I am descended from a long line of Norwegian ancestors, mostly centered in western North Dakota.  Long before I was born, my father left North Dakota and moved to Alaska.  After a number of years there, he and my mom moved to Norway, where they spent about six years. I was born in Norway, in the middle of that stint.

When our family moved back to Alaska, they—especially my dad—wanted to keep some of the old Norwegian traditions alive.  So we had Lutefisk for Christmas Eve Dinner. Every year.

Lutefisk, for the uninitiated, is a whitefish (often cod, but others will do) that is preserved by first drying the fish and then soaking it in lye.  It is…different. But prepared properly, it can be delicious! Here’s how.

Buy the freshest lutefisk you can find.  It’s filling, so you won’t need much.  Oil a large baking dish, and place the lutefisk in the center. Lightly salt and pepper the lutefisk to taste.  Bake in the oven at about 350 for 30 minutes, or until the fish flakes.  If it jiggles mysteriously, it’s probably done! Top with butter (lots of butter, more than seems reasonable) and serve with boiled peas and potatoes—again with lots of butter.

Our family added a nice flourish to this tradition.  In a second roasting pan, place a large, high-quality prime rib of beef—preferably rested overnight in the fridge after being rubbed generously with salt, pepper, and fresh herbs.  This is important: Roast the beef separately from the lutefisk (so it doesn’t absorb too much of the fish’s flavor, and none of the lye).  I prefer to start the beef at 500 degrees for about an hour and then drop back to about 300 degrees until the center reaches about 130 degrees (a bit less for rare, a bit warmer for medium).  The size of the roast will determine your cook time.

In our house, my dad and I would always eat some of the lutefisk.  Everyone else would try a bite or two.  And then we would all feast on the prime rib, offering the leftover lutefisk to our pets.  (For various reasons, tradition aside, I do not recommend feeding leftover lutefisk to your pets.)

One of these days, I’ll persuade my kids that we should all try lutefisk for Christmas Eve.  But they may not be ready for that. For now, we carry on the “prime rib” half of the tradition.