A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Dean Tveit tries a cup of Mexican fish soup Sunday. Tveit from International Falls met a friend on his way home from the Twin Cities for the 17th annual Mojakka Cookoff in Cloquet.
Laurene Longsyo won first place in the mojakka cookoff.
Raynold Sunnarborg and his nephew Travis Sunnarborg enjoy some mojakka Sunday while perched on a piano bench in the the old hotel dining room at the Northeastern Hotel & Saloon.
Neither wind nor snow could stop the 17th annual Mojakka Cookoff, held Sunday at the Northeastern Hotel and Saloon in Cloquet, where it's always been.
What is mojakka, someone new to the area might ask.
It's soup. Specifically, mojakka is the Finnish (or Finnish American) word for soup. On Sunday, a steady flow of people in search of delicious soups and good company kept coming through the door, paying their $10 and doing their best to sample all 14 different soups.
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). A lot of Sunday's soup entries were identified with the name of an older relative, followed by the word mojakka.
But there were also non-Finnish soups to enjoy. Lisa Quarles made a Mexican fish soup, which NorthEastern owner Bert Whittington referred to as "Margarita mojakka." Mark Edwards brought his creamy salmon soup, a past winner which took second place in Sunday's event, with the top three soups selected by "people's choice" votes.
"This is way easier than the old days when the judges would go into the back room and taste and debate," said NorthEastern owner Bert Whittington.
"This is the Cloquet Mojakka Oscars," the bar owner and emcee said when everyone gathered for the awards ceremony when 4 p.m. rolled around. Before presenting the winners, Whittington first thanked the Mojakka cookoff organizers (and beneficiaries) from the Carlton County Historical Society, and all the hardy folks who came out despite 8-10 inches of fresh snow.
Another non-traditional soup, John and Kathy Lund's zucchini pepperoni soup was awarded third place.
First place went to Laurene Longsyo for her "Mom's Traditional Mojakka" recipe with beef and vegetables. Longsyo, who was wearing purple in honor of St. Urho's Day, was thrilled with her gold medal.
"Without this group of people, we would not have a successful Mojakka Cookoff because we wouldn't have any mojakka," Whittington said after reading off all the competitors' names. "I tried them all," he said. "It was really tough. I tried to space about 20 minutes between each one, but they were all excellent."
Then it was time to wash down all that soup with some beer.
