My first stop in Norway last August was in Vinje, in the county Telemark. Bodil Nordjore, esteemed lefse maker and author, hosted Jane Legwold, my wife, and me. Over three days we made flatbread so thin that it’s called thin bread, as well as two kinds of lefse.
We used a Meteor Steketakke, a classic, Norwegian-made electric griddle (or baking griddle/”takke”) produced by Engmark Meteor AS on Kalbakken in Oslo since 1955. The grill is huge, 24 inches in diameter, compared with 16-inch lefse grills sold here in the US.
When we finished baking, Bodil said, “Do you want that grill?”
Norwegians are noted for their generosity, but I was astonished. I had seen this Meteor in stores, and it sold for about $280. I told Bodil I couldn’t possibly take her grill.
That was not the answer she wanted. She asked again. I sensed where this was going. Saying no to Bodil is not recommended.
“But Bodil,” I protested weakly, “how will I get it home?”
This went on for about a minute or so, but I gladly accepted and got it home in a large soft-sided suitcase. I was thrilled because I had always wanted to use one of these big grills, which I quickly named Berta.
At home, I used an adapter to plug it in to my 110V outlet. It got warm! That was easy, I thought.
The problem was Berta only got warm, not hot enough to make lefse.
I called four electricians, and one, Joel Dupay of Emergency Electric in Minneapolis, saved the day. He ran a 240V line up from the basement box to the first floor kitchen and installed an appropriate outlet. He removed the old plug from Berta’s cord and attached a plug that fit the new outlet.
We had power, big time! So much power that I had to rein in Berta a bit and turn down the dial as Jane and I made flat bread (photo above) and then lefse.
I tried to roll a real big lefse for this real big grill, but every time I thought I had a big one, Berta made it look small (above). Nice problem to have.
Oh, I should say that this free Norwegian grill turned out to be an $800 “free” Norwegian grill. Whatever, Berta is worth it!