Traditional recipes?

[Arlis J. Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Arlis J.]

June,

For us it was Lake Superior herring, lots of smoked herring, but also salted in buckets, and pickled. I remember having plain salted herring on top of those thick slices of Aiti's chewy potato-water rye, which she baked in flat loves, about 2 inches high when done. Around Christmas, she would also buy lox, which was a special delicacy to be spread of her bread. I recall donuts, but don't know if they were potato donuts. I do remember being permitted to clean off the surface of the woodstove and browning thin potato slices on it, then eating them hot with butter, salt and pepper. It was probably her way of giving me something to do!! The fish she smoked were called 'suckers' probably due to the appearance of their bottom-feeder's mouth. Smoked, they are wonderful. Lots of people also converted old refrigerators into smokers--they were perfect with shelves already in place. Mind you--this was in the country, where such an unsightly thing could be tucked behind another building and out of sight!

Arlis

[Denise Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Denise]

My grandmother also picked berries, unbelievable amounts. She made blueberry and thimbleberry jams and pies. Also Juustoa (squeaky cheese) and chow-chow.
Examples on this link: http://upfoods.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=

Denise

[June Pelo Senior Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close June Pelo]

traditional food

Smoked fish seems to be a popular food in Sweden and Finland. One year we were going to board a ship in Sundsvall, headed for Vasa. We stopped to say Hello to relatives in Sundsvall and they were smoking fish and wanted us to stay to help eat it. I was tempted, but we already had our tickets for the boat, so we missed out on the fish. But when we got to Jakobstad our cousins there were also smoking fish so we did get a chance to enjoy it.

I also remember slicing potatoes thin and frying them - our version of potato chips before they became popular.

Herring is a favorite no matter how it's fixed. I love herring sandwiches with onions and mustard. Yum - getting hungry but lunch is hours away..

I think many people canned fruit and veggies. I remember seeing my mother canning fruit in the basement where we had a stove and pans of hot steaming jars, ready to fill. When we visited our Norwegian friends on their farm they had a pantry full of jars of canned meat, veggies, fruit, etc. from their own farm. Mrs. Rude could whip up a feast in no time no matter how many people dropped by.

[Karen Norwillo Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Karen Norwillo]

Hey cuz,
What's a thimbleberry? I'm a Michigander and that's one I never heard of? Do you remember gooseberries?

[Denise Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Denise]

Hi Karen,
Thimbleberries are kind of like raspberries, but a different taste and found growing wild. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thimbleberry
The jam is very expensive. I've seen it priced anywhere from $12.00 to $20.00 for a tiny jar in the Upper Peninsula. I bought some once, and savored it like a queen!

Love,
Cousin Denise

[Denise Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Denise]

Hi June,
Speaking of smoked fish, there is a store named Gustafsson's in Brevort, Michigan http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/R...and-beef-jerky
We stop there everytime we go to the U.P. to visit my mom. The smoked chubs and trout are my favorite!
One year my brother-in-law bought some, and when he got to my parent's house, set the package on top of my dad's beer cans in the refrigerator. My dad had to go and buy new beer. Every can had the smell of smoked fish no matter how many times he washed them, and my dad hated smoked fish! LOL! It was hysterical!

Love,
Denise

[Denise Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Denise]

Also, we always bring home a supply of Trenary Toast from the U.P. Wonderful dunked in coffee. http://www.trenarytoast.us/


Denise

[June Pelo Senior Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close June Pelo]

smoked fish

Denise,

Yes, smoked fish has to be wrapped well but it sure does taste good. Down here we get smoked halibut, but it isn't the same as the smoked fish in Mich.

I remember picking huckleberries in Oscoda - we used to go to the cemetery because that's where there were lots of big bushes. And when I was a kid there were places along US 23 where we could pull of the road and find huckleberry bushes in the wild. My grandmother used to can them and we always had big jars of huckleberries to eat, even in the winter.

Yes, Karen, I remember gooseberries. We didn't grow them, but some of our cousins had bushes of them outside their back door. And I remember seeing wild strawberries growing along the path when we walked to school as kids. And Dad used to drive out into the country and there were elderberry bushes along the gravel road - we would pick and pick - they were so tiny and it took a lot of them to fill a bucket.

[Hasse Admin Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Hasse]

Traditional recipes...

I have tried to gather the recipes under an own heading on the SFHS web site here. Take a look and maybe you still have traditional dishes to suggest and recipes that can be published...

Hasse

[June Pelo Senior Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close June Pelo]

Lucka??

I asked a friend if their family had an traditional recipes and she said this:

The only Finnish recipe that we use is one we have with fish. It is
like a gravy for the cooked potatoes. Basically it is the potato
water with butter, salt and white onions (diced) added to it. I'm not
sure of the spelling - lucka?? She said it has to be white onions - they tried red onions and it tasted wrong. I don't recall that we served this over our potatoes.

[Plain Ann Registered Find all posts View Profile Close Plain Ann]

Recipes

You all are making me hungry...!!!

Fish and smoked fish were often served by my dad's family. Pulla, which they called Nissua, was one of their household staples. And, I remember a yogurt type dish called "Fillia?" to which fresh berries were added before serving. I would love to know how to make that... But, my favorite is one I discovered in a cook book, and that is Finnish Cucumbers, made with vinegar, sugar, and dillweed.

[June Pelo Senior Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close June Pelo]

Recipes

You must have missed Hasse's announcement of the Recipe website - he wrote:
I have tried to gather the recipes under an own heading on the SFHS web site here. Take a look and maybe you still have traditional dishes to suggest and recipes that can be published...
Hasse

Your Cucumber recipe is there, as well as one for fil - viili.

http://finlander.genealogia.fi/sfhsw...tegory:Recipes

[June Pelo Senior Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close June Pelo]

Lutheran Church basement coffee

Does anyone remember how coffee was made years ago? I can remember my family and all our relatives made coffee in a big speckled enamel graniteware coffee pot that sat on the stove burner. They made coffee this way:
- break an egg into a small bowl, reserving shell, and beat egg slightly. Add 1/2 cup cold water, then 1 cup ground coffee and the reserved egg shell, crushed. Mix thoroughly. Turn into coffee pot; pour on boiling water, and stir. (I remember the ladies adding the coffee/egg mixture directly to the boiling water.) Some people stuffed paper towel in the spout to prevent escape of the fragrant aroma. Place pot on stove and boil 3 minutes. If not boiled, coffee is cloudy. If boiled too long, too much tannic acid is developed. Add remaining 1/2 cup cold water which perfects clearing. Cold water, which is heavier than hot, sinks to the bottom and carries the grounds with it. After coffee has settled, serve at once. If the grounds didn't settle, a strainer was used when pouring.

It was called church basement coffee because the Lutheran church ladies made it that way. When I was growing up, and even into the 1980s, our church always served coffee after the service. Of course, in later years they used electric coffee pots. Even if the outside temperature was 90° many people wanted a cup of coffee after church.

[kivinen1 Registered Find all posts View Profile Close kivinen1]

We did like that too.

Boiled coffee cuts breast cancer risk: study

http://www.thelocal.se/27224/20100615/

or

Women Who Choose Boiled Coffee Run Lower Risk of Breast Cancer, Swedish Study Finds

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0615151255.htm