Finnish culinary – ESN Lappeenranta

Finnish culinary and drinks

Some well-known memes exist about Nordic kitchens being strange or not tasty. That is not true, indeed. So, here we will tell you about the Finnish kitchen and some well-known recipes. But we also share something you might never have heard about, like the traditional dishes of some regions.

Try to find this food in cafes, shops, or restaurants and cook something yourself! Enjoy.

Graavilohi – Graved salmon

This type of salmon is usually raw, but cold-smoked salmon is close to that. Both are usually salted with added herbs like dill, rosemary, and lemon juice. There are no specific rules on which tastes you might add; it is up to your choice.

Want to get your fish but don’t know where to start? Here is the answer.

Photo: Valio

Recipe for approximately 10 servings (from the website k-ruoka.fi):

Ingredients:

Approximately 700 g of salmon fillet
1 1/2 tablespoons of coarse sea salt
1–2 teaspoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of whole white peppercorns
dill
1/2 lemon

Preparation:

Place the salmon fillet on the cutting board, skin side down. Remove the reeds if necessary. Sprinkle the surface evenly with sea salt, sugar, and white pepper. Place dill sprigs on top of the salmon. Cut the fillet in half and place the pieces on each other, with the meat sides facing each other. Cover the fish tightly with plastic wrap and foil.
Allow the fish to salt in the refrigerator for 1–2 days. Turn the fish package occasionally so that the fish is salted evenly. Remove the dill sprigs and loose spices from the surface of the fish.
Cut the fish into thin slices and place on the serving plate. You can twist the slices into rosettes, for example. Garnish with lemon wedges and dill. In addition, offer potatoes or rye bread.

Hernekeitto – Pea soup

Pea soup is a dish made from dried green peas and pork. Usually, before cooking, the peas are swollen by soaking in cold water overnight, after which they are boiled together with the added meat until they fall apart. Salt, black pepper, marjoram, and mustard are often used as spices, and onion and carrot are used as vegetable side dishes. In the western parts of Finland, pea soup is traditionally very thick and finished with smoked meat, while Karelian pea soup also has broth, the peas are whole, and the pork is usually not smoked. In many other variations, ready-to-boil canned pea soup is available in Finnish grocery stores.

Photo: Soppa365

Traditional pea soup recipe (from the website www.soppa365.fi)

Ingredients:

500 g of dried peas
3 l of water for soaking
1 onion
400 g of ham
2-3 tablespoons of mustard
1–2 teaspoons marjoram
6-8 whole white peppercorns
Add salt to taste

Cooking:

Soak the peas in cold water overnight.
Pour off the soaking water. Add the soaked peas and 2-3 liters of water to a large pot. Bring the soup to a boil.
Peel and chop the onion. Add the onion and spices to the peas. Stir the soup well. Let it boil slowly for 90-120 minutes or the recommended time according to the bag of peas.
Add the finely diced ham when the soup is ready in about half an hour. Continue cooking.
Check the taste and add spices if you want.

Hirvi – Moose

Joulukinkku – Christmas ham

Christmas ham is a Christmas dish in Finland and other Nordic countries. The dish in question is a traditional part of the Nordic Christmas celebration.

Most of the Christmas hams sold in Finnish stores are frozen. Ham can be boneless or cured and gray-cured, red-cured, fresh-cured, or lightly smoked. Christmas ham can be baked in an electric oven, a gas oven, a convection oven, a baking oven, or by smoking, for example, in a smoking oven. The ham can be fried in a frying bag, without a frying bag, or wrapped in foil. Christmas ham can also be boiled or grilled. In shops, Christmas ham is also sold and is already cooked. Traditionally, Christmas ham is topped with mustard and cloves.

Photo: Snellman

Ingredients

1 pc of raw Christmas ham, freshly salted
1 dl strong mustard
1 egg yolk
1.5 dl of breadcrumbs

Cooking

Bring the ham to room temperature for several hours before you start frying. Insert the tip of the meat thermometer into the thickest part of the meat. When the thermometer shows 8-10 degrees, the ham is ready for the oven.
Put the ham on a rack in the oven at 100-125 degrees and a baking sheet under the rack. Pour a glass of water on the baking sheet so the fat doesn’t stick to it, and the oven gets the right amount of moisture.
The baking time of the ham is about 1 hour/kg. The internal temperature of a juicy ham is 75 degrees, and a traditional, tender ham is 78 to 80 degrees. Every product will have a recommendation on the package!
When the ham is cooked, remove it from the oven and let it rest at room temperature for a few hours. Next, remove any webbing and chamber from the ham. Peel off the skin and place the ham on a clean baking sheet.
Brush the surface of the ham with the mustard-yolk mixture and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. If you want, decorate with cloves and put the glazed ham in the oven at 225 degrees for about five minutes, after which you can put the beautifully browned ham to rest.

Joulutorttu – Christmas pastry

Seasonal pastry is usually baked at Christmas time.

Photo: A-lehdet Oy

Kahvi – Coffee

Photo: Lehmus

Kalakukko – Fish pie

Kalakukko is a traditional Finnish dish from the Savonia region made from fish (e.g., perch, vendace, loach, smelt, or salmon) baked inside a loaf of bread. It is especially popular in Kuopio, the capital of the Northern Savonia region. Kuopio is home to many kalakukko bakeries. The city also hosts an annual kalakukko baking contest.

Photo: Valio

Kantarelli – golden chanterelle

Photo: Puutarha.net

Karjalanpaisti – Karelian stew

Photo: anna.fi

Karjalanpiirakka – Karelian pie

Karelian pies are traditional Finnish pasties originating from the region of Karelia. They are eaten throughout Finland and adjacent areas such as Estonia. The most popular version today has a thin rye crust with rice filling. Mashed potato and rice-and-carrot fillings are also commonly available.

Photo: Valio

The recipe for Karelian pies with barley (from the book “Karelia A la Carte”):

Filling:

2 dl crushed organic barley grits
3 dl water
1 liter of milk
1-2 tsp salt

Pasty:

3 dl water
6 di rye flour
1 dl of wheat flour
1 tablespoon of salt

Soak the barley in water for a few hours. Put the milk and barley into an oven dish and cover the dish tightly with foil. Bake in an oven at 150 °C for 3-4 hours. Add salt to the cooked porridge. Prepare the pasty dough by adding the salt and flour to the water. Mix the ingredients and knead into an even dough on the baking table. Roll the dough into bars about 3 cm in diameter, and divide them into pieces about | cm thick. Roll out the pieces on rye flour using a tapered rolling pin to form oval disks about I mm thick. Spread the filling in the center of the disks and pinch the dough edges between the thumb and forefinger while pulling them partly over the filling. Bake it in a baking oven at 320C for about 7 minutes or in an electric oven at 300C for about 15 minutes. Brush immediately after baking with melted butter mixed with water. Enjoy your Karjalanpiirakat with an egg and butter spread (munavoi).

Kaurarieska –

Photo: Kreivin keittiö

Korvapuusti – Cinnamon Roll

Photo: Valio

Kotikalja – Small or Table beer

Photo: Lähiruokaa maalta

Laatikko

There are different types of that dish; the most popular are makaronilaatikko, maksalaatikko, porkkanalaatikkolaatikko, and kinkkulaatikko.

Photo: K-Ruoka

Laskiaspulla – Semla

Photo: Viimeistä Murua Myöten

Leipäjuusto – Bread cheese

Photo: Yle

Lihapiirakka – Meat pie

Photo: MTV Uutiset

Liquorice and Salmiakki

Photo: Fazer

Lohikeitto – Salmon chowder

Photo: Kodin Kuvalehti

Makkara – Sausages

We made a separate article about the deep world of sausages in Finland. Enjoy your reading here.

Photo: ESN Lappeenranta, Art Merikotka

Mignon eggs

The Mignon chocolate egg is an Easter confectionery made by the Fazer company. Its distinctive feature is a filling of almond hazelnut nougat inside a real eggshell. Enduringly popular as part of Finnish Easter celebrations, with about two million eggs sold yearly, Mignon eggs are handmade at the Fazer factory in Vantaa.

Photo: MTV Uutiset

Muikku – Vendace

Want to get your fish but don’t know where to start? Here is the answer.

Photo: Hätälä

Vendace is one of the most popular fish species in Finland. Every summer market usually offers fresh fried fish. But you can also make them at home.

Recipe for 4 servings (from the book “Karelia A la Carte”)

600 grams of cleaned and gutted vendace.
Two onions
Fine sea salt
Medium-dry white wine

Fry the vendace in butter in a frying pan until almost cooked. Sauté the onion. Layer the vendace and onion rings in a casserole dish, sprinkling salt between the layers. Pour the white wine into the dish to almost cover the vendace. Cook the vendace in the oven at 160 °C for an hour.