Troutbirder II

Troutbirder II
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Sunday, March 8, 2015

Norwegian Klub - (pronounced Klooob)


My maternal Norwegian ancestry grandparents.
Mom & me 1941
In a particularly nostalgic mood this morning, I harkened back to my childhood and some of my mom’s Norwegian style cookery.

 Our household was divided between the Germanic culinary leanings of my father and my two younger brothers and me and my mom’s Scandinavian favorites. Of course, those were the days before pizza and fast foods were yet widely known in America. I even told my mom occasionally I liked her to make lutefisk. This was a stretch because the taste of salted half decayed cod, with the consistency of Jell-O, left a little to be desired. Still, I think it made her day to know that someone else in the family would eat the stuff.   This morning though my thoughts turned to something she called Klub, also known in the Upper Midwest as Kumla and a variety of other names. I loved it.

It’s basically Norwegian potato dumplings. There are dozens of recipes on the internet for it today. Most are incrementally different but add up to the same thing. I stick with mom’s recipe.  

4 cups grated potatoes

3 cups flour    ½ teaspoon baking powder

Pork hocks

Your boil the hocks or any kind of pork with a bone

Peel and grate or use blender to chop the potatoes

Then you mix the potatoes and flour in a large bowl to the “right consistency.”  That’s the tricky part that took some practice.  Your make balls a little bigger than golf balls. Too compacted and you get a heavy golf ball to eat.  To soft and mushy it separates and floats to the top when you drop it in the boiling water.  Remove the pork for a while giving the dumplings room to do their thing….:)  I give each boiling step anywhere  from thirty minutes to an hour obviously depending on whether you used a precooked bone in ham or not.
The key in serving is to follow Julia Child's famous dictum.... "drench it in butter".  Any leftovers can be fried in bacon the next morning.  All right this isn't for light or picky eaters. Even Mrs. T. liked the Klub but said she had seen the last of pork hock ever.  I said I'd upscale to a small bone in ham or pork roast "the next time." Bon Appetite

 

 

28 comments:

  1. My city has a pretty large Norwegian and Swedish heritage but I haven't heard of Kumla. I don't suppose there is a low fat version of that recipe (just kidding).

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  2. I have never had this before, fried in bacon the next morning sounds great and hey you look at home in the kitchen! :)

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  3. Your photos are beautiful, Trout, and this recipe sounds wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing. :)

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  4. you can keep the lutefisk, but my (czech) father made potato dumplings! they were like gooey cannonballs, but so good. then the next morning, leftovers sliced into bacon grease - yum!!!

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  5. Great pictures and post. Family history is a favorite pursuit of mine. I just recently finished scanning /thousands/ of old family slides and pictures. Don't know if I could neatly post some of them in conjunction with a recipe, but they might be worth a few posts...

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  6. The Klub sounds like it might be pretty good, especially fried the next day with bacon.

    I expect I will never see this description at a restaurant "salted half decayed cod, with the consistency of Jell-O" Yumm!

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  7. About 66 years ago in my hometown at holiday times the foodstores would have barrels of lutefisk parked out in front. It stunk to the heavens, you would just hold your breath when you walked by, but the Scandinavians would buy them empty.
    Then they used a nice big chunk of fatback inside those kloobs, makes me gag to thing of that. How can people who make krumkaka, and other dainty delicious cookies, want to eat lutefisk and kloobs is way beyond me.

    Thanks for your comment the other day, my best wishes to you, Mrs. T and the lovely Lily!

    Jo, Up North

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  8. That is what you call "soul food." I love making traditional dishes that remind me of where I came from and the family members who made it for me. It just sort of centers you, doesn't it?

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  9. Growing up in North Dakota we used to attend the Norwegian Festivals a lot! It was great fun and I sampled my way through all of the stalls, so I feel pretty certain I have tasted Klub at some point :)

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  10. The potato dumplings sounds delicious but I'm with your wife. I'd rather have ham I think.... Neat that you have so many wonderful cultures in your family. Love it.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  11. This sounds pretty delicious. I like the chef in this photo!

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  12. Whatever the cuisine, I just love men who can cook and know their way around a kitchen!

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  13. I think I'd like this dish. It's nice to have a recipe that's passed down the years. The photographs are lovely.

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  14. Your Mom was so pretty and of course, you were adorable.
    I still remember Garrison Keilor's tale about lutefisk. It was hilarious.
    How great that recipe for Klub has not been forgotten is still giving pleasure.

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  15. I was just thinking of the dumplings. I haven't had them for years. Dumplings are soul food, good for the soul. Decorah has a festival.

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  16. Well, not being a person who eats pork, this one would have to stay on my plate, but the description of it is very interesting. Glad you enjoy it so much, TB. We all have different things that make us nostalgic, but lutefisk and klub are new ones to me! :-)

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  17. My father was 3rd generation Norwegian and I don't remember him even talking about Norwegian food (probably because his mother died when he was a young boy an the step mom wasn't Norwegian). I will pass on the Lutefisk but I will try the Klub. My husband may like that.

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  18. Oh, gosh, you reminded me of lutefisk !! One of my sisters married a man from Denmark and he said I had to try it .... ugh. And then I spent two years at Upsala College and there it was again. !!

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  19. I have a great appreciation for old photographs and recipes passed on and enjoyed through continents and generations. :) This is great!

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  20. Very nice photos on your blog! Especially love the birds.

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  21. So glad to see you carry on the traditions. The klub sounds delicious but I'll pass on the lutefisk, thanks just the same. I read the ingredients once.

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  22. Guess I lost my comment and will try again! First of all, thank you for your most recent visit! I have not been good about visiting my blogging friends! My husband's mother was German and cooked many dishes. My husband just made a batch of what he calls Ptato Dumplings last week. He boils whole potatoes (skins on) until cooked,nthen peels and grates them. After adding flour, etc., he puts an herbed crouton in the center. I don't remember his ever adding a piece of meat... But maybe... ;-) The only snow left, down here, are what used to be drifts or mounded piles. It is still early, though! Ha. Any signs of Spring up there?

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  23. Not Ptato but Potato Dumplings. I see I need to better scan my comments!

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  24. Ethnic dishes usually are delicious. The reason I think so is they are not purchased from the frozen food section or the stores deli. Homemade, from scratch is the best. -- barbara

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  25. Ha! That would keep you warm through the winter. It's nice to see you embracing your heritage. Some people say the Maine coast reminds them of Norway.

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  26. Wonderful of you. I'm adopted and don't know from whence I came from!!!

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  27. That's very interesting. They say people who live in far northern climates have adapted to a diet that helps them live there. Eskimos for example live almost exclusively on fat and meats. Our tastes might change, too.

    Your expression hasn't changed since 1941?

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  28. Hi troutbirder, That photo of you and your mom in 1941 is a real treasure. I do want to try the Norwegian Klub ... You know the old saying ... you are what you eat ... well, if that is true, quite a bit of me is a potato. :-) Yeah, I can hear the comments already. LOL. Have a great weekend! John

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