{"id":1264,"date":"2011-10-23T15:36:24","date_gmt":"2011-10-23T15:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/?p=1264"},"modified":"2014-08-22T17:54:00","modified_gmt":"2014-08-22T17:54:00","slug":"lutefisk-season-is-upon-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/lutefisk-season-is-upon-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Lutefisk Season is upon us"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Whether you like it or not, it is Lutefisk season for Norwegians and Norwegian Americas alike! \u00a0I must be honest, I have never ordered lutefisk at a restaurant and I have never chosen to eat it. \u00a0The St. Olaf (my alma mater) cafeteria serves it every year in early December during the St. Olaf Christmas Festival and I always chose to avoid the cafeteria during that time. \u00a0Again, I’m sorry to admit, but the lutefisk that I have been exposed to is vile and makes me lose my appetite. \u00a0This is actually quite strange for me as I actually can count the foods I dislike on one hand. \u00a0In any case, lutefisk…..I’ll try to promote it in this blog post just because I believe that it can actually be tasty if it is prepared well and paired with delicious accompaniments.<\/p>\n

Most of you probably know what lutefisk is-that white jelly-like fish that has been soaked in lye, the same chemical soap is made of. \u00a0Lutefisk became popular due to the lye extending it’s shelf life. Soaking the fish in lye preserves the fish, which was an extremely important quality hundreds of years ago. \u00a0Although preserving the fish is not important today as it was when sailers were crossing the ocean without modern refrigerators, diners today still enjoy this fall delicacy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From early October through Christmas Norwegians shell out the dough for good lutefisk. \u00a0A fair price for this delicacy at a good restaurant in Norway is in the 350 kroner (about $65 USD). \u00a0It isn’t just in traditional Norwegian restaurants that one can find lutefisk on the menu during this time in Norway. \u00a0The dish is so popular that even Chinese restaurants serve it!<\/p>\n

Lutefisk is traditionally served with a pur\u00e9e of kremet erter<\/strong> (creamed peas), but the adventurous will try it with other accompaniments such as ferske erter<\/strong> (fresh peas), bacon, sennep<\/strong> (mustard), and even geitost<\/strong> (goat cheese), mandelpoteter<\/strong>\u00a0(almond potatoes), or small gulpoteter<\/strong> (yellow potatoes) particularly in northern Norway. \u00a0Lutefisk is usually served with something salty, something rich, and something sweet (like honey for example).<\/p>\n

Here is an example of lutefisk on a julemeny<\/strong>\u00a0(Christmas Menu) in Oslo at Mona Lisa Restaurant:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Meny nr.2<\/em><\/p>\n

Lutefisk <\/strong>med ertestuing, bacon, baconfett, geitost,sennepsaus, tytteb\u00e6r, fransk sennep, sirup og lefse. Kokte poteter.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Multekrem <\/strong>med kransekake<\/strong><\/p>\n

kr 590,-<\/em><\/p>\n

Sounds pretty tasty actually. \u00a0Lutefisk with mashed peas, bacon, bacon fat, goat cheese, mustard sauce, cranberries, French mustard, sirup and lefse. \u00a0Cooked potatoes, cloudberry cream and kransekake<\/strong> (a kind of Norwegian cake) for 590 crowns.<\/p>\n

Depending on ones preference, vin, \u00f8l<\/strong>, or akevitt<\/strong> pair well with lutefisk. \u00a0Akevitt<\/strong> would be the traditional choice, but a god Norwegian lager or a German riesling would pair well.<\/p>\n

The below is a simple lutefisk recipe:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
    \n
  1. \n
    1<\/div>\n
    Place the lutefisk in a kettle, and add enough cold salt water to completely cover them(some people like to place the lutefisk in cheesecloth and tie the ends itno a bag, before placing in the kettle.).<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
  2. \n
    2<\/div>\n
    Bring gradually to a boil. (Caution: It will be done when brought to a full boil, and if boiled too long the fish will fall into pieces.).<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
  3. \n
    3<\/div>\n
    Remove from the burner, skim off any foam that appears and the let the lutefisk stand for 5-10 minutes.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n
  4. \n
    4<\/div>\n
    Drain well, and serve steaming hot on warmed plates.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

    Whether you like it or not, it is Lutefisk season for Norwegians and Norwegian Americas alike! \u00a0I must be honest, I have never ordered lutefisk at a restaurant and I have never chosen to eat it. \u00a0The St. Olaf (my alma mater) cafeteria serves it every year in early December during the St. Olaf…<\/p>\n

    Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":1266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,7,913],"tags":[110849,110850],"class_list":["post-1264","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-holidays","category-traditions","tag-lutefisk","tag-lutefisk-accompaniments"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1264"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1899,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1264\/revisions\/1899"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}