UC Davis Connecting Through Food Project aims to collect and distribute beloved recipes from our community so that everyone can learn and enjoy.
Food is culture. Food is memory. We all have recipes that we cook at home or eat with people whom we love. Sharing a meal together can be a practice self-care and celebration of community. Showcase your culture, whether local or global and special memories by submitting your favorite recipe and/or backstory.
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Erika's Story on Borghild's Lefse
I grew up in Spring Green, Wisconsin, but my mother learned to make lefse when my parents lived out in the country in Richland County, Wisconsin. Lefse is made wherever there are large groups of Norwegian Americans (across the Upper Midwest and also in places like Seattle, for example), and you can even find it in grocery stores in the Twin Cities in Minnesota or in Fargo, North Dakota.
Lefse is a Norwegian-American staple around the holidays. I learned how to make it from my mother. She isn't Norwegian-American, but learned how to make lefse when my parents were young pastors in rural Wisconsin serving a parish with many Norwegian and Norwegian-American members. Some of the women in the church decided to teach younger people in order to keep the tradition alive, and Borghild was my mom's teacher. Whenever I make and eat lefse, I feel like I'm back home in the Midwest with my family. One of my favorite ways to eat it is with gjetost (a caramelized goat milk cheese) and pickled herring, but I'm the only person in my family who likes it that way. Sugar and butter are a guaranteed crowd-pleaser!
Ingredients:
3 cups cold riced potatoes
1 cup flour
2 tbsp melted butter
Recipe Procedure:
1. Boil peeled potatoes in salted water until tender. Drain the water, then return potatoes to burner to dry them out.
2. Rice potatoes and cool.
3. Combine riced potatoes and butter and mix until blended.
4. Add flour a bit at a time, mixing until you have a velvety dough. You want to use as little flour as possible so that the lefse remains tender, but enough so that the lefse won't stick.
5. Form the dough into a log and divide the log into 6 pieces.
6. Roll each piece out into a circle on a floured surface until the round is very thin.
7. Bake each round of lefse on a very hot round griddle. If you do not have a large, round griddle, you can make each round of lefse smaller (cut the log into 12 pieces) and bake in a hot large skillet. Bake on one side until bubbles form on the underside and begin to brown, then flip and bake on the other side until bubbles form and brown.
8. Transfer finished rounds to a lint-free dish towel on a wire rack. Cover with another towel to keep warm and flexible.
9. Serve with butter and brown or white sugar, or use as a wrap for a sausage or whatever fillings you prefer.
Other Information:
Category: Side Dish, Dessert, Snack
Time typically served: Anytime!
Servings: 6
