It is said to be over 500 years old. Nobody quite knows why or how we started with it. But lutefisk is one of the few dishes we can beat ourselves up with. Now the unique food tradition is in danger of dying out, says the Michelin chef. The largest consumption of lutefisk is actually found in the USA, among relatives of emigrant Norwegians. Photo: Synnøve Sundby Fallmyr / news Jelly consistency – What I think is terrible is that Norway has almost no food culture. We have two large ones. Stick meat and lutefisk, says star chef Eirik Strøm Lillebø. Almost every year he is asked to test this year’s lutefisk for the media. The chef has prepared thousands of plates with the special dish. And recently he also contributed to lutefisk research at the University of Oslo. There he was able to confirm his years-long hypothesis. Lutefisk or lutefisk is dry fish made from cod or other species that has been soaked in water, rinsed and the water drained again. It is only in Norway that we use skrei to make lutefisk. Photo: news/Asbjørn Odd Berge Size counts Every four years we saw around 2,000 tonnes of lutefish come to life, primarily in the pre-Christmas season. About half are eaten in restaurants, according to Flesland Marknadsinformationar. Eirik Lillebø is co-owner of the restaurants Vaaghals and Code in Oslo. – The only thing you have that is based on stockfish here in Norway is lutefish. And we must keep at it. But what happens when a whole generation is brought up that lutefisk = jelly? – You don’t bother to buy lutefisk and simmer him in the oven, then suck him into you with a straw. You can’t bear that, and then you don’t buy him anymore. And then the tradition breaks, says Lillebø. The chef fears that if we don’t learn to make good lutefisk at home, we will lose our sense of self. And in the end, no one can take it anymore. Chef Eirik Lillebø clarifies that he has not tested this year’s lutefisk, and thus cannot say anything about its quality. Photo: Privat But if you experience a jelly consistency on the lutefish, it is not your fault, the research shows. In the study that Lillebø contributed to, they used fish intended for the restaurants, from the same importer. – When you get to the size of the fish that we have at the restaurant, it didn’t really matter how much you salted or cooked the fish, he says about the study. The fish kept its shape and did not turn to jelly, almost the same as they did. The fishing hall at Vippetangen in 1906. Employees pose for the photographer in front of cashiers and stampers. Photo: Unknown / Oslo City Archives – It is the greatness that tel. Therefore, consumers must look for the biggest fish, he believes. And preferably the neck piece. – A fillet of lutefisk should weigh 2.2 to 2.4 kilos if it is smaller than that, and comes down to 1.4 and 1.6 kg, which is often the case with shop fish, then it will not be good, simply . Blandine Feneuil, Eirik Strøm Lillebø and Andreas Carlson are trying to find out what causes the lutefish to become jelly. Photo: Privat Didn’t get jelly – Is there an optimal recipe for lutefisk? What happens when you get a “phase transition” from where the fish is like a solid to where he becomes more like a liquid? Professor of mathematics at the University of Oslo, Andreas Carlson, wanted to find out. But the jelly-like shape that he remembered so clearly from his childhood, he was unable to recreate in his studies. – Although the cooking time was significantly increased, it did not have a huge effect on the largest pieces of fish. They were still very firm. He confirmed that it probably has something to do with the fish’s size. Choosing a large piece can therefore be more important than what kind of recipe you go for. Lutefisk is dried fish that has been drained, placed in lye and then drained again. Photo: Magnar Jakobsen Better quality in recent years At Værøy in Lofoten, Brødrene Berg produces around 20 percent of the lutefish we eat in the country, and has come high on the list in several lutefish tests. – Lutefish have never been as good as in the last few years. And we also see that there are actually younger people, at least here in the north, like a lutefisk because he is firmer and finer than the one they are used to from growing up. That’s what the daily manager Roger Jakobsen of Brødrene Berg says. He believes they take their responsibility as cultural bearers very seriously. – We fight for the fact that we use skrei as raw material, dried fish from skrei. Some produce from salted fish and some produce raw material from China which they dump in Norway again. The competition has become great in recent years. That benefits the consumer, he believes. Nevertheless, the largest dried fish goes to Italy. The restaurants also get larger serving pieces. – But there are different markets for all types of fish. It is not the case that we select fish for the Norwegian lutefisk market to sell to Italy. Ordinary Norwegians also find good quality in the shops, he states.
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Fears the tradition of lutefisk may die out – news Nordland
