Norsland Lefse - How It's Made

Come to Rushford, MN and visit Norsland Lefse! Watch us make lefse the traditional way - with real potatoes, real ingredients, and no preservatives. Then, head over to the cafe and have a taste. It's the BEST!

[@roberttschaefer]

For those who are all worked up over “no gloves” this is actually not as bad as you think. Believe it or not, bare hands can be much safer than food gloves, as long as cooks consistently wash their hands. Gloves can cause contamination because you can wash your hands but you cannot wash handling gloves, so unless people are good about constantly cycling through gloves, they are a worse risk. State and local jurisdictions have different rules about glove use versus bare hands, so always follow your local safety regulations.

[@virginiasummer2619]

For all the people making complaints, I think you should look a little more closely. I’m fairly sure everyone is wearing a hairnet. As for the bare hands, bread bakers don’t typically wear gloves. Actually some of the things from your hands can improve flavor ( think sourdough and wild yeast) so long as your hands are actually clean. I’m sure they are regularly inspected and I think this product looks great!

[@seizuregurl]

Hairnets or hats were always worn and health inspectors never complained about gloves not being worn or aprons either. Using gloves made it harder to do the job.

[@charleshetrick3152]

There are certainly a ton of Blue Falcons in this comments section.

[@sonjafowler917]

My 90 year old mother makes the best lefse! She, however, would NEVER use oil. Must be butter.

[@Craig-ib7gk]

Absolutely. There isn't much in a lefse ingredient list, (russet potatoes, butter, cream, and flour, with salt and/or sugar optional), so using the highest quality of ingredients you can get is a must. I make mine using very rich, full-fat, grass-fed salted butter (usually French, but Irish will do in a pinch). Using salted butter alleviates the need for adding salt to the recipe. And, of course, full-fat cream. Ounce for ounce, those are by-far the two most expensive ingredients (the butter and cream), so it isn't surprising commercial manufacturing would substitute them both out for much less expensive vegetable oil.

[@sondraiverson5826]

Where can I buy lefse that's made with butter - not oil?@@Craig-ib7gk

[@joshbrekke6374]

Mmmm, I sure do love me some Lefsa!!

[@tormentedsoul7852]

What a process. This was a great How-Its-Made video. Thank You

[@senorvillarruel8129]

most satisfying video.. dough making itself is satisfying watching .

[@TroubadorToday]

Love Love Love! 💕

[@kenlong5033]

Even though it is 2020 now... thank you for your video on how you make Lefse. The last time I had any was waaay back in the very early '50,s in Bemidji, Mn. I was around 4 years old. I'd like to visit your store sometime, but for the time being I may have to have it shipped to Michigan. Thanks. Ps All I heard from comments was about quality control issues. No one actually said they were interested visiting the store or mail ordering any Lefse. Hmmmmm.

[@SweetHopeCookies]

I have 20 pounds of mashed potatoes cooling in the fridge for a little Christmas Eve lefse making afternoon tomorrow!

[@mylaschorsch5498]

My immediate family gets together with my Mom's lefsa grills and my Krumka iron and have a day long party every year before Thanksgiving.

[@kathimcmaster4758]

Very interesting. Your employees work hard

[@seizuregurl]

Yes, we do! :)

[@infallibleblue]

Super cool!

[@erichami]

That music! Un-listenable but oddly charming.

[@charleshetrick3152]

…I didn’t see a link to download the Lefse Recipe song?!

[@CindyLP1]

The best way to protect against contamination is hand washing the correct way. Gloves are a false sense of security. The way things look in this video, it would be a greater risk that a piece of the glove would break off and get into the product.

[@jbj7599]

Agreed, people will use gloves waaay too long and think its ok cuz they have gloves on. Just wash your hands/arms really good before u start. Its what drs do

[@Raketemensch-fl3sv]

Man all you people freaking out about the no gloves... germaphobes with weak immune systems, for sure. You should see food preparation where i live... you'd be appalled. But i'm a firm believer in the adage that 'what does not kill us makes us stronger', and that goes double for food. I'm only half-joking, but even setting aside my extreme views, just wash your hands. What's the big deal?

[@charleshetrick3152]

Seconded. Maybe all these commenters are on the same cancer ward receiving chemo?

[@erniemajor]

It is indeed 'paper thin', not like the cardboardy fake kind. Our fave brand!

[@tomreodorfelgen7367]

0:28 Hey what name of the this song is this :)

[@tamweir3458]

The music could be left out.

[@charleshetrick3152]

No one is stopping you making your own video of your lefse manufacturing process.

[@evawymer1983]

But never the less Lefsa is the best.

[@user-yr5qy9uc6h]

the music pls😭

[@evawymer1983]

Lefsa forever!

[@missjojo184]

Its called LEFSE

[@charleshetrick3152]

@@missjojo184she’s supporting the tradition, but your going to lose your mind over spelling?

[@quester09]

lefse!

[@lizzurbuchen3668]

what happened to the order i had sent to gower, mo elizabeth zurbuchen la crescent

[@kennethstensrud669]

Real lefse does not use oil, but butter. .. and we use them around hot dog with mustard and ketchup.........

[@charleshetrick3152]

They make money selling this stuff so by default it is real lefse. Just like the Chinese communist party isn’t actual communism, but is because there’s no “actual” communism anywhere else. There would be a massive price increase if they used butter and I’ll bet for all the “real” lefse you’ve eaten at The Sons Of Norway Hall whilst listening to Stan Boreson you couldn’t blind taste test which was and wasn’t made with oil vs butter.

[@oriel9347]

You're American !

[@charleshetrick3152]

Everyone is, they just don’t know it yet.

[@timerickson7056]

You are so lucky my grandmother a true Norwegian from Viking stock (BERSERK NORWAY) never seen how you make lefse. She claimed to have knifed over 100 nazi bastards during wwii. Grampa disputes that he said closer to 50. And there were a few that probably were nazi. He said he knew for a fact there were no where near 50 germans let alone nazi in maddock North Dakota. Plus she was knowing nazi through 1978 when she semi retired. She would of gone wild and she could do it. She at around age 80 cleared out a biker bar in fargo with her older sisters. They decided that these guys had no business drinking at 2 pm on a Wednesday. Lefse should be made with red potatoes only.. Preferably res river valley reds and with butter and cream, not oil. I guess I'm spoiled because to this day I have never found a lefse commercially made that I like.

[@Craig-ib7gk]

I completely agree about the butter and cream, the highest quality you can get your hands on. I've never used red potatoes, as my family recipe calls for Russet. They have a very high starch content, and that is highly desired to serve as a natural binder. The starch swells during cooking and give a much 'fluffier' mix than waxy potatoes like red, blue purple, and fingerling.. Lefse zealots won't even boil the potatoes. Instead, they bake them, skin on, until tender through, then pull them, let them cool a bit, then scoop them for ricing and the rest of the recipe. I've never had that kind of patience, so i just hit it like my grandmother taught me (and her grandmother taught her, etc.).

[@hasijo45]

Lefse ? Not where I come from. Just an oversized "hellekake".

[@pavarattilucianobartle124]

hasijo45 who sells the equipment.

[@charleshetrick3152]

There was no eggs nor yeast so it can’t be hellekake

[@QueenieFrancie]

I'm fine with no gloves, as long as hands are kept clean. But, the girl with the watch or bracelet on? That's a no-no! She wears that thing out and about in her regular life and then wears it preparing these food items? Not hygienic at all. No one should be wearing jewelry on the hands or wrists when handling food.

[@EnPeeSee]

Oil instead of heavy cream and butter like you should? Tsk tsk.

[@HrHaakon]

+AP Well there are traditional recipes that goes without cream, and some that goes without potatoes too, oil in Norwegian cooking didn't really start beinga thing until the seventies, when oil was seen as super convenient because you could bake without having to melt that *censored* bar of butter first... On the other hand, traditions have to change to stay alive, don't they? :)

[@cjohns3948]

My Gramma made lefse. She was from Norway. Ingredients, potatoes, lard, flour. Does anyone else think this lefse looks underdone? I do....

[@charleshetrick3152]

I’ve never met anyone who could blind taste test the difference. There would be a staggering cost increase if they used refrigerated ingredients

[@douglasalfseike3867]

Non-potato lefse is way better!

[@charleshetrick3152]

The sweet lord can hear you when you lie.

[@evawymer1983]

And another thing you eat Lefsa hot dohy

[@jstevens4920]

No gloves! Now I know that I will be making my own. No more trips to Rushford!

[@charleshetrick3152]

Gloves aren’t required nor would they be desirable in this situation from a food safety perspective. But also have you eaten pizza from a pizzeria lately? Or been out to eat at all? Even if the kitchen staff wore gloves and or washed hands properly and were otherwise sterile I guarantee you your server delivered your food with his/her bare hands, so all the food safety precautions the kitchen exercised were for not

[@Northfield333]

As one who has many years exposure to food inspectors and commercial food manufacturing, I'm dismayed to see two BIG no-no's. #1 - "loose flour on the floor - and everywhere else!" Flour is an EXPLOSION HAZARD when it's not contained! Some of the worst industrial accidents in U.S. history occurred when loose flour exploded. Vacuum that stuff up, and keep the place absolutely free of loose flour! #2 - one of your major industrial machines was powered by a loose electrical cord laying directly on the floor! That's a disaster just waiting to happen and seriously injure or even kill someone. DON'T DO THAT! Have your electrician install a drop cord directly above the controls of that machine, and have them do it TOMORROW!

[@Heraclitean]

You've obviously never made lefse. I'm sure they clean at the end of the day but that floor is not staying clean during production. And you're hysterical. They've been making lefse for decades, somehow with no flour explosions.

[@charleshetrick3152]

That’s why we use flour in thermobaric weapon systems in the military…oh wait we don’t because the conditions necessary to do what you’re talking about aren’t present here. The dust has to suspend in the air. You can see the oscillating fans? They’re not shielded, they’d have caused your explosion the first day if it were going to be an issue. What’s more you saw the massive gap under the griddles and saw the exposed flames from the burners!? Maybe if the conditions existed to cause an explosion we’d know because of the copious amounts of open flame!!

[@cherylmccormick4585]

No hair nets either (

[@charleshetrick3152]

Look more closely, they are wearing hair nets. Look for the thin black line on the foreheads.

[@evawymer1983]

There over thinking the whole thing al, you have to do is roll the dough into balls and fry as usual . Thats all there is to it.

[@marlenestreiff7736]

Music makes me not want to watch.

[@charleshetrick3152]

But you watched…so how can this be a true statement

[@douglasalfseike3867]

Nothing say's loving like mom making lefse for you! Lefse by machines & paycheck slaves aren't the same! Our ancestors are rolling in their graves!

[@charleshetrick3152]

One wonders what your ancestors would be doing if their traditional foods were lost to history because you couldn’t tolerate the lack of authenticity. You think Polynesians should be mad at everything Moana got wrong or should they be glad anyone decided to spend their millions of dollars making the movie and then let people delve into the culture after the fact.

[@douglasalfseike3867]

@@charleshetrick3152 good question! I have a tooth let us figure things out!

[@cherylmccormick4585]

No gloves lady wth :( Sorry icky - JERMS !!!

[@charleshetrick3152]

The irony is Jerms is the brand name of a probiotic supplement. Maybe you meant *germs* ?

[@Puh_ya]

Missing the hygiene as well. Urgh

[@charleshetrick3152]

What aspect of hygiene wasn’t adhered to? They are wearing hairnets and I looked up the glove requirements and they’re not violating any regulations

[@Puh_ya]

@@charleshetrick3152 I love Lefsa!! I'll eat my grandmothers. You eat this if it doesn't bother you.

[@charleshetrick3152]

@@Puh_ya bet your gran never went to the toilet and failed to wash before getting back to making her special little guy his treats? Never wiped her nose or coughed during prep? Bleached the counter before assembling the ingredients etc.? C’mon son!

[@Puh_ya]

@@charleshetrick3152 LOLOL You just cracked me up. Pretty funny. But to your point, if she had forgotten, at least I'd be getting germs exactly like the ones I got when she hugged & kissed me and not whatever some stranger had their hands in last. LOL. She did love her granddaughter to the moon and back.

[@charleshetrick3152]

@@Puh_ya I used to build houses for a living and was always amused at the code and how it needed to be updated all the time, when I wasn’t building from foundation to finish I’d do remodels and would be working on hundred plus yr old houses and I’d always wonder how they were still standing and in perfect condition whilst not even kind of being up to present code. Food handling seems to be kinda similar. When I worked at a pizza joint in my youth my food handlers card was a fifteen minute read of a pamphlet and then a ten question test wherein the answer was in the question. Evidently presently it’s a proper class with an instructor and a real test yet multiple local eateries have a less than perfect rating from the food safety folks. Still the best Thai food I’ve ever had is from a POS hole in the wall place where dude never wears a hair net and looks like a for real pirate, best peanut sauce in the world, and I’ve been to Thailand proper.

[@ninabayer6163]

I'm thrilled to see lefse made with real potatoes, but like some of the other comments, I'm shocked to see the lack of aprons, hairnets and gloves. This concerns me, and makes me hesitate to order your product.

[@seizuregurl]

Hairnets are being worn and always were. As for aprons and gloves, neither were necessary and health inspectors had no problem with not wearing them.

[@torepres]

Dreadfull song!

[@missjojo184]

Stop stealing Norwegian culture. It's not yours! Dont make your own pretend bunads. Its hella disrespectful!

[@1212holden]

MissJoJo these people definitely have Norwegian ancestors just like 90% of everyone else in Minnesota

[@charleshetrick3152]

I’m sure you meant to thank them for keeping your culture relevant by exposing people to your food customs. It’s only appropriation if they don’t acknowledge the source. They’re clearly leaning into identifying the originating culture. Get over yourself.

[@susyshepard320]

After watching this video I will never BUY lefse again. I'll only eat my own. This was disgusting.

[@Raketemensch-fl3sv]

Wow. I would LOVE to see your reaction to food preparation here in china. For real. On the other hand, my stomach after a decade here is invincible.

[@charleshetrick3152]

What part was disgusting?