The Nelson family learned how to make lefse after watching their mother make it for their father, who was of Swedish descent. “We always figured lefse was a Swedish thing,” Dave Nelson said.

Lee Svitak Dean, the Star Tribune's food editor, joined up with women at Central Lutheran Church to make the classic Scandinavian dish that so commonly graces Minnesotans' holiday tables.

Lutefisk is dried cod, prepared that way so it can last through the winter. To rehydrate it, Scandinavians soak it in a ...