The soup's on

Two national traditions will combine Saturday at the annual NorthEastern Mojakka Cook-Off, as area cooks show off their best Finnish soups, all washed down with the buyer’s choice of green or purple beer.

The purple beer pays homage to St. Urho’s Day, March 16, the day that St. Urho dined on a hearty bowl of mojakka before heading out to rid the Finnish vineyards of a plague of grasshoppers. The green beer, of course, is in honor of St. Patrick, who chased all the snakes out of Ireland long ago.

American Legion chaplain Linda Erickson remembers the beginning of the mojakka festival at Cloquet’s NorthEastern Saloon & Hotel some 15 or 20 years ago.

“Everybody came from all around, from around here, Grand Rapids, even Canada, to enter their soups,” Erickson said. “We had like 25 or 30 different entries and everybody dressed in traditional Finn grasshopper day costumes, the green and purple, everyone had buttons and hats, dancing, music and prizes.”

Back then, the annual event was a fundraiser for the Friends of Animals, organized by the late Edna Murto. Last year the Cloquet American Legion Auxiliary Post 262 revived the Mojakka Cook-Off, after a hiatus of several years, as a fundraiser for the Auxiliary and the Post, which now make their home at the NorthEastern.

There is no one mojakka recipe. It can range from a thick stew to a thin soup, and usually contains beef or fish and potatoes (and allspice), but that’s not a requirement. When it’s made with fish (often milk-based), they call it kalamojakka (KAH-la-moy-a-kah). Made with beef, it’s lihamojakka (LEE-ha-moy-a-kah). Like many soups, Erickson said, today’s mojakka really just depends on what the cook can find in the fridge (or the barnyard), so the soup can also be made with chicken, pork, sausage, venison and plenty of vegetables, including cabbage.

“It’s just whatever they want to put in, but ideally something indigenous to that area,” she said.

In true Finnish cooperative fashion, everyone votes on their favorite soup and that is the winner at the NorthEastern Cook-Off.

Tickets for this year’s event are $7 in advance and $8 at the door. Guests receive sample cups so they can make the rounds of the different soup tables, and a slip of paper to vote on their favorite. The cook-off runs 1-5 p.m. Saturday, March 16. NorthEastern owner Bert Whittington said they will take mojakka entries (there is no fee to enter, but people need to turn in an entry form) up until noon Saturday, when setup starts.

“We’re hoping to get more and more entrants each year, as word gets out, we can make it bigger and better like it used to be,” Erickson said.

To find out more, contact Whittington at 218-393-0657 or 218-879-9968, or stop by the bar.