LL-L "Delectables" 2003.11.14 (06) [E]

Fri Nov 14 17:08:19 UTC 2003

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L O W L A N D S - L * 14.NOV.2003 (06) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (ZeÃªuws)
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From: Allison Turner-Hansen <hallison at gte.net>
Subject: LL-L "Delectables" 2003.11.12 (06) [E]

Dear Lowlanders,

    I used to buy bottled pickeled herring in brine, sometimes in wine sauce
or in sour cream with onions, at the local gourmet food shop.  I wonder
whether this would be pretty much the same thing as what Ron describes
below?  The fish did seem to be kind of raw except for the pickling.  It was
the only thing I could bring for my lunch at work that wouldn't be stolen by
the infamous lunch thief.  Also, it was always safe from roommates at home.
I myself love it, obviously, especially when it's in sour cream.

Hungrily,
Allison Turner-Hansen

P.S. In Minnesota some will eat a Scandinavian dish of fish prepared with
lye, called 'ludefisk' or something like that.  Is this done in the lowland
areas as well?  If so, what is it called?

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Delectables (yes, Sam, that's the subject line ;) )
>
> Folks, for those of you who are not familiar with this "matjes herring"
> thing we North Germans and Netherlanders are talking about, suffice it to
> explain that it is herring filets pickled in brine (often with spices such
> as juniper berries and pepper corns).  The filets are layed into the brine
> raw, and they are left in it preferably until they virtually "melt on the
> tongue" (in other words, until they almost disintegrate).  It tends to
feel
> and taste almost as gross to the novice (and also to indigenous children)
as
> it sounds -- a very salty, slippery affair (despite washing and soaking),
> but multitudes swear by it.
>
> In the Netherlands you can still buy matjes in the streets and eat them on
> the spot.  The expert way of eating a matjes filet there is holding it at
> one end with one hand, letting it dangle above one's upturned face and
> letting it slip down the cakehole like maritime munchies down a penguin's
> greedy gullet.  Gulp!  In Northern Germany, matjes herring is preferably
> eaten with knife and fork (like everything else, including sandwiches),
> served with buttered _PellkantÃ¼ffeln_ (Northern German _Pellkartoffeln_
> "peeling potatoes"), namely potatoes -- preferably new crop -- peeled
> *after* boiling but usually before serving.   Matjes are served -- some
say
> optionally, others say mandatorily -- with _Labskaus_ (Labscouse), yet
> another aquired taste according to
> some(http://www.sassisch.net/rhahn/kramer/labskaus.html).
>
> There are Scandinavian versions of matjes.  However, the similarities end
> with looks.  There is a taste divide between the Lowlands and the
Northlands
> that is located somewhere near the present Danish-German border.
> Scandinavians like to add a lot of sugar and other sweet things, which
North
> Germans and Netherlanders -- expecting their usual salty and sour fare by
> the looks of things -- tend to find rather disappointing and offputting.

---------

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Delectables

Hi, Allison!

> I used to buy bottled pickeled herring in brine, sometimes in wine sauce
> or in sour cream with onions, at the local gourmet food shop.  I wonder
> whether this would be pretty much the same thing as what Ron describes
> below?

I suppose it's along the same lines.

> It was
> the only thing I could bring for my lunch at work that wouldn't be stolen
by
> the infamous lunch thief.

So you had one, too, huh?  But at least yours had *some* standards.  ;)

> P.S. In Minnesota some will eat a Scandinavian dish of fish prepared with
> lye, called 'ludefisk' or something like that.  Is this done in the
lowland
> areas as well?  If so, what is it called?

It's fairly well-known here in the Seattle area, too, due to a sizeable
Scandinavian community (with close links to the Minnesota communities).  In
fact, there is an annual lutefisk eating contest here -- not something for
the faint-hearted, I'm afraid.  It is dried cod rehydrated (for hours) and
then boiled (e.g.,
http://www.sofn.com/norwegianculture/recipes/Lutefisk.html).  Actually, it
tends to smell worse than it tastes.  It is _lutefisk_ ['lÊ‰(Ë)tefÉªsk] in
Norwegian (dialectal also _ludefisk_), _lutfisk_ ['lÊ‰(Ë)tfÉªsk] in Swedish,
and _ludfisk_ ['luËÃ°fÉªsk] in Danish, the first part of the compound being
derived from words for "to wash in lye."  I can't speak for the Netherlands
and Belgium, but I can say that dried cod or any other dried fish is not
(widely) eaten in Northern Germany, though I believe it was in the past,
because I vaguely remember reading about it in medieval Hanseatic texts.
(And it makes sense, given long trade routes with no refrigeration.)  The
Dutch word is _stokvis_, the Lowlands Saxon one _stokvisch_ (<Stockfisch>)
and the German one _Stockfisch_, the first component probably referring to
the poles on which the fish is hung to air-dry.  "Stockfish" can also be
used in English.

Dried cod is widely eaten along the northern shores of the Mediterranean
Sea, and in some areas it is considered to be *the* dish, as in Portugal and
Galicia.  Since cod is caught in North Atlantic waters, a long way from
home, its default formback in the south was dried, hence implied "dried" in
connections with "cod" in those languages: Catalan _baccalÃ _, Portuguese
_bacalhau_, Spanish _baccalao_.  Mediterranean cooks can perform wonders
with the substance.

Still hungry?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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