Bethlehem Lutheran Church

Just yesterday was Bethlehem's annual Lutefisk Dinner.  It's an event currently hosted by our students raising money for their summer mission trip.  But this dinner stretches farther back in the history of this church, and many hands have played a role in its strong tradition.

As the Director of Student Ministries, I have participated in 6 of these dinners.  My main job is to recruit students and parents to plan, prepare and serve.  I have never really spent much time in the kitchen while the menu makes its way from recipes to warm, scrumptious offerings that delight our guests year after year.   My kitchen time is during Clean Up shift.

This season, I found myself moving from the peripheries of recruitment and lower ranks of clean up to the upper ranks and  inner circle of cooks and chefs.  Along with two other good-natured souls, I took on the making of Fruit Soup (the first time for all of us).  I absolutely love the Fruit Soup here and had often thought of asking for the recipe. No need - the recipe now lay before me along with all the various ingredients necessary to create this traditional favorite.  It goes without saying, I was nervous, extremely nervous.  What if I messed up?  What if it didn't pass the approval of the diners who have come to expect a certain taste?  Fruit Soup can vary quite a lot, from recipe to recipe.  Would the fruit soup saints that come before me approve?

The three of us got to work and by our trust in historical data (years of satisfied diners), we believed the recipe would guide us to an acceptable end.  And it did.  But not without some snags and scares along the way.

Just from the beginning, I forgot to buy lemon juice and picked up tapioca pudding instead of tapioca. Losing 45 minutes to a 2nd grocery store visit, we were on our way.  Later as we simmered dried fruit with cinnamon sticks, I forgot how much tapioca I had added to each of the 4 pots of water.  And in the final mixing of the soup, I over-filled a crock and am still finding (days later) sticky spots on the floor. There were more snags but I don't want to get too embarrassed, so I leave it at those.

Then for the last and most significant panic, the soup in each crock had a different color.  "Oh no," I thought, "this really can't be good."  My mind raced with back-up plans as this seemed to be turning into a failure. "Does anyone sell Fruit Soup," we wondered.  After going back over the recipe, giving each crock several more stirs, and calming ourselves with a sigh, we covered them and put them in cold storage.  

That night, as I drove home, I prayed that the fruit soup would pass the test.  Test?  Somehow, in the span of gathering ingredients and tucking the filled crocks away in cold storage, I had come to believe that this was test - a test that could result in either a high or low grade.  I so much wanted a high grade.  And who were my graders?  All of the wise women who had crafted this recipe in the pass (some of who are very much part of the present). Would they approve?  Could I finally feel like I belonged in Bethlehem's kitchen?

Test results came in last night and again this morning.  The soup passed; I passed!  And well beyond my delight, requests for the recipe were made by many.  "Put it online," someone said. So here  I am doing just that and at the same time, giving thanks for the generations before me who trusted me enough to pass along the recipe and make enough room in the kitchen for me and all Bethlehem's young people.  

Fruit Soup (as it reads from the Lutefisk Dinner bible - Enjoy and don't forget the conversions...This recipe fed over 400 people) 

33 quarts water

5 (8 oz) boxes tapioca (small pearl/minute)

10 lbs sugar (2-5 lb bags)

5-6 lbs prunes, pitted (purchase in bulk)

5-6 lbs mixed fruit (purchase in bulk)

5-6 lbs raisins (purchase in bulk)

2- 12oz grape juice (and water per directions on can)

6-8 oz cinnamon sticks (bulk) – wrapped in cheesecloth

9- 12 oz  orange juice concentrate (no water added)

1 dozen oranges (peel and cut up in chunks)

1 qt bottle real lemon juice

Simmer fruit in 2 pans with 4 quarts of water in each pan with cinnamon sticks.  Cook about 1 hours.

Use remaining water divided in 2 pans (12 ½ quarts each) to cook tapioca, stir while adding the tapioca.  Gradually add 5 lbs sugar to each pan, stirring constantly to cook tapioca until clear.

Get the large crocks out of the Martha Room.  Put the crocks on the carts with wheels before filling; janitor may be available to help lifting.

Put grape juice into 2 (8 and 10 gallon) crocks.  Add lemon juice, cooled tapioca and fruit.  Keep stirring.

Put in cold storage and cover tightly with Saran wrap.  Stir soup each day before dinner.  Add water if necessary.

TAKES ABOUT 3 HOURS TO COMPLETE PROCESS.

TO MAKE IT EASIER, DIVIDE UP THE 2 LARGE POTS OF WATER AND TAPIOCA AND USE 4 POTS.  THIS WILL TAKE LESS TIME.

-       Make in buckets

-       Pour into earthen crocks

-       Laddle into glass sherbet cups