While the first time I've actually eaten lutefisk was a couple of years ago, it was a part of my culture as I grew up. I'm ethnically Swedish, but grew up in the Twin Cities, MN where the Norwegians had a very strong presence. And so- I grew up knowing about lutefisk, though not actually encountering it for myself!
This book is an excellent resource for the lutefisk-curious. It covers pretty much everything, from the history, to the context, to the rep (including if one wants to go really Old School and make it complete from the dried fish, including doing the lye soaking! I must admit it tempts me...).
My interest in lutefisk is twofold: as a part of the culture in which I grew up, AND because I am fascinated by traditional foods, especially food preservation before refrigeration. Lutefisk is a unique approach to fish preservation; most cultures salt and/or smoke. One wonders how the originators came up with this method...
There is also a decent store of (bad) lutefisk jokes and entertaining lutefisk anecdotes, plus a long list of where in the US one can find lutefisk suppers (alas, MA, my current state, has none listed though I know they exist).
Now: I did try lutefisk a couple of years ago. I was not an instant convert. It was OK... but pretty weird. I started with the pre-prepped frozen stuff, though, and probably would have been happier if I'd brined it a bit to firm it up some before cooking- which lesson I learned from this book. If I can find a source of the frozen, I'll make it again for the Christmas season. My husband actually did like it pretty well!
And someday, I'll get a dried hunk of stockfish and do the whole damn thing. Since it is a stinky process, I will wait until I have found a cheap picnic cooler at a yard sale and dedicate it to the procedures.
If one has any interest in lutefisk at all, I do really recommend this book! I am looking for4ward to reading the same author's book on lefse- which is a LOT more accessible and generally yummy.
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