Lutefisk

Not to be confused with lutefish.

A serving of lutefisk

Lutefisk (Norwegian) or Lutfisk (Swedish) or Ludfisk (Danish) (pronounced [lʉːtfesk] in Northern Norway, [lʉːtfəsk] in Central and Southern Norway, [lʉːtfɪsk] in Sweden and the Swedish-speaking areas in Finland (Finnish: lipeäkala)) is a traditional dish of the Nordic countries and parts of the Midwest United States. It is made from aged stockfish (air-dried whitefish) or dried/salted whitefish (klippfisk) and lye (lut). It is gelatinous in texture, and has an extremely strong, pungent odor. Its name literally means "lye fish."

General

Preparation

Lutefisk in a Norwegian market.

Lutefisk is made from dried whitefish (normally cod in Norway, but ling is also used) prepared with lye in a sequence of particular treatments. The watering steps of these treatments differ slightly for salted/dried whitefish because of its high salt content.

The first treatment is to soak the stockfish in cold water for five to six days (with the water changed daily). The saturated stockfish is then soaked in an unchanged solution of cold water and lye for an additional two days. The fish swells during this soaking, and its protein content decreases by more than 50 percent producing a jelly-like consistency. When this treatment is finished, the fish (saturated with lye) has a pH value of 11–12 and is therefore caustic. To make the fish edible, a final treatment of yet another four to six days of soaking in cold water (also changed daily) is needed. Eventually, the lutefisk is ready to be cooked.

In Finland, the traditional reagent used is birch ash. It contains high amounts of potassium carbonate and bicarbonate, giving the fish a more mellow treatment than would lye. It is important not to incubate the fish too long in the lye because saponification of the fish fats may occur. The term for such spoiled fish in Finnish is [saippuakala] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) (soap fish).

Cooking

After the preparation, the lutefisk is saturated with water and must therefore be cooked carefully so that it does not fall into pieces.

Cooking pots at a church supper: with this method, the lutefisk was boiled for about five minutes, until translucent, then promptly served.

To create a firm consistency in lutefisk, it is common to spread a layer of salt over the fish half an hour before it is cooked. This will "release" some of the water in the fish meat. The salt must be rinsed off before cooking.

There are several ways to cook lutefisk:

Lutefisk does not need additional water for the cooking; it is sufficient to place it in a pan, salt it, seal the lid tightly, and let it steam cook under a very low heat for 20–25 minutes. An alternative is to wrap in aluminium foil and bake at 225 °C (435 °F) for 40–50 minutes.

Another option is to parboil lutefisk; wrap the lutefisk in cheesecloth and gently boil until tender. This usually takes a very short time, so care must be taken to watch the fish and remove it before it falls apart. Prepare a white sauce to serve over the lutefisk.

Lutefisk can also be boiled directly in a pan of water. Fill the pan 2/3 full with water, add 2 ts of salt per liter water, and bring the water to a boil. Add lutefisk pieces to the water until they all are covered with water, and let it simmer for 7 to 8 minutes. Carefully lift the lutefisk out of the water and serve.

Lutefisk sold in North America may also be cooked in a microwave oven. The average cooking time is 8–10 minutes per whole fish (a package of two fish sides) at high power in a covered glass cooking dish, preferably made of heat resistant glass. The cooking time will vary, depending upon the power of the microwave oven.

When cooking and eating lutefisk, it is important to clean the lutefisk and its residue off pans, plates, and utensils immediately. Lutefisk left overnight becomes nearly impossible to remove. Sterling silver should never be used in the cooking, serving or eating of lutefisk, which will permanently ruin silver. Stainless steel utensils are recommended instead.

Eating

Norwegian Constitution Day dinner in the United States, with lutefisk, lefse, and meatballs.

Lutefisk is very popular in Nordic-North American areas of Canada, especially the prairie regions and the large Finnish community at Sointula on Malcolm Island in the province of British Columbia, and the United States, particularly in the Upper Midwest and Pacific Northwest. From October to February, there are numerous lutefisk feeds in cities and towns around Puget Sound, northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. In the Nordic Countries, the "season" for lutefisk starts early in November and typically continues through Christmas.

Lutefisk (on the upper left side of the plate) as served in a Norwegian restaurant, with potatoes, mashed peas, and bacon.

Lutefisk is usually served with a variety of side dishes, including, but not limited to, bacon, green peas, green pea stew, potatoes, lefse, gravy, mashed rutabaga, white sauce, melted or clarified butter, syrup, geitost (goat cheese), or "old" cheese (gammelost). In the United States in particular it is sometimes eaten together with meatballs. Side dishes vary greatly from family-to-family and region-to-region, and can be a source of jovial contention when eaters of different "traditions" of lutefisk dine together.

Today, akvavit and beer often accompany the meal due to its use at festive and ceremonial occasions. This is a recent innovation, however; due to its preservative qualities, lutefisk has traditionally been a common "everyday" meal in wintertime.

Lutefisk prepared from cod is somewhat notorious, even in Scandinavia, for its intense (and to those unacquainted with the dish, offensive) odor. Conversely, lutefisk prepared from pollock or haddock emits almost no odor.

The taste of well-prepared lutefisk is very mild, and often the white sauce is spiced with pepper or other strong tasting spices to bring out the flavor. In Minnesota, this method (seasoned with allspice) is common among Swedish-Americans, while Norwegian-Americans prefer to eat it unseasoned with melted butter.

Origin

The origin of lutefisk is unknown. Legends include the accidental dropping of fish into a lye bucket or sodden wood ash containing lye under a drying rack. Another claims the practice enabled storing fish outdoors. Cold temperature acted as a preservative and the lye deterred wild animals from eating the fish. However, using lye to soften a hard, indigestible base is used to prepare other foods such as hominy.

Traces in literature

While some enthusiasts claim the dish has been consumed since the time of the Vikings, most believe that its origins lie in the 16th-century Netherlands. It is generally agreed that the first reference to "lutefisk" is in a letter by Swedish king Gustav I in 1540, and what seems to be a description of the preparation process in the Swedish archbishop Olaus Magnus's (1490–1557) personal writings from 1555.

In Norway, author Henry Notaker (in the encyclopedia Apetittleksikon) states that the earliest historical traces are from the late 18th century in the southeastern region of the country. Additionally, a classic Norwegian cookbook (Hanna Winsnes) from 1845 tells about how to make lye for lutefisk from a combination of birch ash, limestone, and water.

Folklore holds that lutefisk originated during the Viking pillages of Ireland, when St. Patrick sent men to feed spoiled fish to the Viking raiders. When the raiders were found to enjoy the spoiled fish, St. Patrick ordered his men to pour lye on the fish, with the hope of poisoning the Vikings. However, rather than dying from ingestion of spoiled fish, or of subsequent poisoning of the spoiled fish, the Vikings declared lutefisk a delicacy. This is obviously a fairy tale, since St. Patrick was in Ireland about three centuries before the Vikings' arrival.

Modern consumption

Lutefisk as a Christmas season meal became increasingly trendy in Norway during the 2000s. The Norwegian Seafood Export Council indicated sales of lutefisk to restaurants and catering companies in Norway increased by 72% between 2005 and 2008. A 2005 survey found 20% of Norwegians ate lutefisk during the Christmas holiday season. In 2008 over 3,000 tons of lutefisk was sold in Norway, surpassing the annual consumption of cod.

In the United States, Madison, Minnesota has dubbed itself the "lutefisk capital of the world" as well as claiming the largest per capita consumption of lutefisk in Minnesota. St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota serves lutefisk during their famous Christmas Festival concerts. They also host an annual music festival called "Lutefest." Lutefisk, though, is not served at this festival.

Humor

Lutefisk eaters thrive on quotes and jokes from skeptics of lutefisk comparing it to everything from rat poison (which has a hint of truth to it, because of the traces of nonstandard amino acid lysinoalanine found in lutefisk due to the reaction with lye) to weapons of mass destruction. A few examples are:

• Quote from Garrison Keillor's book Lake Wobegon Days:

Every Advent we entered the purgatory of lutefisk, a repulsive gelatinous fishlike dish that tasted of soap and gave off an odor that would gag a goat. We did this in honor of Norwegian ancestors, much as if survivors of a famine might celebrate their deliverance by feasting on elm bark. I always felt the cold creeps as Advent approached, knowing that this dread delicacy would be put before me and I'd be told, "Just have a little." Eating a little was like vomiting a little, just as bad as a lot.

• Quote from Garrison Keillor's book Pontoon:

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.

• Interview with Jeffrey Steingarten, author of The Man Who Ate Everything (translated quote from a 1999 article in Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet):

Lutefisk is not food, it is a weapon of mass destruction. It is currently the only exception for the man who ate everything. Otherwise, I am fairly liberal, I gladly eat worms and insects, but I draw the line on lutefisk.

What is special with lutefisk?

Lutefisk is the Norwegians' attempt at conquering the world. When they discovered that Viking raids didn't give world supremacy, they invented a meal so terrifying, so cruel, that they could scare people to become one's subordinates. And if I'm not terribly wrong, you will be able to do it as well.

But some people say that they like lutefisk. Do you think they tell the truth?

I do not know. Of all food, lutefisk is the only one that I don't take any stand on. I simply cannot decide whether it is nice or disgusting, if the taste is interesting or commonplace. The only thing I know, is that I like bacon, mustard and lefse. Lutefisk is an example of food that almost doesn't taste like anything, but is so full of emotions that the taste buds get knocked out.

• The Ole and Lena joke books make frequent references to lutefisk; for example, the punch line of one joke is:

Well, we tried the lutefisk trick and the raccoons went away, but now we've got a family of Norwegians living under our house!

• When Lutefisk is Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Have Lutefisk! A bumper sticker seen around Seattle in the 1980s, parodying the gun-rights slogan of the era.

• The negative view of lutefisk exemplified in these jokes may have led Ulf Gunnarsson to write his parody Lutefisk and Yams. This take-off starts out in trochaic hexameter: "Hark and ware oh warrior, weird of Sven now hear you". The initial section uses alliteration instead of rhyme, like much Old English heroic poetry (e.g., Beowulf): "Finally pounds of pancakes paired with lingonberries." Then it switches to iambic tetrameter as it imitates Dr. Seuss: "I do not like lutefisk and yams/I do not like them Sven-I-Am".

• The Wisconsin Employees' Right to Know Law specifically exempts lutefisk in defining "toxic substances".

• "Revenge of the Lutefisk", an episode of the animated series King of the Hill, uses the dish as a key plot device. When a new Methodist minister arrives in town from Minnesota, she brings some lutefisk to a potluck welcome dinner. Bobby Hill steals and eats the entire batch, enjoying the taste despite its strong smell, and inadvertently sets in motion a chain of events that leads to the church being burned down.

• Drop Dead Gorgeous dialog:

Brett Clemmens: [after Becky has tossed her food tray in, splattering Amber who's working in the cafeteria with its contents - Brett looks apologetic] Oh man...you got some lutefisk in your hair.

Amber Atkins: (upbeat) Then it must be Wednesday!

Iona Hildebrandt: (speaking to camera) Lutefisk is codfish that's been salted and soaked in lye for a week or so. It's best with lots of butter.

Spellings

• Danish: ludfisk or ludefisk
• Norwegian: lutefisk (earlier [ludefisk] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) spelling still sometimes used in English) or [lutfisk] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)
• Swedish: lutfisk
• Finnish: lipeäkala or livekala
• Northern Sami: lovttaguolli

See also

• Clipfish: Salted dried fish, usually cod.
• Fish and brewis
• Surströmming
• Þorramatur
• Rakfisk
• Bacalhau: A Portuguese dish also made of reconstituted dried fish.
• Baccalà
• Hákarl
• Gravlax

External links

• Lutefisk documentary
• The History of Lutfisk
• Lutefisk for Christmas
• Clay Shirky on eating lutefisk
• Chemistry of Lutefisk Template:Sv icon
• Lutefisk Lament, Boone & Erickson
• O Lutefisk (Full lyrics)
• Bizarre Foods Blog Andrew Zimmern explores Lutefisk in Minnesota