Hello all!
Seems I missed a coupla' messages while being a cut-off yahoo-user.

William wrote:
"Lutefisk-lore: my education is from
http://netnet.net/~pineaire/Lutefisk.html
and
http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~atman/ic/lutefisk.html"


These links were very funny! Now I know everything about Wisconsin ;-D
(It was quite interesting to see how some of the linguistic pecularites had their obvious roots in Scandinavian usage).

Seriously though, I think most people would agree that lutfisk (I realise the inclusion of the E is to keep the pronunciation right in English, but it looks too silly to me) is not all that bad tastewise. People in Sweden who don't like it (and they are not that few!) normally object to the wobbly texture - or else they are among those who don't like boiled fish at all.

Just a few notes:
Lutfisk and "once a year". Rubbish! Lutefisk's great! I probably eat it half a dozen times between the end of November and mid-February.

Lutfisk and spirits. The taste of lutfisk is actually quite mild in and of itself. Drink two-three shots of akvavit before and you won't be able to taste it properly anymore. And then: why eat it at all?

Lutfisk-plate colouration. OK, so lye-fish is whiteish-grey and somewhat translucent: on the plate you also have green peas, yellow potatoes, brown mustard and white béchamel. I always thought a lye-fish meal was among the more colourful culinary specialities in winter!

Erik from Norway wrote:
"Actually, I have never heard of béchamel with lutefisk. In western Norway, where I live, we eat lutefisk with bacon, green peas and potatoes.  It is also commonly served with potato torillas, carrots, mustard, syrup, and brown whey cheese (brunost)."
Then it would seem the sauce is a Swedish innovation. I know that some have bacon with it in Skåne (the southernmost province of our beautiful country) but have never known anyone from any other part of Sweden that does. Brunost (mesost in Swedish) and lutfisk sounds interesting. I just might try that!

"it is spelled "fårikål"
Not in Sweden. We have the dish here as well (not as popular though), but thanks for the piece of linguistic info.

//ErikF