|
Silver Creek MN | Today we kept a time honored tradition alive for at least one more year. My wifes family were dry land wheat farmers in northern Montana. They were of Norwegian and Danish descent. Making lefse for Thanksgiving was a big deal to them. I quite often give thanks that they didn't make lutefisk. My wifes uncle once told me how lutefisk is made. He said villagers would cut up dead whales that washed up on the shore of the ocean. They hung the strips of whale meat on poles so it could dry in the sun. The village dogs would then come along and pee on the whale meat, giving it that unique flavor. My wife is the only one in her family to continue the lefse tradition. She inherited all the equipment - the rolling pin and rolling board and griddle and flipping sticks. She has the secret recipe and has pretty much mastered the art. She insists on homegrown red potatoes, home rendered lard and evaporated milk. I never really got excited about lefse. It seemed similar to banana bread - where you use a whole lot of other ingredients to make something so you don't have to throw out one certain food (over ripe bananas). The story I heard was that Norwegian house wives started making lefse because they had leftover mashed potatoes and were too thrifty to waste them. Microwave ovens may have changed that. I suppose that if you wanted soft shell tacos and didn't have taco shells, lefse could work in a pinch. If nothing else, two hours of rolling and flipping lefse gives you an opportunity to have some good conversation. There is an old Norwegian proverb that goes like this: "No amount of time spent together is wasted if it makes two people better friends". | |
|
Making Lefse - Keeping the Tradition Alive
