In his novel Lake Wobegon Days, Garrison Keillor describes lutefisk as “a repulsive gelatinous fishlike dish that tasted of soap and gave off an odor that would gag a goat. . . . I always felt the cold creeps as Advent approached, knowing that this dread delicacy would be put before me and I’d be told, ‘Just have a little.’ Eating a little was like vomiting a little, just as bad as a lot.”
Goss prepared a variation of the Italian dish vitello tonnato, or cold veal loin with tuna mayonnaise. He poached the lutefisk in olive oil with thyme, bay leaves, and chiles de arbol, then used both the fish and the poaching oil (after it had cooled) to make a lutefisk aioli. He served the aioli with an arugula salad, truffled peach olives—immature dwarf peaches brined and preserved in truffle oil—and cold slices of poached pork loin.
Confit garlic in the grapeseed oil. Remove garlic and add the lutefisk, bay leaf, thyme, and chile de arbol. Let cook for 20 minutes over low heat, then let cool.
