Fishtypes
STOCKFISH
Stockfish is unsalted fish, especially cod, dried by cold air and wind on wooden racks on the foreshore, called "hjell". The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage life of several years. The method is cheap and effective in suitable climates, the work can be done by the fisherman and family, and the resulting product is easily transported to market.
Cod is the most common fish used in stockfish production, while other whitefish, such as pollock, haddock, ling and tusk, are used to a lesser degree.[citation
CLIF FISH
The Stockfish category is often wrongly mixed with the Clip fish salt cod category, where the fish is salted before drying. After 2-3 weeks in salt the fish has salt matured, and is transformed from wet salted fish to Clip fish through a drying process. The salted fish was earlier dried on rocks (clips) on the shore, and then put in a press for a few weeks to get rid of remaining water. The production method of Clip fish was developed by the Portuguese. Salting was not economically feasible before the 17th century, when cheap salt from southern Europe became available to the maritime nations of northern Europe.
The fish is bled while alive, before the head is cut off. It is then cleaned, filleted and salted. Fishers and connoisseurs alike place a high importance in the fact that the fish is line-caught, because if caught in a net, the fish may be dead before caught, which may result in bruising of the fillets. For the same reason it is believed to be important that the Clip fish be bled while still alive. Superior Clip fish is salted fresh, whereas the cheaper grades of Clip fish might be frozen first. Lower grades are salted by injecting a salt-water solution into the fish, while superior grades are salted with dry salt. The superior extra is dried twice, much like Parma ham. Between the two drying sessions, the fish rests and the flavor matures.
LUTEFISH
It is made from aged stockfish (air-dried whitefish) or dried/salted whitefish (Clip fish) and lye (lut). It is gelatinous in texture, and has an extremely strong, pungent odor. Its name literally means "lye fish." Lutefisk is made from dried whitefish prepared with lye in a sequence of particular treatments. The watering steps of these treatments differ slightly for salted/dried whitefish because of its high salt content.
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 swells during this soaking, and its protein content decreases by more than 50 percent producing a 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.
Lutefisk is usually served with a variety of side dishes, including, but not limited to, bacon, green peas, green pea stew, potatoes, lefse, gravy, mashed rutabaga, white sauce, melted or clarified butter, syrup, geitost (goat cheese), or "old" cheese (gammelost). In the United States in particular it is sometimes eaten together with meatballs. Side dishes vary greatly from family-to-family and region-to-region, and can be a source of jovial contention when eaters of different "traditions" of lutefisk dine together.
Today, akvavit and beer often accompany the meal due to its use at festive and ceremonial occasions
- Quote from Garrison Keillor's book Lake Wobegon Days:
Every Advent we entered the purgatory of lutefisk, a repulsive gelatinous fishlike dish that tasted of soap and gave off an odor that would gag a goat. We did this in honor of Norwegian ancestors, much as if survivors of a famine might celebrate their deliverance by feasting on elm bark. I always felt the cold creeps as Advent approached, knowing that this dread delicacy would be put before me and I'd be told, "Just have a little." Eating a little was like vomiting a little, just as bad as a lot.
