Lutefisk & Other Dangerous Delicacies

“When in Rome do as the Romans do.” That might work for Rome, but what do you do when you are invited to sample the delicacies of the local culture? Basically, I hem and haw over the creativeness or the alchemy of such a dish, but I try not to speak with my lips parted, lest a spoonful of the heated sop be thrust into my yapping maw by a good-natured grandmother.

Edible oddities are nothing new under the sun. Every culture has astonishing edibles, gleaned and prepared from the most unusual of resources. In the Polish culture I was introduced to duck’s blood soup bobbing with prunes. Or how about cooked pigs feet in gelatin? No thanks, I didn’t care for it either, although I did develop a fondness for ox-tail soup. That was as wild and as ethnic as I could get growing up.

How about you? What local or cultural delicacies have you tried?

Did you develop any surprising fondness for something weird or unusual?

Whisel*, Carnivore & Vegetable-arion

PS: Oh yeah, about that Lutefisk…..

Wikipedia:

Lutefisk is made from air-dried whitefish (normally,cod but ling is also used), prepared with lye, in a sequence of particular treatments. The first treatment is to soak the stockfish in cold water for five to six days (with the water changed daily). The saturated stockfish is then soaked in an unchanged solution of cold water and lye for an additional two days. The fish will swell during this soaking, attaining an even larger size than in its original (undried) state, while its protein content decreases by more than 50 percent, producing its famous jelly-like consistency. When this treatment is finished, the fish (saturated with lye) has a pH value of 11–12, and is therefore caustic. To make the fish edible, a final treatment of yet another four to six days of soaking in cold water (also changed daily) is needed. Eventually, the lutefisk is ready to be cooked.

• Quote from Garrison Keillor’s book Pontoon:

“Lutefisk is cod that has been dried in a lye solution. It looks like the desiccated cadavers of squirrels run over by trucks, but after it is soaked and reconstituted and the lye is washed out and it’s cooked, it looks more fish-related, though with lutefisk, the window of success is small. It can be tasty, but the statistics aren’t on your side. It is the hereditary delicacy of Swedes and Norwegians who serve it around the holidays, in memory of their ancestors, who ate it because they were poor. Most lutefisk is not edible by normal people. It is reminiscent of the afterbirth of a dog or the world’s largest chunk of phlegm.”