| The History of Lutefisk |
| Lutefisk was a Christmas dish during the medieval times. It is said that the lutefisk 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 be a substitute for bread. Dry fish was also brought on travels and for those who worked far away from home. Olaus Magnus, who lived druing the first half of the 1500s wrote the 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 thse 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." Lutefisk on the Christmas Eve table is a remnant from the days when people fasted and all meat was strictly forbidden. Fish and porridge were the substitution foods, and since only dry fish was accessible at Christmastime, this fish became the Christmas fish. There is a split in opinions concerning the what to serve with lutefisk. Butter has already been commented by Olaus Magnus. Samuel Odmann (born in 1750) writes abouat Christmas Eve in his grandfather's home, when "the meal was started by strongly PEPPERED lutefisk." Mustard and the mustard sauce was used with fish already by the Romans. In this country, mustard seems to be just as medieval as the lutefisk itself. Many want their lutefisk 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 lutefisk. And Dr Hagdahl has a recipe for green pea puree, which you can serve with lutefisk or meat. The pea puree, which is today substituted with canned or frozen small peas, doesn't seem to be a very common accompaniment with lutefisk. There's a recipe from the region of Dalarna, where you make the lutefisk 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 lutefisk all year round, or at least prolong the lutefisk season. The Norwegians do. But in Sweden it seems like most people are reluctant to do it. Lutefisk is a Christmas food to them. Thousands of tons of lutefisk are eaten each year. Half of this amount is dried and lyed. It has a smooth consistancy and a fairly mild taste. The other half is sathe, which has a coarser consistency and a more typical lutefisk taste. --Author unknown-- |
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