MCKINLEY – The annual palt dinner was held at the Trinity Lutheran Church in McKinley last week. “Palt? Is that fish?” No, palt is not fish. Palt is a Swedish potato dumpling. According to Bill Anderson every region of the world has their own dumpling recipe. At Trinity Lutheran they use the northern Sweden regional recipe.
This year’s palt dinner was a record breaker, more people were served than were expected, says Anderson. They served more than 250 people.
Much of the work is done the day prior to the dinner. This year 450 pounds of potatoes were peeled on Saturday in an hour and a half, thanks to many volunteers. Anderson says he is the "Instigator" of the palt dinner at Trinity Lutheran. Prior to Trinity Lutheran taking over the palt dinner, the Methodist Church served the dinner. There were a few years in between that the dinner was not served but Anderson wanted to keep the tradition alive so he got Trinity Lutheran involved in about 2001 serving the dinner again. There have been visitors from Piteo, Sweden and palt would be made and served to them on their visit.
When asked when the palt dinner started, we were directed to Norman Anderson. He said that the Methodist Church started the palt dinner after World War II. They grind the potatoes and traditionally used salt pork in the center of the palt. “It gave the palt a salty taste from the pork,” commented Norman Anderson. Some eat it with butter, others may use maple syrup on it. When it started, members of the church would follow the potato harvesters in the Herbster area and pick up leftover potatoes from the field. Norman Anderson also commented that the record breaking sit-down serving this year comes after COVID, with last year being a drive-thru event.
The ladies of the church make pies, lots of pies. The palt dinner is served as the traditional potato dumpling or as a sliced and fried version. Along with that is a cranberry salad and pie. Judy Kelch is responsible for getting volunteers lined up to serve the people who come.
Keeping tradition alive and going strong - McKinley Lutheran's Palt Dinner! Can't wait ‘til next year’s dinner!
