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From: minow@decvax.UUCP (Martin Minow)
Newsgroups: net.wobegon
Subject: Re: Lutefisk
Message-ID: <32@decvax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 23-Jan-85 21:15:01 EST
Article-I.D.: decvax.32
Posted: Wed Jan 23 21:15:01 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 28-Jan-85 04:58:36 EST
References: <7517@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Lines: 25

Will Martin asks what it is.  It consists of dried fish (ling
in Norway, cod here) that is soaked for a few weeks in lye.
Then boiled and served with a milk/flour sauce that has
been spiced with pepper.  It tastes somewhat like the ivory
soap your mother fed you when you were nasty, improved somewhat
by the pepper sauce.

Garrison told the following story once:  one of the German
Catholic Wobegonians had skunks under her front porch, and
she asked Father Emil what she should do.  He recommended
that she put a dish of lutfisk under the porch.

A week later, he asked if it worked.  "Yes, the skunks are
gone," she said, "but what should I do about the Norwegians."

By the way, if you've survived lutfisk, feel free to taste
that wonderful Swedish surstromming -- herring fermented
in a can until the can almost explodes from the gas inside.
It was popularly called "balcony fish" as you'd better not
open the can indoors.  The appropriate spice is raw onions.

Martin Minow
decvax!minow