When I wound up at SDSU, our Extension Director, Larry Tidemann, exposed his Norwegian roots occasionally. With a Scots surname, I never pointed out that more of my recent ancestors are Scandinavian – mostly in self-defense. The descendents of Scots make a point of eating Haggis – but Larry made a point of bringing lutefisk into the office, to share with all. I think there were always leftovers.
As near as I can make out from the old, penciled recipe (unused these many years) you start with:
5 pounds of lutefisk
2 pounds of bacon
4 tablespoons of salt
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Cut lutefisk into servings and place in a baking pan (skin side down)
- Sprinkle with salt and cover with aluminium foil
- Bake the lutefisk in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Fry bacon on medium heat so the fat melts and the bacon gets crispy.
The pea stew (I think that’s the translation – 20 years have affected the lettering) Quantities seem to be a matter of personal choice or availability.
2 lbs of dried peas
butter
Salt
Sugar
- Leave peas in water overnight
- Pour off the soaking water, cook in fresh water until tender
- Add more water if it doesn’t get tender
- Add butter, salt and sugar
- Serve lutefisk with bacon and pea stew
I only ate the bacon – it wasn’t half bad despite the presence of lutefisk. I can understand why the Vikings went to sea.
Trego's Mountain Ear 