Finland is called the land of a thousand lakes, and its nature, like a magnet, attracts tourists from many countries of the world to Suomi. Finland has military fortresses and fascinating museum exhibitions, majestic cathedrals and architectural monuments of bygone eras, and therefore tours to Helsinki and other cities of the republic are so popular among travel lovers. Fans of active winter holidays go to ski resorts in Finland every year, and Christmas markets and sales are favored by the nearby shopaholics of all ages.
There is also a special category of tourists who choose their northern Russian neighbor for gastronomic reasons: Finnish cuisine is famous for its good quality and solidity, and the environmentally friendly products used in cooking make the dishes not only tasty, but also healthy.
Food in Finland
Historically, Finnish food has been prepared with simple yet very nutritious foods. Finns use a lot of bushmeat, fresh fish caught in clean lakes, potatoes, farmed butter and milk. The methods of cooking national dishes are also very special: both housewives and cooks in Finnish restaurants prefer to use stewing, baking, prolonged simmering in the oven, pickling and fermentation. Such culinary techniques allow you to preserve in food the maximum amount of nutrients that have the most beneficial effect on the body.
In summer, the Finns make jam from cloudberries and other northern berries, and prepare sauces for lingonberry and cranberry meat. In winter, they often serve dried cod with potatoes, bake pork ham and boil hot thick soups, with which you can even survive the polar frosts. The residents of Suomi also respect a variety of pastries. In summer, it can be light berry desserts, but in winter, it can be Christmas spicy cookies, wickets, and vegetable casseroles. The favorite drinks of Finnish citizens are coffee, kvass and beer.
Top 10 Finnish dishes
Calakukko Pie
No festive feast is complete without a pie with smoked salmon - be it a wedding, anniversary or Christmas dinner. "Kalakukko" is made from yeast dough mixed with milk with the addition of butter, eggs and sugar. After the dough has been kneaded and aged, it is divided into two parts and carefully rolled out. Line the bottom of the mold with one half of the dough, and cover the filling laid out on the bottom with the remaining half. The filling is a mixture of onions, dill, eggs and the endlessly delicious smoked salmon that Finns always have in the fridge. The pie is baked in the oven and usually served with beer, but it also goes well with strong sweet tea.
Varkaus Mushroom Pie
Another popular cake recipe was once invented by a housewife from Varkaus. This is how the small town became famous among the gourmets of the whole country. In addition to flour, milk, eggs and butter traditional for baking, the recipe contains mashed potatoes, and the filling is prepared from fresh forest mushrooms - preferably chanterelles. Mushrooms are fried in oil with onions, laid out on the dough rolled out on the bottom of the mold, and poured with a sauce made of cream, eggs, grated cheese and spices, in the bouquet of which nutmeg is soloed. Varkaus mushroom pie is baked in the oven and served with cold milk.
Perunapirayta
The pie theme is adequately continued by the signature dish of any Finnish hostess with a simple filling of millet porridge and an ornate name "Perunapirayta". The dough is prepared with the participation of all the same potatoes. It is boiled in a uniform, peeled and mashed, and then mixed with flour and salt. A steep millet porridge is placed on a potato cake, covered with a second cake and pies are formed by pinching the edges. Ready-made "Perunapirayta" is laid out in a ceramic form, greased with oil and baked in the oven. Hot potato pies are ideal with soup or as a stand-alone dish with sour cream and finely chopped herbs.
Fish soup
If the hostess has started pies, then she will definitely cook the first course. The most popular among the Finnish family was and remains fish soup with salmon or sea trout. The recipe is simple, and its implementation takes no more than half an hour. Moreover, the necessary products are easy to buy in any Finnish store. Half a kilogram of fish requires a few potatoes, a red onion, half a liter of milk and a spoonful of flour. Spices - salt and black pepper - are added to taste, and a few drops of lemon juice are squeezed into a plate just before serving. Vegetables are placed in boiling water, cut quite large. After they are almost ready, the fish is added, and the sauce is prepared from the milk and flour, which is sent to the soup pot at the end of the process. The dish is served with Pirunapirayta potato pies, and fresh dill serves as a spicy accent.
Pickled salmon
The fish theme is often picked up by the salmon marinated appetizer, which is popular in Finland. The dish takes only 12 hours to cook, and if taken care of in the evening, a fresh and tasty red fish can be ready for breakfast. Take two plates of fresh salmon fillet with skin. The marinade involves not only traditional salt-sugar-black pepper, but also chopped dill, and a spoonful of brandy gives a special piquancy to the future fish. All the ingredients are combined, they rub the fillet plates, which are placed in a container on top of each other with the skin outward. The fish is pressed down with oppression and left in the cold. You can enjoy it after 12 hours, and store it for up to five days.
Herring appetizer
Herring salad is partly reminiscent of the domestic vinaigrette (the neighboring proximity of our countries and the mixing of culinary cultures affect), but at the same time the version from Suomi has special nuances that give out a Finnish dish in it. The zest of the appetizer is that, in addition to salted herring fillets, the salad contains raw beef tenderloin and a boiled egg. A set of vegetables is traditional for a vinaigrette: pickled cucumber, potatoes, boiled in their skins, baked beets and onions. All the ingredients are chopped as small as possible, and the salad is dressed with whipped cream sauce, salt and ground black pepper.
Roast "Puttipanna"
A popular hot dish hastily in Finland is called Püttipanna. Even children cook it, and therefore the hostess, inexperienced in the culinary traditions of Suomi, can easily cope with "Puttipannaya". First you have to prepare vegetables: peel and dice potatoes, carrots and onions. The potatoes are sent to boil, and butter is melted in the pan in the meantime. Smoked sausages cut into rings are to be fried in it. Ordinary sausages will also work if you have not heard of meat delicacies in the nearest grocery store. Onions and carrots are added to the sausages, they are still slightly sautéed, and then the potatoes, cooked and laid on a sieve, are sent there. You can leave a little of the liquid in which he was preparing, then the "Puttipanna" will be especially juicy. Stew for a few minutes, and then season the dish with pepper, chopped herbs and tomato sauce. Serve roast with pickled cucumbers and sour cream.
Climpieroka
Another uncomplicated dish that can be consumed with sour cream as a standalone, or added to soup. Potato dumplings are very satisfying, they love to cook in winter and are often eaten for dinner to sleep soundly and peacefully after a hard day at work. Flour, warm milk and beaten eggs are added to boiled potatoes mashed with a fork, season with grated ginger and accents with dark raisins. The dough is thoroughly kneaded and small balls are formed from it. They are sent to a pot of boiling water and boiled for no more than a quarter of an hour. Dumplings, thrown back on a sieve, are often fried until crisp in ghee or sprinkled with chopped herbs and served with sour cream.
Meat soup
Unlike Klimpiruoka, Finnish meat soup takes a long time to cook. The beef with bone, which is used in this recipe, is simmered in the oven for several hours, giving the broth a special color and broth. When the meat is almost ready, add vegetables to the pan. Onions, rutabagas, parsnips, carrots, and celery root are commonly used. After they are almost cooked, potatoes, traditional for hot Finnish soups, are added to the broth. The dish is served with fresh parsley and black pepper. Freshly baked crisp bread and kvass are always present on the table.
Syarya
The people of Suomi themselves call this dish a Finnish miracle, and it is often recommended to foreigners traveling around the country in general and the Saimaa region in particular. Sarya has been prepared by the Finns for over a thousand years, and in order for the dish to take place, two important ingredients are required - excellent quality lamb and a birch trough. Lamb legs flavored with salt, together with potatoes, are placed in a wooden dish made of birch. They are sent to languish in the oven over the firebox for 8-10 hours. The seemingly simple principle of the "slow cooker" takes on a completely new meaning here: the meat is impregnated with the oven and birch spirit and will turn out to be unusually juicy. A separate gastronomic orgasm can be experienced by tasting potatoes. Baked in lamb fat, it acquires a special crispy crust, while remaining tender, like butter, on the inside.
It is impossible to ask to serve "syarya" just by running into a restaurant: the dish takes a long time to prepare and must be ordered in advance. A true masterpiece of Finnish cuisine, Särä is served with special organic red wine or kvass and hot white bread with melted butter.
