BREADS.... Lefsa Class...

[Tim Horton]

The other day I went to the ..Lefsa Class.. at the local senior center..

It was put on by the retired nurse that also does senior foot care.. Of course I ask if she washed her hands first ?? Got a punch on the shoulder for that wise crack..

I took a jar of Ikea store Lingonberry jam to share.. Was fun as I had not had lefsa for quite a number of years now.. It is easy to make, but kind of time consuming, and finicky in how delicate it is to roll and handle before it is baked.. My skills were quite a bit too rough to start out.. I was eventually successful in making a plate full.. Kind of brought back memories as a kid when at grandpa Gilbert and grandma Hattie place..

Got to try several homemade fruit jams and jellies, homemade butter, apple butter and cinnamon sugar sprinkle.. Of course there was a big pot of .... Swedish Diesel Fuel... (strong coffee) to go with all this..

History of Lefsa supposedly came about during the WW1 era as a way to stretch ingredients.. I can't help but think we all are going to have to learn a few techniques like this to ..stretch.. resources as the world seems more unsettled.. Enjoy

Summerfest Lefsa
10lb russet potatoes
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup butter
2 Table spoons salt
6 cup flour

Peel, cook, run potatoes through a ricer
Add butter, cream, salt, mix well.. Refrigerate overnight in a covered bowl..
Mix in flour and roll into balls a bit bigger than an ice cream scoop size..
CAREFULLY Roll thin and fry on a lefsa grill..

Makes about 75 rounds about 8" diameter..

 

[Weedygarden]

Daughter grew up with making lefse with her grandma when she went to North Dakota at Christmas time. We can buy it in some stores. Since we found out that daughter has celiac, no need to even look for it.

A number of years ago I bought her a lefse iron and all the gear to make lefse. Of course she makes hers gluten free.

I also found a krumkake iron for her at a church rummage sale. Later I found another krumkake iron at a thrift store in Tucson.

 

[Pearl]

What a great senior center class!!

 

[Cabin Fever]

We go to a winter festival in Knife River, MN called "Julebyen." One of the vendors serves, "Nordic fish tacos." It's a deep-fried herring filet, smeared with lingonberry tarter sauce, and wrapped in lefse. It's delicious.
Julebyen Christmas Village

 

[Weedygarden]

The other day I went to the ..Lefsa Class.. at the local senior center..

It was put on by the retired nurse that also does senior foot care.. Of course I ask if she washed her hands first ?? Got a punch on the shoulder for that wise crack..

I took a jar of Ikea store Lingonberry jam to share.. Was fun as I had not had lefsa for quite a number of years now.. It is easy to make, but kind of time consuming, and finicky in how delicate it is to roll and handle before it is baked.. My skills were quite a bit too rough to start out.. I was eventually successful in making a plate full.. Kind of brought back memories as a kid when at grandpa Gilbert and grandma Hattie place..

Got to try several homemade fruit jams and jellies, homemade butter, apple butter and cinnamon sugar sprinkle.. Of course there was a big pot of .... Swedish Diesel Fuel... (strong coffee) to go with all this..

History of Lefsa supposedly came about during the WW1 era as a way to stretch ingredients.. I can't help but think we all are going to have to learn a few techniques like this to ..stretch.. resources as the world seems more unsettled.. Enjoy

Summerfest Lefsa
10lb russet potatoes
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup butter
2 Table spoons salt
6 cup flour

Peel, cook, run potatoes through a ricer
Add butter, cream, salt, mix well.. Refrigerate overnight in a covered bowl..
Mix in flour and roll into balls a bit bigger than an ice cream scoop size..
CAREFULLY Roll thin and fry on a lefsa grill..

Makes about 75 rounds about 8" diameter..

And no lutefisk?

 

[viking]

I still miss my grandmothers Lefsa treats, buttered and covered with cinnamon and sugar, lutefisk done right tastes pretty good, I figure that as a kid I liked a lot of those Norwegian foods, they weren't all that bad to begin with, even if they sound strange. My dad always had trouble making lutefisk, it always ended up being liquid fish, he also had a problem getting all the salt out of salt black cod, but that's another story.

 

[Spikedriver]

And no lutefisk?

You need to wash your hands, just for typing that dirty word!

 

[Spikedriver]

The other day I went to the ..Lefsa Class.. at the local senior center..

It was put on by the retired nurse that also does senior foot care.. Of course I ask if she washed her hands first ?? Got a punch on the shoulder for that wise crack..

I took a jar of Ikea store Lingonberry jam to share.. Was fun as I had not had lefsa for quite a number of years now.. It is easy to make, but kind of time consuming, and finicky in how delicate it is to roll and handle before it is baked.. My skills were quite a bit too rough to start out.. I was eventually successful in making a plate full.. Kind of brought back memories as a kid when at grandpa Gilbert and grandma Hattie place..

Got to try several homemade fruit jams and jellies, homemade butter, apple butter and cinnamon sugar sprinkle.. Of course there was a big pot of .... Swedish Diesel Fuel... (strong coffee) to go with all this..

History of Lefsa supposedly came about during the WW1 era as a way to stretch ingredients.. I can't help but think we all are going to have to learn a few techniques like this to ..stretch.. resources as the world seems more unsettled.. Enjoy

Summerfest Lefsa
10lb russet potatoes
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup butter
2 Table spoons salt
6 cup flour

Peel, cook, run potatoes through a ricer
Add butter, cream, salt, mix well.. Refrigerate overnight in a covered bowl..
Mix in flour and roll into balls a bit bigger than an ice cream scoop size..
CAREFULLY Roll thin and fry on a lefsa grill..

Makes about 75 rounds about 8" diameter..

I haven't had lefse for years, but it was a holiday staple in my family when I was a kid. My grandma and her sisters all made it with butter and brown sugar. My grandma's grandma brought the recipe over with her from Norway in the 1860s, along with the family kringla recipe. My generation is the last to embrace our Norwegian heritage though. The younger ones still make kringla but it's not the same as mom's...

 

[Weedygarden]

You need to wash your hands, just for typing that dirty word!

My late father-in-law would not allow it in the house! LOL! Either you love it, or not!

I worked as a hostess/cashier in a steak house and part of my duties involved maintaining the salad bar. Not lutefisk, but pickled herring was one of the items on the salad bar. Some times it would be there for a few days, other times, it would all be gone in one evening. Now I wonder if someone would come in and put it in a container and take it home.

 

[Spikedriver]

My late father-in-law would not allow it in the house! LOL! Either you love it, or not!

I worked as a hostess/cashier in a steak house and part of my duties involved maintaining the salad bar. Not lutefisk, but pickled herring was one of the items on the salad bar. Some times it would be there for a few days, other times, it would all be gone in one evening. Now I wonder if someone would come in and put it in a container and take it home.

I wouldn't take pickled herring home, but my Pops would take a truckload of it. He loves the stuff. But then again he likes lutefisk too, so it's obvious that he doesn't know anything about good food. Lutefisk smells like a nursing home bathroom and it tastes worse than it smells...

 

[Jen]

The other day I went to the ..Lefsa Class.. at the local senior center..

It was put on by the retired nurse that also does senior foot care.. Of course I ask if she washed her hands first ?? Got a punch on the shoulder for that wise crack..

I took a jar of Ikea store Lingonberry jam to share.. Was fun as I had not had lefsa for quite a number of years now.. It is easy to make, but kind of time consuming, and finicky in how delicate it is to roll and handle before it is baked.. My skills were quite a bit too rough to start out.. I was eventually successful in making a plate full.. Kind of brought back memories as a kid when at grandpa Gilbert and grandma Hattie place..

Got to try several homemade fruit jams and jellies, homemade butter, apple butter and cinnamon sugar sprinkle.. Of course there was a big pot of .... Swedish Diesel Fuel... (strong coffee) to go with all this..

History of Lefsa supposedly came about during the WW1 era as a way to stretch ingredients.. I can't help but think we all are going to have to learn a few techniques like this to ..stretch.. resources as the world seems more unsettled.. Enjoy

Summerfest Lefsa
10lb russet potatoes
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup butter
2 Table spoons salt
6 cup flour

Peel, cook, run potatoes through a ricer
Add butter, cream, salt, mix well.. Refrigerate overnight in a covered bowl..
Mix in flour and roll into balls a bit bigger than an ice cream scoop size..
CAREFULLY Roll thin and fry on a lefsa grill..

Makes about 75 rounds about 8" diameter..

Lefsa. Norwegian tortillas.

My husband is Swedish/ Norwegian and we lived a while in Poulsbo, WA, "Little Norway". So our kids had plenty of lefsa while they were growing up and they love it.

I've never made it, but thanks to this recipe now I can. Of course I don't own a lefsa grill. I have never seen lefsa in the grocery stores here in OKlahoma.

 

[Weedygarden]

I wouldn't take pickled herring home, but my Pops would take a truckload of it. He loves the stuff. But then again he likes lutefisk too, so it's obvious that he doesn't know anything about good food. Lutefisk smells like a nursing home bathroom and it tastes worse than it smells...

When I was working as a meat wrapper, we would get it in 50 pound boxloads. After it was put out in the display, sometimes someone would come in and buy almost all of it. Love it, or not! In North Dakota, churches, particularly Lutheran churches have lutefisk and Swedish meatball dinners for fundraisers. I'm sure there is lefse there as well, but probably not krumkake because it is so fragile.

The Scandinavians have their ethnic foods, and Bohemians love their potato dumplings, kraut and either pork or duck, something greasy to put on top of the dumplings and kraut.

 

[Cabin Fever]

Speaking of lutefisk...

And, my Texan wife's thoughts on Lutefisk:

 

[Spikedriver]

Lutefisk is lye soaked in cod. It isn't food, don't put it in your mouth!

 

[Cabin Fever]

Lutefisk is lye soaked in cod. It isn't food, don't put it in your mouth!

Actually, it is cod soaked in lye.

 

[Spikedriver]

I wrote what I wrote on purpose! Lol

 

[Cabin Fever]

I look at it this way. Cod is an oily fish. When you mix oil (or fat) and lye, what do you get? Every homesteader should know the answer to this question.

 

[Spikedriver]

I look at it this way. Cod is an oily fish. When you mix oil (or fat) and lye, what do you get? Every homesteader should know the answer to this question.

Now you're on to something that can be useful. Lye soap sucks, but it's better than nothing. However I think I'd rather eat the soap than eat lutefisk!

 

[Weedygarden]

I wouldn't take pickled herring home, but my Pops would take a truckload of it. He loves the stuff. But then again he likes lutefisk too, so it's obvious that he doesn't know anything about good food. Lutefisk smells like a nursing home bathroom and it tastes worse than it smells...

It is the smell that FIL didn't want stinking up his house. I have never been in the same place where it was cooked, just wrapped that gelatinous stuff.

 

[Weedygarden]

Speaking of lutefisk...

And, my Texan wife's thoughts on Lutefisk:

Except lefse is not the same as a tortilla! Lefse, like many Scandinavian delights is smeared with butter and then sprinkled with sugar, rolled up and eaten.

 

[Spikedriver]

It is the smell that FIL didn't want stinking up his house. I have never been in the same place where it was cooked, just wrapped that gelatinous stuff.

I have a distant relative that wrote a poem about lutefisk. He was a cab driver in Colorado and was murdered in his cab. His mother wrote a book about the grieving process and included the poem. I've got the book somewhere at home. I'll see if I can find it and post the poem here. I thought it was hilarious.

 

[Spikedriver]

Except lefse is not the same as a tortilla! Lefse, like many Scandinavian delights is smeared with butter and then sprinkled with sugar, rolled up and eaten.

Brown sugar or white sugar? My family always uses brown sugar, but it seems that most use white sugar. And it's not sprinkled, more like generously covered and then covered again, and rolled up into a little tube of heaven!

 

[Weedygarden]

Brown sugar or white sugar? My family always uses brown sugar, but it seems that most use white sugar. And it's not sprinkled, more like generously covered and then covered again, and rolled up into a little tube of heaven!

My only experience is with white sugar, but I do know that people use brown sugar.

My in-laws both were smokers, heavy smokers. My daughter is very adverse to the smell of cigarette smoke. So was her dad. When she would come home from North Dakota after her Christmas where she and her dad spent most of their time at Grandma and Grandpa's house, she would bring home lefse and krumkake. The problem she had was the smell of cigarette smoke permeated them both, as well as her clothing. Her grandma would always want to make sure that all of her clothes were washed before she came home, but daughter told her that we were going to wash all of her clothes when she got home anyway, due to the cigarette smoke.

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

Lefsa. ............I never made it, but thanks to this recipe now I can. Of course I don't own a lefsa grill. I have never seen lefsa in the grocery stores here in OKlahoma.

You don't need a lefse grill. Any large frying pan will work. The lower the sides the easier to roll it off the stick. A cheap paella pan works well. We used to make it directly on the wood burning cook stove.

I grow bintji potatoes for making lefse. Boiling waxy potatoes aren't suitable.

 

[Weedygarden]

I have a distant relative that wrote a poem about lutefisk. He was a cab driver in Colorado and was murdered in his cab. His mother wrote a book about the grieving process and included the poem. I've got the book somewhere at home. I'll see if I can find it and post the poem here. I thought it was hilarious.

I want to read this book and that poem!

 

[Tim Horton]

Lutefisk.. I do like it, only once a year is enough.. The only Lutheran church around used to have lutefisk and baked chicken fund raiser dinner.. They would boil it outside with a turkey deep fryer..

 

[Weedygarden]

@Spikedriver , found this online. Probably not your relative's, but here it is. https://brandywinebooks.net/?p=428


My favorite lutefisk tribute is the following poem. It can be found in a number of places on the internet, and most of the sites attribute it to either Boone & Erickson (a team of Twin Cities radio announcers who recorded it years back) or “Anonymous.” The actual author is a man named Dan Freeburg, who copyrighted it in 1978 but seems to have given up on enforcing it. Well, he’ll get credit here, by golly.

LUTEFISK LAMENT

‘Twas the day before Christmas, with things all a bustle.

As Mama got set for the Christmas Eve tussle.

Aunts, uncles, and Cousins would soon be arriving,

With stomachs all ready for Christmas Eve dining.

While I sat alone with a feeling of dread,

As visions of lutefisk danced in my head.

The thought of the smell made my eyeballs start burning.

The thought of the taste set my stomach to churning.

For I’m one of those who good Swedes rebuff,

A Scandahoovian boy who can’t stand the stuff.

Each year, however, I played at the game,

To spare Mama and Papa the undying shame.

I must bear up bravely. I can’t take the risk,

Of relatives knowing I hate lutefisk.

Then out in the yard I heard such a clatter.

I jumped up to see what was the matter.

There in the snow, all in a jumble,

Three of my uncles had taken a tumble.

From out in the kitchen an odor came stealing,

That fairly set all of my senses to reeling.

The smell of the lutefisk crept down the hall,

And wilted a plant in a pot on the wall.

Uncles Oscar and Lars said “Oh, that smells yummy,”

And Kermit’s eyes glittered while he patted his tummy.

Mama announced dinner by ringing a bell.

They rushed to the table with a whoop and a yell.

I lifted my eyes to heaven and sighed,

And a rose on the wallpaper withered and died.

Then Mama came proudly with a bowl on a trivet.

You would have thought the crown jewels were in it.

She set it down gently and then took her seat.

And Papa said grace before we could eat.

It seemed to me, in my whirling head,

The shortest of prayers he ever had said.

Then Mama raised the cover on that steaming dish,

And I had to face the quivering fish.

The plates were passed for Papa to fill,

While I waited in agony, twixt fever and chill.

He dipped in the spoon and held it up high,

As it oozed to plates, I thought I would die.

Then it came to my plate, and to my fevered brain.

There seemed enough lutefisk to derail a train.

It looked like a mountain of congealing glue,

Yet oddly transparent and discolored in hue.

With butter and cream sauce I tried to conceal it,

I salted and peppered, but the smell would reveal it.

I drummed up my courage, tried to be bold,

Mama reminds me, “Eat before it gets cold.”

Deciding to face it, “Uffda,” I sighed.

“Uffda, indeed,” my stomach replied.

Then summoning the courage for which we are known,

My hand took the fork as with a mind of its own.

And with reckless abandon the lutefisk I ate,

Within 20 seconds, I’d cleaned up my plate.

Uncle Kermit flashed me an ear-to-ear grin,

As butter and cream sauce dripped from his chin.

Then to my great shock, he spoke in my ear,

“I’m sure glad that’s over for another year.”

It was then that I learned a great wonderful truth,

That Swedes and Norwegians from old men to youth,

Must each pay their dues to have the great joy,

Of being known as a good Scandahoovian boy,

And so to tell you all, as you face the great test,

“Happy Christmas to you, and to you all my best.”