chopped eggs in the sauce. In Norway you can have stewed yellow peas and pork fat with your fish.

Thanks to the freezing facilities of today it would be possible to eat lutfisk all the year round, or at least prolong the lutfisk season. The Norwegians do. But in Sweden it seems like most people are reluctant to do this. It belongs to Christmas.

We eat thousands of tons of lutfisk each year. Half of this amount is dried, lyed ling, which has a lovely consistency and is fairly mild in taste. The other half is sathe, which has a coarser consistency and a more typical lutfisk taste.

-Author Unknown

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