Lutefisk Festival This Weekend
Is anyone going to the Lutefisk Fest this weekend? I learned about it on Huell Howser, last year. It's at the Norone Lodge, Friday and Saturday 4-8- 14312 Friar Street in Van Nuys. It's a Norwegian lodge and is open to the public. I am scared, but ready to try the dreaded Lutefisk. After that, I will only have blowfish, monkey brains, haggis and dog left on my disgusting foods to try list.
Has anyone here even tried Lutefisk?
By Earl of Echo Park
on Nov 5, 2003 02:20 PM
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i'm norwegian and all i can say is "eeeewwww". lutefisk is nasty.
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I'm game. What is in lutefisk? I just got back from Copenhagen last week, but I never saw anything like that. I guess Danish food is different. Had some great pickled herring for breakfast though.
And for the record, blowfish isn't disgusting, just potentially deadly.
"...poison, poison...ah! Tasty fish!"
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Hmm, I just did a Google search. Lutefisk sounds absolutely disgusting. I am horrified, yet intrigued.
Sorry for replying to my own post.
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cod soaked in lye. it IS discusting. norwegians who do eat it only eat it once a year...gee i wonder why.
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i've tried it (have norwegian & swedish family). for those not familiar, it's dried cod treated w/lye. the flavor is quite mild and plain, the texture gelatinous & kind of mushy. it's eaten w/bacon drippings, butter, mustard sauce, boiled potatoes, lefse.
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Hmm, that's the first time someone has actually described the flavor. Hearing the lye part led me to believe it would taste like burning or something. It doesn't sound too horrible now, though not particularly pleasant either.
Thanks. :)
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Go to Gustaf Anders Christmas Smorgesbord in South Coast Plaza and ask the waitress if Lutefisk is available. They don't put it out on the Smorgesbord table. The lutefisk is very good and even though lutefisk is not my meal of choice, I enjoyed it along with the other great items available.
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I went with a Norwegian-American friend last year.
It was fine. I liked it. It's like bacalao. It's a type of dried cod. It's soaked and the soaking removes the preserving agent of salt and/or lye. I think that it was more liked by folks in Scandinavia than here. AFter tasting it, I think the folks that complain about it growing up are big culinary babies. It's fine. It's fish. It's a little softer and spongier. It's very mild, served in a light butter sauce with a potato bread (lefsa) cooked potatoes and other side dishes.
I found it quite nice, a taste between sole and halibut and a texture that if you're 6 you won't like and if you had to eat it when you were six and there were no cultural demands EVER that you grow up (like there are about buttermilk, or caviar or foie gras) then you will never like it.
I'm all growed up. I liked it fine.
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Here here!
Lutefisk has a bad rep but its really a perfectly fine thing. As my husband describes it, its an excuse to eat butter [and in our family, thats garlic butter!] and bechemel. Theres a package of frozen lutefisk in our freezer even as I type.
But I must disagree with Mr. Jerome about a taste/texture a six old wouldn't eat. Six year old american maybe but I'm sure six year old norwegians eat it just fine.
But don't over cook it or it kind of disolves. . . .
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Wahoo!!!
My lovely woman,B, is of Norwegian descent; therefore We are going to get Ludicrous with Lutefisk!!!
If anyone is from the Yucca Valley area, Let's check it out!
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Quick, someone tell John Madden about this -- he's always raving (in a bad way) about lutefisk every time he's in Minnesota or is it Wisconsin (no, that's muk luks) for a game.
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I was there, & had my first taste of lutefisk. I hope not to disappoint anyone, but it does not live up to its reputation. It is not malodorous; it hardly has an odor at all. Its flavor is mild, one might even say delicate. It is, as you might expect of Nordic food, bland. The only objectionable aspect of it, to me, is its texture, which is as advertised, somewhat gelatinous. It is served with wonderful bread, boiled potatoes and vegetables (peas and carrots.) I found the meal very enjoyable, & plan to go again next year.
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Thirty eight years ago I attended, with my friend George, a lutefisk festival held in a front yard in Van Nuys. It was hosted by several women (I am sorry I don't remember the name of their organization). He was of Norwegian ancestry and guided me through it. I enjoyed the food and the hostesses immensely. I have often wondered if I could ever reproduce their offerings.
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