Traditional Finnish dish. National Finnish cuisine: secrets and features

Russians almost every day eat dishes that were prepared according to the peculiarities of Russian cuisine. Sometimes they can afford to go to some prestigious restaurant and try something new and unusual there. Most people will choose “Chinese”, “Caucasian”, “American”, “Oriental” cuisine, but not many will prefer “Finnish”. It’s worth finding out what this type of cuisine is, what its features are, and also considering the main popular recipes.

Finnish cuisine. Peculiarities. Finnish cuisine is the cuisine of the Finns and Finno-Ugric peoples who inhabit some areas of Europe. The main difference between this cuisine and others is the addition of fish, wild animal meat, berries and mushrooms to many dishes. In most cases, berries, mainly cranberries and lingonberries (maybe jam) are used for garnish.

Features of Finnish cuisine

You can take into account several features of the kitchen that cannot be found in any others.

1. Finns prepare dishes with the addition of different types of meat (beef, pork, lamb). They usually prepare Karelian stew from these types of meat.

2. Finns also combine fish and meat in their dishes. You can understand this by trying Kalakukko (national cake).

3. Chefs prepare interesting dishes where they add fish and milk at the same time. For example, Kalakeito.

4. Finns love to cook casseroles, so they have many types of casseroles.

5. A variety of dishes made from rye flour.

6. Eating mushrooms.

Meal hours. Finland has its own eating hours and the food they usually eat.

Breakfast (7:00-10:00) Finns eat muesli in milk or simply drink tea or coffee with sandwiches.

Lunch (11:00-14:00) They eat soup or potatoes with gravy.

Lunch (16:00-18:00) They prefer bread and butter and wash it down with milk.

Dinner (from 19:00) Usually they eat soup.

Traditions of Finnish cuisine.

1. One of the most unusual traditions is “Sarya”. This dish is prepared like this: add the most ordinary lamb, potatoes and salt. The secret lies in simmering these ingredients over low heat in a Finnish stove, while placing the ingredients in a birch saucer. At first, it seems that the dish is very easy to prepare. In fact, this is true. The taste and smell of this dish is unique and inimitable.

2. Another tradition is baking pretzels.

3. Every Easter, Finns prepare a traditional dish called “Kalakukko”.

4. Excessive consumption of beer or coffee. Coffee is served in the morning along with milk or cream, and in the evening, after work, people prefer to indulge in cognac or brandy.

Based on the traditions and tastes of the people, Finnish chefs have created outstanding culinary masterpieces. Traditional dishes can be divided into several groups, which will depend on the products they consist of. The most popular dishes are dishes made from fish, milk and meat. Also a separate culinary masterpiece is traditional pastries along with desserts and drinks.

The dishes are unique in that they mainly use various types of fish, pearl barley porridge, various flours, potatoes, herring, rutabaga, lard, butter, milk and cream. The most paradoxical thing is that cooks never fry anything! They usually boil, steam or stew foods. It is worth considering the most delicious and popular recipes that any restaurant in Finland can provide.

Recipes.

Since fish starts everything, the first thing that will be considered is recipes for fish dishes.

There are about 180 thousand lakes in Finland, so it is not surprising that Finnish cuisine mostly uses fish.

Soup La Rfinuu.

To prepare you will need:

600 g salmon or pike;

Half a spoon of water or fish broth;

3 onions;

4 things. potatoes;

450 ml milk;

2 tablespoons flour;

Chopped greens (parsley, dill).

Serve with raw onions.

Preparation:

First you need to “free” the onion from the peel, then cook it with spices. Next, you should peel the potatoes and cut them into small pieces. Cut salmon or pike. Remove the onion from the broth and add the potatoes. Cook for 15 minutes, then add the fish and cook for 6 minutes, then mix the milk and flour and add to the soup. Next, bring to a boil. Chop all the greens and add to the soup.

Finnish salmon soup.

To prepare this soup you will need:

350 grams of salmon;

2 onions;

2 pieces of bay leaf;

2 tablespoons olive oil;

2 tablespoons starch;

3/4 cup cream;

3 tablespoons butter;

3 glasses of water;

Pepper and salt.

How to cook:

To prepare, first thinly slice the onion, then cut the salmon fillet into very small pieces. Next, either heat the pan right away and fry the onions there, or do the same thing in a frying pan, but then you have to put the onions in the pan. The next thing to do is pour the water into the pan and add the bay leaf. You should also add potatoes and salmon cut into strips into the pan. Then add cream and mix well. Mix starch with water and add to the pan. At the end of cooking, you need to put a piece of olive oil in the pan, this is a must! When serving, you can decorate the soup with herbs.

Fish in Finnish

Despite the wide variety of dishes in Finnish cuisine, soups are mainly made from fish. But there are also exceptions, such an exception being Fish in Finnish.

To prepare this dish you will need:

1.5 kilograms of salmon;

0.7 cups salt;

150 grams of dill;

2 tablespoons sugar;

50 milliliters of alcohol (cognac or vodka can serve);

0.5 teaspoon pepper (both white and black).

How to cook:

First you need to clean the fish, remove all the bones from it. Next, you need to dry the dill and chop it very thinly. You need to mix salt and sugar. Place the salmon meat on foil or some kind of board and rub the fish with the resulting “mass” of salt and sugar. Garnish the salmon with dill, why add pepper. Before serving, you should put the meat in the refrigerator for two days, why serve.

The second feature of Finnish cuisine is that it is also famous for its delicious meat of wild animals. The most delicious and, so to speak, traditional dishes will be Chatbullar meat cutlets and pork fillet in apple sauce.

Chatbullar cutlets

Let's start with the Russian people's favorite cutlets.

Everything you need for cooking:

65 grams of minced lamb;

65 grams of minced beef;

65 grams of minced veal;

45 milliliters of sour cream;

3 tablespoons of ground crackers;

45 milliliters of water;

350 grams of mashed potatoes;

2 yolks (from a chicken egg);

Seasoned salt.

Cooking process:

To start, you need to mix all 3 minced meats. In order for this to be done better, you need to roll the minced meat together again. Next, you need to add seasonings. Add all other products. The most interesting things begin ahead. Finns have a very well-developed imagination, so they prefer to cook cutlets of different shapes. So they mold something of their choice and fry it in butter. When serving, the cutlets are accompanied by potatoes and salads.

Pork fillet in apple sauce.

To prepare such an unusual dish you will need:

300 grams of pork meat;

3 pieces of green apple (both red and yellow are fine);

1 piece of onion;

2 teaspoons curry;

2 cups chicken broth;

1.5 tablespoons butter;

2 cups cream;

Sugar (optional);

Salt (optional);

Pepper (optional).

Cooking:

First, we chop the pork meat, then add spices to it (pepper, salt, etc.). Next, fry until done. Cut the apple into small slices. Chop the onion finely as well. Add everything you got to the pork: apples, curry, onions. Also add chicken broth and boil. At the end of cooking, add sugar. Now you can serve.

No less important and valuable dishes are dairy dishes. Usually milk is added to some soups or used as gravy. Just like in Milk Fish Soup.

Milk fish soup

To prepare milk fish soup, you will need:

350 grams of salmon or salmon;

4 pieces of potatoes;

2 pieces of onions;

350 grams of milk;

3 pieces bay leaves;

1.5 liters of water;

2 tablespoons flour;

Greens (optional);

Salt (optional);

Pepper (optional).

How to cook:

First you need to clean the fish, then cut the meat itself into small pieces (it is best to cut into rectangles). Add bay leaf, all these spices and onions to the broth cooked in advance. Place the bones and skin of the fish into boiling water and cook them for about 15 minutes. Cut the potatoes into strips (or whatever you like). In order to lower it into the pan, you need to remove everything “cooked” in it. Boil the potatoes for about 10-15 minutes, then put the fish there. While the contents in the pan are cooking, mix the milk and flour. It is this detail that completely changes the taste of the soup, which is why the soup is called “Milk”. Once the flour and milk are mixed, add them to the soup in a thin stream.

An ingredient such as milk is not so famous in soups as it dominates in various baked goods. Some of the most worthy dishes are herring casserole, Potato cake, Ekreorya.

Herring casserole.

To prepare the dish you will need:

1 kilogram of potatoes;

450 grams of herring;

300 grams of chicken;

250 grams of onions;

350 grams of milk;

3 eggs;

Pepper (optional).

Prepare as follows:

The herring needs to be soaked. Next, chop the onions and potatoes. Cut the potatoes into cubes. Slice the pork very thinly. Place the fish in a special mold or on a baking sheet (whichever you prefer), then potatoes, onions, and pork meat. You should also prepare a sauce from water, milk and eggs. Pour the mixture over the casserole. Place a piece of butter on top and bake at a temperature of 150-200 degrees.

Finnish potato cookies

Finnish cuisine is also famous for its “potatoes”. How to cook it?

For preparation you will need:

300 grams of any crumbly cookies;

250 grams of condensed milk;

4-5 tablespoons of cocoa;

1 gram vanillin.

How to cook:

To begin with, the cookies should be scrolled in a meat grinder or grinded with your own hands. Add vanillin. Next, mix the condensed milk with butter and add cocoa. Add cookies to the mixture and mix well. Not only do Finns like to make cutlets in different shapes, but they also like to make this kind of “dough”. But it’s a shame that they make the dough in the form of potatoes, which is why they nicknamed this dish “potatoes.” Before serving, the resulting mass should be placed in the refrigerator for 4 hours.

Ekreorya

Another very important dish is Ekreorya. This, oddly enough, is scrambled eggs.

To prepare it, you will need:

5 pieces of eggs;

2 tablespoons of green onions;

200 milligrams of milk;

2 tablespoons margarine or butter;

1 teaspoon salt;

Parsley (optional);

Pepper (optional).

Cooking:

You need to start by cracking all the eggs and putting them in a deep saucer, and then beat them. Then, continuing to whisk, you need to pour in all the ingredients. Then, heat the frying pan and pour out everything that came out. It should be cooked for 3-5 minutes under the lid.

This is the easiest dish anyone can prepare for breakfast. It is very tasty and nutritious.

Mushroom pie

Further, the list of popular dishes is supplemented by dishes made from mushrooms. Strangely enough, there are also a lot of mushrooms in Finland, so every year you can collect a bunch of different mushrooms. The most “advanced” dish is the mushroom pie from Varkaus.

To prepare it you will need:

Suitable for testing:

1.5 cups flour;

2 pieces of potatoes;

1 glass of milk;

160 grams of butter;

3 pieces of eggs;

1 tablespoon salt.

Suitable for filling:

150 grams of mushrooms (chanterelles are suitable);

1.5 pieces of onions;

Suitable for filling:

3 eggs;

150 milliliters of milk;

200 milliliters of cream;

160 grams of hard cheese;

Any nut (preferably nutmeg);

Let's prepare it like this:

To prepare it closely, you should mash the potatoes and pour milk into it. Next, cool it. Add flour, eggs, butter and salt to the puree. Mix everything and put it in the refrigerator for an hour and a half. Next comes the filling. It is worth cutting the chanterelles and adding the onion cut into slices. Fry mushrooms and onions for about 7 minutes. In the meantime, put the dough in the oven. You need to bake it for about 10 minutes at a temperature of 190 degrees. Then, after taking it out, add the mushrooms to the baked dough and place in the oven for 17 minutes. To prepare the filling, you need to beat the eggs, add cream, milk, salt, pepper and nuts, then mix everything. You need to take out the pie and fill it with filling and put it for 45 minutes at a temperature of 120-150 degrees. Before serving, you can decorate with whatever your heart desires.

Gates with potatoes

Many people thought that potato gates originated in Russia, but no. This pastry came to Russia from Finland!

To prepare this dish you will need:

Dough:

1.5 cups flour;

1.5 cups of sour cream;

Half a teaspoon of salt.

For filling:

400 grams of mashed potatoes;

How to prepare such wickets?

Mix all ingredients and put in the refrigerator for half an hour. Also, for the filling, mix all the ingredients. Divide the dough into medium pieces and roll it out. After this, you need to put all the filling on the rolled out dough, then pinch the edges and put it in the oven for 35 minutes at 180 degrees. If desired, you can add various spices to the puree, maybe some pieces of vegetables, and so on. Before serving, you should prepare some sauce to make it tastier. You can do without it.

Salad "Finland"

As is already known, Finns are very creative, so they often mix different products in one dish. Like putting both fish and meat in soup. Like this? Is it tasty? Apparently yes. This combination occurs in one very unusual salad, it is called “Finlandia” salad.

List of products needed for cooking:

300 grams of smoked brisket;

5 pieces of salted herring;

550 grams of boiled beets;

550 grams of boiled carrots;

3 onions.

For the sauce you will need:

2 tablespoons sugar;

1 teaspoon mustard;

2 tablespoons vinegar;

250 grams of water;

Pepper (to taste).

How to cook:

To begin with, you should grate the onion or chop it very, very finely. Next, cut the carrots and beets into cubes. The herring should be finely chopped. Mix meat, carrots, beets and onions, as well as herring meat. The final touch in cooking is adding the sauce. After cooking, you can add greens if you want and serve.

I wonder what sweets Finns treat themselves to besides various pies and sweet soups? Of course these are mousses and rolls.

Prune mousse with rum.

To prepare the mousse you will need:

3 tablespoons of gelatin;

80 grams of sugar;

150 grams of water;

150 grams of rum;

350 grams of prunes.

How to cook:

First you need to soak the gelatin. Next, the rum needs to be mixed with water and sugar. Why add prunes? Cook the food for about 20 minutes. After you have taken out the mousse, you should cool it so that it thickens. When serving, you can add your own twist (chocolate, raisins, etc.).

Curd roll

Ingredients for making the roll:

60 grams of starch;

160 grams of flour (usually wheat);

Any berry (lingonberry is best);

2 pieces of bananas;

250 grams of cream;

250 grams of cottage cheese;

5 pieces of eggs (chicken);

170 grams of sugar;

20 grams of baking powder.

Cooking process:

To begin, beat the eggs and sugar with a mixer. Then, you should add baking powder and starch to the resulting mass. Spread the dough onto a baking sheet and bake it in the oven for about 6-7 minutes at 210 degrees. When making the filling, you need to whip the cream with cottage cheese. You should take the dough out of the oven and put on it what we got as a result of the filling, also add lingonberries (or any other berry) and apples. Next, you should roll it all into a tube and leave it for a certain time to “twist” and maintain its shape. After this you can serve. This dish is usually eaten with tea.

Having finished with food, I want to start drinking. What drinks are prepared in Finland? If they do, what are their special features?

In fact, drinks are almost never prepared in Finland, but national drinks still exist.

1. Koskenkorva vodka;

2. Finlandia Vodka;

3. Vodka Stram;

4. Olut beer;

5. Kalja beer;

6. Absolutely any coffee. Finns love coffee;

7. Maito milk;

Despite the variety of dishes in Finnish cuisine, many people do not even realize that such a cuisine exists. Having considered all the customs of this cuisine, as well as various traditions and recipes, it can be noted that this cuisine is very creative, it includes many different products that, it seems, could not be combined.

Of course, many people don’t even know about this cuisine or are afraid to try it. The most interesting thing would be to try Finnish cuisine in Finland, since it is in the country itself that the real taste of the dish with its characteristics will be felt. But those who do not have the opportunity to visit Finland will have to be content with various city restaurants. There are many restaurants in Russia, but are there any worthy ones? Those that could satisfy both physical and spiritual needs. We need to figure it out.

The most wonderful and original restaurant is the Saaga Restaurant in Helsinki. There are also:

Restaurant Sarapirtti Kippurasarvi in ​​Lemi

Restaurant Olo in Helsinki

Restaurant Pallawaari in Jyvaskylä

Restaurant Kappeli in Helsinki

Restaurant Savotta in Helsinki

Restaurant Hullu Poro in Tampere

Based on these findings, we can answer that Finnish cuisine is very diverse. Finns, that is, the chefs who prepare this food, are very creative. They can make a masterpiece out of any dough, an excellent chop out of any meat, and a delicacy for everyone out of any fish. There are also wonderful restaurants that everyone should visit.

In Finland, all tourists have an unprecedented appetite. Firstly, after skiing or hiking in the forest, you really want to refresh yourself. Secondly, in a cold country, the body itself gives a signal that it would be nice to eat something warm and high in calories.

And thirdly, Finnish traditional dishes are simple and delicious at the same time - be it baked fish, grilled sausages or a fluffy cinnamon bun.

What food should you try in Finland if you are going to visit this country with a child? In our article you will find a description of dishes suitable for children's tables. But now let’s lift the veil of secrecy: many recipes from Finnish cuisine can be borrowed for a family feast.

Kitchen features

The culinary traditions of Finland are similar to those of the Scandinavian countries. Everything that the local nature is rich in is used: fish, meat, mushrooms, wild berries.

Fish is held in special esteem here. It is eaten every day - we advise you to try mackerel, whitefish, burbot, trout, and vendace. The fish is not fried, but boiled or baked, adding milk or cream to it. The same applies to meat: most often it is cooked in the oven. Different types of meat can be used in one dish.

There are few vegetable dishes in Finnish national cuisine, but on holidays it is customary to cook vegetable casseroles here.

Finns have a great affection for potatoes, and here they rarely indulge in tricks, being content with ordinary mashed potatoes. To decorate the table, they prepare a stew of wild mushrooms, most often chanterelles.

Interestingly, white bread in Finland is much less tasty than black bread. There are many varieties of black bread in the country, and it is baked mainly from rye flour.

Rye flour is included in many traditional dishes, for example, the Easter dish mämmi.

And here’s another feature of Finnish cuisine: recipes for traditional dishes have not changed for centuries. Centuries ago, the inhabitants of this region preferred high-calorie foods to help them survive the cold and lack of sun.

Nowadays you don’t need to eat so much (ski equipment protects you from the cold, and artificial lighting protects you from the polar night), but it’s always interesting to try ancient dishes.

National dishes of Finland

The main dishes of Finnish cuisine, perhaps, should be called fish dishes. Not a single meal is complete without them.

Mati- freshwater fish caviar, seasoned with fresh onions and sour cream. For this delicacy, you can go not to a restaurant, but to a store: the popular snack is sold everywhere.

Graavilohi- trout, salmon or whitefish in a dry spicy marinade. It sounds simple, but this dish is incredibly delicious. Slices of fish on rye bread or Karelian pie seem downright sweet.

Rosolli- a salad that is reminiscent of both vinaigrette and herring under a fur coat. The salad contains boiled potatoes, carrots, beets, apples, pickled cucumbers and herring (sometimes anchovies). Rosolli is seasoned with sour cream.

Just as often, when asked about Finnish cuisine, “What should I try?” - they answer: venison. Deer meat is fried, baked, smoked, and dried.

Poronkaristys- dried venison. Dry meat is not always easy to bite, but slices of dried venison in potato and rice soup are a real delight.

Poronpaisti- fried venison. The meat is served with lingonberry, cranberry or blueberry sauce, with mashed potatoes and carrots.

Is it possible to combine meat and fish in one dish? Among the Finnish dishes there is this: a cut is made in the deer tenderloin, pieces of lightly salted or smoked salmon are placed there and baked.

Soups

Soups in Finland are hot and rich. The most common option is fish broth soup.

• Lohikeitto or Kalakeitto- salmon soup with potatoes and milk.
• Klimpisoppa- fish soup with dumplings.
• Hernekeitt o - pea soup.
• Valkosipuli-kurpitsasoppa- pumpkin-garlic soup with croutons. This is the best remedy for preventing colds.

Deer bone soup is also considered a delicacy. The concentrated broth warms you well and gives you strength during the cold season, and juniper berries give it a special aroma.

Second courses

After soup, in Finland they eat meat or fish with a side dish of vegetables.

• Maito kalakeitto- fish stewed in milk. The dish is suitable even for a child, since only fish, milk, butter and salt are used to prepare it.
• Pyttipanna- stewed potatoes with meat or sausages. This dish is seasoned with black pepper, so it can be spicy. If your child won’t refuse potatoes and herring, offer him the Finnish version of this dish - the main ingredients are baked in the oven.

Pyattipanna

What to eat

Children don't always like to sit at the table. We offer several dishes that a child can handle in a matter of minutes.

• Рannukakku- huge pancakes baked in the oven. They resemble the sun, which is so lacking in winter in the northern country.
• Karjalanpiirakka, or Karelian pie - an open pie made of rye flour with potato, rice or carrot filling. If you need to feed a fidgety child, just put this treat in his hand.
• Talvi- potato cake and the most simple snack option. The golden scones should be eaten as soon as they come out of the oven. To make talvi even tastier, you can sprinkle them with grated cheese or pour sour cream on them.

For older children, offer mushroom pie - chanterelles, which are rich in the forests of Finland, are used to prepare it.

And it’s impossible not to mention the sausages roasted over an open fire. It seems that this dish cannot be classified as a traditional Finnish dish - but it’s worth going to one of the Finnish ski resorts and after skiing, try this sausage, roasted over a fire right among the snowdrifts: incredibly tasty!

Christmas dishes in Finland

On Christmas Eve, Finns put different dishes on the table, but there is also a set of dishes that are prepared in every home.

Kinkku- juicy baked ham, the main decoration of the table and one of the traditional dishes in Finland for Christmas. The meat is served with rutabaga, carrot or potato casserole. Rosolli salad is often prepared.

Kalakukko- closed fish pie, another traditional Christmas dish in Finland. The filling for kalakukko is vendace fish. The best fish pies are baked in the Lake District, so if you are on holiday in Tahko, be sure to try the local delicacy.

Also in Finland, special Christmas bread with caraway seeds and orange zest is baked for the holiday. And for dessert they serve sweet pastries: Joulutortut- Christmas stars; Piparkakut- gingerbread.

Glogi- Finnish mulled wine, which is served with cookies. For children, glegs are made from cranberry juice.

Riisipuuro- sweet rice porridge with almonds. This is the national dish of Finnish cuisine, eaten on Christmas Day. This porridge is cooked by Santa Claus’s wife in Santa’s village, and by all housewives in the country. There is only one almond nut in Riisipuuro: whoever gets it is considered to be lucky in the new year.

Desserts for young sweet tooths

If you set yourself the task of trying all Finnish sweets, then the tasting will take a lot of time.

• Korvapuusti- soft cinnamon buns, one of the most popular national dishes of Finland. These buns even have their own holiday, which is celebrated on October 4th.
• Runebergintorttu, or Runeberg cakes - delicate pyramids with jam, which are baked in honor of the birthday of the Finnish poet Johan Runeberg. You can try this sweetness in February.
• Mämmi- a kind of porridge made from rye flour and malt, which is seasoned with sugar and poured over with cream. Mämmi is prepared for Easter.
• Tippaleivät- crispy cookies, known among us as “brushwood”.

In July-September, the time comes for berry pies, traditional for the national cuisine of Finland: the blueberry pie is especially tasty, but the lingonberry one is also very good.

It’s also impossible to imagine Finland without Fazer chocolate, licorice sweets and cloudberry jam. These sweets have their own advantage: you can try them to your heart’s content while traveling and buy them as a souvenir for family and friends.

In addition to licorice candies, you can bring sweets from salmiak from Finland - black jelly diamonds have an unusual, sweet-salty taste.

Drinks for children

The most popular drink in the country is coffee. Kahvi is brewed weakly and served without any additives. But Finns drink milk almost just as often: every Finnish family starts their day with it.

• Viili- a fermented milk product reminiscent of yogurt. Viili with a handful of fresh berries can be offered to children for an afternoon snack.
• Sima- a kvass-like drink made from lemon and dark honey. It is prepared only in spring.
• Summer comes the time berry fruit drinks.
• Kiisseli- also a summer drink. This is a well-known jelly, which can be liquid (drinkable) or thick enough to be eaten with a spoon.

Where to try national cuisine

There are an incredible variety of restaurants serving traditional Finnish dishes. They are in the capital, and in the Lake District, and at ski resorts.

In tourist places, there are meat and fish delicacies on the menu all year round, but in restaurants where locals have lunch and dinner, everything is a little different.

Finnish cuisine is seasonal. In winter, they rely on fatty fish, in spring and early summer - on the first vegetables, then the time comes for berry and mushroom pies, and in the fall, game dishes appear on the menu.

Portions in Finnish restaurants are usually huge, so you can often limit yourself to just soup or a main course.

As for desserts, they should be separated into a separate meal and headed to the café-patisserie. The oldest cafe in Finland, Ekberg, treats guests to the freshest pastries from early morning (you can also have a hearty breakfast here).

The Fazer cafe, the Think Corner cafe of the University of Helsinki and the Robert’s coffee chain coffee shops will delight you with a huge number of sweets.

What to feed your child

Finnish cuisine is quite suitable for children who already eat from an adult table. There are few spicy, spicy dishes here, except that pittipanna can be generously peppered.

Caution should only be exercised if the child is lactose intolerant. Many Finnish dishes are prepared with the addition of milk or cream - let the delicious food never harm anyone.

In big cities and in the best resorts of Finland you can find family restaurants where children are offered a special menu, including lactose- and gluten-free dishes. Examples of such restaurants are La Famiglia in Helsinki, Huviretki and Näsinneula in Tampere, Ravintola Parempi in Lappeenranta.

In any catering establishment where there is no children's menu, mashed potatoes, broth, and an omelet without milk will be prepared for your child at your request. You can also find children's meals in restaurants that offer a buffet (called a buffet here).

But the assortment of the buffet needs to be carefully studied - it may turn out to be fast food, fatty or spicy dishes. If your baby needs special nutrition, take the food with you and ask for it to be warmed up - nowhere will you be denied such help.

Grocery supermarkets in Finland will offer you everything you need to prepare your own food. Vegetables, cereals, meat, fish, dairy products are presented in abundance, and their quality is always at its best.

In the country, you can find products labeled luomu (“environmentally friendly”). And this is not a publicity stunt: vegetables, bread, and milk with this mark comply with EU requirements for the use of organic raw materials. You can also easily find dietary products: lactose-free dairy products, gluten-free cereals, sugar-free sweets.

Food for the youngest travelers is available in any supermarket. On the shelves, in addition to products from world-famous manufacturers, there are also baby food from Finnish brands: Piltti, Semper, Muksu, Valio.

There is only one thing left to add: “Hyvää ruokahalua!” Bon appetit!" After a good meal, your soul feels warm, even when it’s cold outside.

If frosts don't bother you, treat yourself to a winter holiday. The Kidpassage collection has all the information about - relax with the whole family in the snowy land, in the homeland of Santa Claus.

Who's talking about what, and I'm talking about food again)). I have been studying the topic of Finnish national cuisine for a long time, reading, tasting, asking, cooking and eating.

The first cookbook in Finnish was published in 1849, i.e. The kitchen is quite young. For example, the first Russian cookbook was published almost a hundred years earlier, and in Europe generally in the 15th century.

Finnish recipes are somewhat similar to recipes from Denmark, Sweden and Norway. In these northern countries they love fish, meat, various minced meat dishes, and porridge.

Finnish favorite food

The main national products, without which it is difficult to imagine a Finnish dish, are pearl barley, fish, mainly herring, rutabaga, butter, milk or cream. Methods of preparing national dishes include salting and soaking, and often both together, as well as stewing.

What do Finns love most?! Of course, fish, milk, potatoes, cereals and everything that can be prepared from this. Salted salmon, eel, herring in various forms, fish pastes, fish soup, barley or rye porridge, rye bread - this can be found on every Finnish table.

Honestly, until I started studying this issue, I thought that the entire Finnish national cuisine could be fit into a dozen dishes, but it turned out that there are many more. Karelian pies with potatoes, “black sausage”, licorice sweets, venison with lingonberry jam, mämmi, cloudberry liqueur, fish soup with cream, Kalakukko pie - this is just the very beginning, the tip of the Finnish national taste.

There are several other reasons why, in my opinion, it is worth coming to Finland and organizing something like a “gastronomic tour”:

• Traditional Finnish dishes can still only be tasted in Finland, since this cuisine has never become international,
• Seasonal cuisine is popular in Finland, i.e. There are certain dishes that you can only try during a certain month or on the eve of a holiday.
• The products used in cooking are environmentally friendly.

Unusual Finnish dishes

This is probably the most interesting part of the article. There are dishes in Finnish cuisine that not everyone dares to try, but I, especially for the article, conducted such an experiment on myself and can now tell you not only about the dishes themselves, but also about the sensations and taste.

Finnish national fish pie with lard, baked in rye dough. Outwardly it resembles a large loaf of rye bread. A very high-calorie, I would even say heavy dish. Can be eaten cold or hot. Several of our blogs on the site had recipes for its preparation: “Oh, this kalakukko” and “Finnish national fish pie”. Honestly, I liked it. The taste is pleasant, the combinations are unusual, I won’t say that it’s for every day, but sometimes you can definitely eat it.

Leipäjuusto

Bread cheese. In fact, it has nothing to do with bread; it is cheese made from colostrum, with the possible addition of reindeer or even goat milk. It tastes rubbery and squeaks on the teeth, but in my opinion it is a very tasty product and goes well with lingonberry jam.

This is blood sausage in a natural casing. Prepared from pork blood and lard and rye seeds and flour. Honestly, I tried this “miracle” for the first time just for the article, I didn’t dare before. It's too greasy and unusual for me to try a second time, I didn't like it.

Rossypottu

Meat and blood sausage soup. Served in the Finnish army and sometimes at school. It really doesn't look appetizing, but it tastes quite edible. To be honest, I don’t want to try it a second time, but it will be useful to me as an interesting experience.

Mämmi

Traditional Finnish Easter dish. It is prepared from rye flour, water and sugar, and topped with cream. It looks like a viscous black substance, but I don’t like the taste of it at all.

Kalakeitto

Finnish fish soup. This is probably the most famous and most “internationalized” Finnish national dish. Usually prepared from fish with white, boneless fillet or salmon, with potatoes, onions, dill and milk or cream. Here is one of the recipes.

I really like this dish, I not only often eat it in cafes and restaurants, but also cook it at home.

Muikku

This is fried vendace. I liked it, delicious with potatoes and dill. You can try it at the street market.

Graavilohi

Traditional cold appetizer, raw fish in a spicy marinade. Literally translated as “salmon from the grave or from the pit.” Served with dill-mustard sauce on rye bread.

Glogi

Finland's national Christmas drink. In stores on Christmas Eve it is sold in all forms, at the same time in cafes and canteens in Finland, it replaces traditional milk. Glegi is made from fruits or berries (cranberries, lingonberries, black currants) with the addition of spices. This is a non-alcoholic version of the familiar mulled wine. Served in glass mugs with raisins and thinly sliced ​​almonds. Glögi should be drunk hot.

About seasonal dishes in Finland on our website there was a wonderful article “Delicious calendar”, I don’t see the point in repeating it, everything stated is correct and complete. Now the Runeberg cake season is just beginning, Runebergin torttu, I recommend trying this product.

Finnish cuisine has a lot in common with its neighbors, the Karelians and other peoples of the Finno-Ugric group. Despite this, it can be noted that there is widespread fish dishes. These are mainly river and lake fish (salmon, trout) or sea fish (herring); they are prepared in different combinations and options. So one of the most famous dishes of Finnish cuisine, kalekukko - rye fish pie. In general, rye flour, along with potatoes, can also be classified as typical products of Finnish cuisine. For example, Server Karelia is the birthplace of Karelian patties. This is a thin crust of rye filled with rice, and its shape resembles... a moccasin, which is exactly how it was once described by a visiting tourist.

There are 39 recipes in the "Finnish Cuisine" section

Finnish cinnamon rolls

A recipe for airy soft cinnamon rolls, which are good on their own, but will be even tastier with tea or coffee. The dough is prepared on dough, so the preparation time will take at least 2 hours. But you can always delegate the kneading to a bread machine. You will be left...

Finnish fish soup with smoked fish and cream

Which Finn first came up with the idea of ​​cooking fish soup with the addition of cream is a mystery to me, but I like this version of fish soup. Today I prepared a rich broth on the head and tail of salmon, and only then added salmon fillet to the broth, in addition to vegetables...

I confess: I love Finnish food. It may lack sophistication, but in Finland I always know what I'm eating. And what I eat invariably makes me happy, because I really love fish, milk, dill, pickled lingonberries and rye dough. Once again finding myself in Lappeenranta in order to get a Finnish stamp on my visa, the first thing I do is not go to a store, but to a tiny eatery in the very center, almost directly opposite the Galereya shopping center. And I take my favorite lunch with soup. Honestly, if the Finns still knew how to brew decent coffee, this lunch would take first place in my personal hit parade.

Well, you say, what is so good about this very Finnish cuisine?

General idea of ​​traditional Finnish cuisine

You can read a lot about the national cuisine of Finland. But the truth is that just as you can no longer find botvinya and hazel grouse with porridge on the Russian table, so in Finnish it is unlikely that everything that is so deliciously described in culinary articles on the Internet will be available. In general, we can say that Finnish cuisine is simple: the main emphasis here is on natural ingredients, and not on the alchemy of cooking. And this makes me very happy: not once in Finland have I come across anything stale or of poor quality.

Finnish (and Scandinavian in general) cuisine is considered one of the healthiest in the world. Indeed, Finns do not fry much and eat a lot of fish. On the other hand, they do not disdain fats: plenty of cream and butter, cold-water fish, fatty varieties. So I wouldn’t call Finnish food dietary either (if, of course, we interpret the word “dietary” as “weight loss”).

In general, Finnish dishes are rather bland. But, unlike the British, the Finns at least salt their food in sufficient quantities for Russian tastes. Plus, simple herbal seasonings such as black pepper and dill are actively used. So overall it’s not boring at all.

Typical Finnish food

Tourists, especially those who are traveling to Finland for a short time - for a day, say - are, of course, not interested in the mythical steamed rutabaga and barley porridge, but in what they can try almost everywhere. The gold medal in this regard is the famous Finnish soup with red fish. Soup “lohikeitto” (to say that it is ukha is not entirely correct, although it is also called that) is prepared from large pieces of fish fillet, potatoes/carrots/onions, and a sufficient amount of cream is poured into the broth. This is really a very tasty thing, and you can even try it in the border Laplandia stores - it’s still delicious.

In the same border “puck”, as the Russians call the large shopping center at the Torfyanovka/Vaalimaa checkpoint, you can get acquainted with the “Finnish buffet”. The standard assortment of dishes will most likely include a vegetable salad (cabbage, carrots or cucumbers with vinegar and chopped herbs), potato salad with mayonnaise and onions, Swedish meatballs (whoever has ever been to an Ikea store can imagine them very well) or salmon steak (Finns do not fry steaks, but poach them in boiling water) with mashed potatoes. What's nice about Finnish dinners is that they are free from the ubiquitous European dominance of French fries: usually mashed potatoes with milk are served as a side dish. Then a large cup of rather thin black coffee or a glass of fruit drink, for dessert - a roll with cinnamon or raisins or a thin cinnamon cookie. A more or less similar set can be found in any Finnish town where set lunches are served.

The simplest snack option is a slice of salted red fish on rye bread. Such sandwiches can be bought in the same “Laplandia” near the border or in “Disa’s Fish” stores. It is worth noting that the Finns have a special attitude towards rye bread: they rarely eat white bread here. But black fragrant loaves are baked with coriander, cumin, mustard and God knows what else - sort of analogues of our “Borodinsky” and “Karelian”.

Authentic Finnish dishes

The likelihood of trying something more traditional and canonical increases if you are traveling, for example, on a tour somewhere in the outback. Let's say, to Lapland to celebrate the New Year. Here, God himself ordered the opening of traditional cuisine establishments, and therefore on the table you will most likely find whole-boiled small potatoes, pickled cucumbers, and soaked lingonberries. These kinds of snacks are generally highly revered in Finland: pickles and pickles are an indispensable attribute of a good feast.

I already talked about fish soup, but Finns generally eat a variety of soups with great pleasure. From winter, meat, to summer - berry and dairy. Or vice versa: only in Finland did I truly realize that milk and cream cannot, in fact, spoil any dish, be it a vegetable stew or a meat soup. And that berries (both soaked and in the form of jam) can be used to garnish, in general, any meat and poultry dish.

In general, when it comes to fish dishes, in the most touristic places salmon really predominates, but in fact Finns eat many more types of fish. Traditional rural houses always have at least a very primitive smokehouse. And it’s simply impossible to refuse smoked char, herring, mackerel, vendace: this is an amazing delicacy.

Plus, in some “traditional” Finnish place you will probably try blood sausage or hot dishes that combine different types of meat, fish, offal and lard. Take, for example, the rye kalakukko pie, filled with a mixture of fish and lard. This, of course, is more a question of economy than of amazing taste, and some people do not like such foods at all. I'm not a big fan of them myself, but tradition is tradition.

Finnish high style cuisine

Food with sophistication means that you are not going to an ordinary diner, but to some quite full-fledged evening restaurant, probably in a large city. “Sophistication” can be expressed, firstly, in the method of cooking - over an open fire, on a grill, for example, or on an ice grill (this is a culinary novelty when raw fish is thermally treated “in reverse” - the slices are thrown onto a piece of ice). Secondly – ​​in meat. As I understand it, for Finns, meat is really more of a delicacy than an everyday food. In addition, the meat itself can be quite fancy. I'm talking about game: in Finnish restaurants you can find dishes made from bear meat, venison, and elk. By the way, this is surprisingly tasty: it seems that the same elk steak should be tough and unchewable, but no, it’s a wonderful juicy soft steak. But, of course, you have to pay for everything, and prices in “real” restaurants fully confirm this statement.

"Finland Special"

And now I’ll tell you about several of the most Finnish and most recognizable dishes, which do not seem to be independent dishes, but are so unlike anything else that they are definitely worth the attention of a traveler.

• Fried cheese. Sold in stores in the form of a large round flatbread with traces of frying, like a thick pancake. In establishments it is served as an appetizer with jam. In my opinion, it’s a glutton.

• Jam from cloudberries, blackberries, sea buckthorn. It seems that the berries are not so rare, but both here and in Mother Europe, products made from them are not particularly common. Finnish jams are not too sweet and very tasty.
• Karelian pies, they are also “wickets”. In principle, someone who came from Karelia or even from St. Petersburg will not be surprised by them. But if they are new to you, be sure to try them. These are oval open pies made of thin rye dough with a pinched edge, most often filled with grated potatoes mixed with a raw egg.

• Yogurts. From the above, you may get the impression that Finns only love cream and milk, but in fact, sour milk is also among their favorites. They do a lot of things with it, but even in their pure form, Finnish yoghurts and curdled milk “viili” are pure pleasure. And with fresh blueberries it’s simply beautiful.
• Berry liqueurs are the type of alcohol that Russian tourists usually bring home. As far as I could see, Finns drink a little (it’s also very expensive). These liqueurs are more of a treat than a drink, and they are really good. I recommend cloudberry.
• Sweets with licorice (usually lollipops and toffees). In my opinion, this is very, very amateurish. These candies are not so much sweet as they are salty. And with the piercing taste of Soviet cough medicine. A nightmare, actually.
• Mushrooms. I don’t know what’s the matter here: it would seem that the whole thing is one continuous mushroom place. However, I came across disappointingly few mushroom dishes there. They say that Finns love and cook chanterelles well... Well, if you find it, try it. What if this is rare luck?