Emily: And hold it down until it goes ch-ch-ch-ch. Am I in focus?

Serri: Yes.

Emily: There you go! Hi Mom *laughs*. We’re making lefse. I said on Twitter last night that lefse was a traditional Norwegian, uh, potato pancake, and then somebody who was actually Norwegian corrected me and said it’s more of a tortilla. Either way, it is a non-rising, potato and flour based, holiday dessert that my family makes every year. And I have the recipe that my grandmother printed up for me 10 years ago, which probably needs to be retyped.

Well, so last night– The recipe calls for between, uh, 10 and 30 pounds of potatoes, whatever you think you will need. With a 20 pound discrepancy in, uh, potatoes, I would say we probably boiled about 12 pounds of potatoes. After that, you add– For every 8 cups of potatoes, you have to include a half a cup of heavy cream, eight tablespoons of butter, a tablespoon of salt and a tablespoon of sugar. These instructions aren’t super exact.

You will have to rice them. We used a ricer that my mother has had for about 8 million years–

*rices potatoes* I did this so much better when you weren’t recording.

–I think it was the first ricer ever invented. And then, they sit in the garage on top of your, uh, chest freezer overnight. That is an, uh, integral part of the process, and, that incorporates all of the nice garage smells that your Midwestern kitchen needs. Make sure you use your Heritage Grill. No other grill will suffice for this, uh– It even says all-purpose grill for Norwegian lefse, flat-breads, tortillas… injera?... Bacon and eggs–

My sister should quit her day job so she can be my professional videographer. At this point she’s doing a pretty good job. Good job, Serri. *camera shakes no* No? *laughs* Shaking your head no.

For every 8 cups of mashed– not mashed, RICED potatoes that we have in the pot that sat in the garage over night, 3 cups of flour to every 8 cups of potato. And that’s it.

Okay, that’s three. Four. Five. Whoops. *clanking in background* Mom, quiet on set! There she goes. Oh thank you. It’s nice having an assistant. This is eight, right? Serri?

Serri: Yes.

Emily: Okay. *shakes measuring cup* Ng dngh gh. Eight.

One. Cup of flour– Am I doing this right? Two. Three! How do I mix this? Just with this– with a finger spoon?

Serri: Your hands.

Emily: Oh, my hands! I’m getting cues off-camera.

This super scientific approach with your hands; you take your flour and your potatoes and you get all up in there. Okay, I had to move the bowl down cause it was too high. And then, it's– I have my dough! I have my lefse dough.

This just says mix well. Thanks, grandma. Well, that’s delightfully ambiguous.

Whuu? Beep? Durps?

Serri: Okay. Okay, we’re good. Why don’t you, uh, explain your apron?

Emily: My APRON? I’m World’s Best Foster Mom! I’m not actually World’s– I don’t have any foster children, but I do have a foster sister, who made this for my mom. For our mother. I do believe she made this when she was probably, like, sixteen or so.

You have to make sure your griddle is hot first, and there’s one way you test it. *flicks water on* The water has to dance. You know it’s ready when the water dances on the griddle. Water starts dancing at about 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

For every 8 pounds of cooked potatoes–

Serri: Nope.

Emily: What?

Serri: 8 cups.

Emily: 8 cups. Whooo! And then roll it into these balls, which are about this size. About, uh, juggling size, if I could do more than just juggle one potato ball at a time. This is– I’m surprised I haven’t dropped this one yet. You roll it into these balls, um, and then you have your pastry cloth pie crust, uh, thing. It’s a hard board, which you absolutely douse in flour. But not too much flour, otherwise it will be tough.

You have this here, your rolling pin which has a grid-like pattern on it, and then it’s covered in what looks like a dirty sock, but is actually a special kind of cloth. I’m sure you could probably use an old sock if you really needed to. You incorporate a bunch of flour in that as well and then roll it out from the center outwards. And try to make it as round as possible. You want it to be pretty thin. Whoops, I’m just screwing all this up now.

So we have our nice, uh, beveled stick from our Heritage Grill, with the, uh, appropriate flower design on it. And then, you need enough flour on the board so that you can easily lift off your lefse pancake and then you tran– this is the hard part– you transfer it– TRANSFER it to your grill and then you have to unroll it slowly. And then make sure it all ends up on the grill, which I failed at doing, so maybe I’ll be able to save it with my two paddles– oh gosh, all the Norwegians are wincing right now.

You have no idea how difficult it was to not sword-fight with my sisters when we were making this growing up. Cause these– I think these are the original paddles from the original box which we’ve had for like, a decade. Um, but they’re still intact, surprisingly. We should make this with light sabers next year.

Serri: Whoosh whoosh.

Emily: Whoooosh. *laughs*

So then you just do the same thing, you have to turn it over and do the other side. Oh, maybe it was too soon. Whoa, listen to it sizzle! I should pull it over. I– It just smells like burning flour. I think I– This one might be done. You ready? Wooooow. Ideally, your lefse should be round, not resembling Australia.

Cinnamon sugar. Shakey shakey shakey shake–

And then you roll it. Like a little tortilla. Oh, the poor Norwegians watching this are so embarrassed right now. And cut it in half.

And there you go. Now I’m gonna eat it. Ommmm. That’s pretty good. It tastes like how it always tastes. Like potatoes.

Yaaaaay.