Sure is, anyway you like it. Lefse!

The lefse ladies, and men, were busy in the basement of Bethany Lutheran Church of Minot Tuesday. More than 30 eager, apron clad volunteers gathered around their lefse grills, rolling pins and wooden turners in hand, to make hundreds of round sheets of the tasty Norwegian tradition.

So what exactly is that stuff that people love to stuff in their face without any apologies to culinary pundits?

“It’s potatoes, butter, cream, salt and sugar and a lot of work,” laughed LuAnn Roise.

Kim Fundingsland/MDN Lefse bakes on a grill while volunteers ready specially prepared dough to be rolled into similar circular sheets.

Roise was the ceremonial head of the dedicated lefse rollers that filled the kitchen and basement of Bethany Lutheran Church for the annual baking spree. The goal was to make 700 or so sheets of lefse in preparation for the church’s 28th Annual Lutefisk and Meatball Dinner which will be held Dec 2.

While lefse doesn’t get top billing for that dinner, it should. It is a certainty that lefse will be universally popular for lutefisk slurpers and meatball connoisseurs alike. Cripes, lefse is a big draw anytime, anywhere. There’s nothing like it. The Norwegian tradition is foolproof food at its finest.

“I like mine just with butter,” said Roise. “Some like brown sugar, white sugar or even corn syrup. When I was a child I used to like canned salmon in it.”

Huh?

“A lot of people like sugar and butter on it but I like plain old butter,” said Kathryn Swanson, one of the veteran lefse makers who was carefully turning a sheet of lefse. “It’s just one of those things where everybody’s got their opinion, I guess.”

Other flour-coated lefse lovers said they roll up sausage links or hot dogs in their lefse. Cinnamon and sugar is popular too. Arlin Pederson, one of the men who was carefully making lefse, had his own thoughts on how to properly utilize a perfect sheet of lefse.

“Any way you like it,” remarked Pederson. “I like to butter it and roll meat up in it. Turkey or ham, any kind of meat.”

By the way, lefse works good for cleaning up a plate at a holiday dinner too. There’s nothing better for wiping away the last remnants of cranberries or gravy or virtually anything left over on a plate. The darn stuff is as versatile as it is tasty. Lefse rules!

Not only is it pleasing to the pallet but it is a food, yes a food, that is soaked in tradition. When the first sheets of lefse were rolled out is anyone’s guess, but it had to be hundreds of thousands of years ago. And, fortunately for lefse lovers of all ages, the tradition has been kept alive from generation to generation. Maybe even improved upon.

“I know it goes back to Norway but they don’t make it the exact way we make it now,” said Swanson. “I have two old Norwegian cookbooks. One says use potatoes and another says just use flour and butter.”

“People love it,” added Roise while nodding her head in recognition of the legion of dedicated lefse-making volunteers. “There’s a lot of grandmothers here that make it for their grandkids. It goes on and on.”

Indeed it does. Swanson recalls her mother and a neighbor making lefse when she was a young child.

“They made it on the stove,” said Swanson “They rolled it on the stove-top of an old coal stove we had.”

Swanson says her mother “wasn’t brought up Norwegian” but learned the art of lefse making from a neighbor’s mother. As for passing on the tradition, it may not be an easy road for Swanson.

“I only had four sons, so I’m having a tough time,” laughed Swanson.

Pederson says he learned the lessons of lefse at a young age, a very young age.

“My mother had us rolling lefse before we started school,” recalled Pederson. “She learned from her mother and my dad’s mother made lefse. We always had lefse for Thanksgiving and Christmas. We could eat it anytime.”

Ummmmm.

So what is it that makes lefse so darn good?

“Not dried out and thin and not burned,” said Roise. “Some like it a little thicker. Whatever works. People love it.”

Yes maam, you betcha!