Get Into The Holiday Spirit With Scandinavian Glogg
Every Christmas Eve was a time for the family to gather. It was also a time to recapture our Swedish heritage.
As kids, my sister and I learned to say grace in Swedish. Of course we had no idea what we were saying at the time. And the pronunciation must have been more than slightly off the mark. It must have been hilarious for the true Swedes in our family to hear how we butchered the language. At least I hope they were laughing.
We would feast on Lutefisk, boiled potatoes with white sauce, rutabagas and, Swedish meatballs. The family was evenly divided between those who would eat the gelatinous fish and those who would not. I did not join the fish feasters until we started baking the fish. In the early days the dried fish was soaked in lye and then boiled. The fish seemed to hold up much better after we started baking it. The sensation of gooey fish sliding down my throat was gone. If I put enough white sauce on it with some pepper, everything was fine.
We also had pickled herring, suelze, fruit soup, cheese, and krumkake. The only thing missing was glogg. It wasn't that that we didn't try. My father was in charge of the glogg. His attempts always came up short. I think he tried to improve the recipe before mastering it. I'm not even sure Dad followed a recipe. It was undrinkable. Maybe that was for the best since I was never sure of the chemical reactions created by the variety of ingredients.
It wasn't until a few years ago when a Norwegian neighbor brought over a bottle during or celebration that we discovered how it was supposed to actually taste. And now, because of this story on NPR's All Things Considered, the recipe is revealed. I'm sending it to my sister.
Thanks!
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