Specialty potato dish in Karelia. Karelian cuisine: recipes of traditional dishes, cooking features

The national Karelian cuisine is a kind of symbiosis of Old Russian cuisine and the cuisine of northern Europe. The menus of the restaurants have a lot in common with the dishes of the closest neighbors of the Karelians - Finns and Estonians. Here in Karelia, like nowhere else, traditional delicacies of Russian cuisine and Finnish soups and snacks organically coexist on the table: game and fish, pickles and dried, rich borscht yes Finnish fish soup with Lohikeitto milk, Scandinavian muffins and Russian pies. Nevertheless, there are also such dishes that can be found only in Karelia. Here is their homeland, here they were traditionally cooked before and they are still cooked to this day.

Soups

The first dishes of the local cuisine are inimitable in taste of the ear. Moreover, it can be not only in fish broth, as we are used to, but also with the addition of cream, milk, butter. The traditional white fish stew on the menu of restaurants is called Kalakeitto (kala-keito). Salmon fish soup - holiday option with the addition of cream, it is already called Lohikeitto (lohi-keito) and under this name is known all over the world.
It was customary to cook such a rich fish soup for dear guests, because it has a special, velvety taste, devoid of a fishy smell. Even an avid gourmet and fastidious will not refuse a plate of this amazing soup.

Lohikeitto recipe (Karelian ear with cream)

The recipe for lohi-keito is quite simple: salmon is cut by separating the fillet from the bone and skin. Putting the fillet aside, broth is cooked from the rest, into which, after boiling, salt, black pepper, bay leaf and onion head are added. Then, after straining, the broth takes potatoes, leeks, carrots. After 15 minutes of cooking over low heat, add flour and butter to the soup, then diced fillet and, at the very end, cream.

Traditions of cooking fish soup in Karelia

Unlike the restaurant recipe, the method of making yushka (“yushka” is the more traditional name for fish soup in Karelian usage) is somewhat different. By old recipe, the pieces of fish were cooked whole without peeling. In order to make the ear more satisfying, it was also churned with flour, eggs and such exotic things as Icelandic moss or birch buds were added.

It turned out not only satisfying, but also very healthy food, because all these original seasonings are a storehouse of vitamins that are so necessary to support the human body during the long northern winter.
Before the meal, pieces of fish were necessarily taken out of the fish soup, which they ate separately, as a second course, with a strong salt. It is interesting that while fishing there was a kind of "division" of prey: offal and head for the rower, the best piece for the cook, and the tail for loafers.

In the old days, they cooked fish soup and from dried fish, which was poured with water and languished in a Russian oven for about a day. Often this dish resembled a dense and hearty fish porridge.

Another recipe for making Karelian fish soup is a fish soup made from fermented fish. However, this dish has become a rarity. V. Pokhlebkin in his book "National Cuisines of Our Nations" writes that the art of fermenting fish has been lost, and modern chefs do not know it to the extent that they knew how in the old days, they get fish with bitterness or an unpleasant smell.

Speaking about languor, as the main component of recipes for preparing all kinds of dishes in Karelia, one cannot fail to mention such a dish as stewed fish for the second.

The secret to making it so juicy and delicate fish with a tantalizing aroma of smell consists in prolonged heating of the cast iron with the contents in the oven. The contents of the cast iron were, of course, fish and pouring from milk or egg-milk mixture. The peculiarity of uniform heating of a cast iron in a Russian stove is an important component of a successful result. Tasting such a fish bored in the oven is a rarity not only for guests, but also for the average Karelian; if you manage to attack such a recipe on the menu - be sure to try it, you will not regret it!

Pies and pastries

Karelian cuisine is rich in a variety of pies and other flour products. Most often they are made from rye dough... By the way, wheat flour, which is widespread in central Russia and southern Russia, is rarely found in the national Karelian cuisine. Most often, ground rye, oats and barley are used in Karelian dishes.

Skantsy- or, as they are also called today, "pies for the son-in-law" - a traditional type of baked goods for the Karelian cuisine. Classic skantsy are a crescent-shaped rye flour pie filled with millet or rice porridge. By tradition, the dough was rolled out (hence the name "skanets"), when matchmakers came to the house, baked and treated the groom, matchmakers, hence the name "pies for son-in-law" was attached.

Today, when preparing skantsy, the dough is made more often on wheat white flour, and instead of hearty porridge they prefer sweet filling from sugar or honey. The result is wonderful holiday baked goods and a great tea treat - which is quick and easy to prepare.

Wickets- another popular and well-known in many countries of the world pie of the Karelian cuisine. A gate is a kind of open small pie, like a cheesecake, often square or polygonal in shape. The filling for the gates could be the same porridge, as well as potatoes or berries.

Unusual name The "wicket" has two versions of possible origin. One by one, the name of the Karelian pies comes from the Finnish "kalittoa - spread", because the viscous filling is spread on a pancake-base made of unleavened dough... According to the other, from the Russian "kalita" - that is, a purse or bag, which resemble wickets in shape. In such a "bag" you can put almost any content - filling to your liking. Perhaps the most delicious and beloved by many gates are berry gates. They are abundantly greased with oil and placed in a deep saucepan, which is carefully wrapped. Fragrant oozing berry syrup, they are loved by all sweet tooth.

Video recipe for making gates

They say that such pies were made already in the 9th century, that is, even before the baptism of Rus. Today, wickets are a popular type of baked goods not only in the north-west of Russia, but also in Finland and Scandinavian countries, where wickets made everywhere are called "Karelian pies".

A meal with gates in Karelia resembles a kind of family ritual. In the middle of the table is a large bowl filled with hot milk with the addition of butter. All pies are put into a bowl and soaked in a creamy mixture. After the pies have acquired softness, they are taken by the hostess, who lays them out on plates to everyone present, according to seniority. They eat this dish only with their hands, wiping them on a nearby towel.

Fish pies. All kinds of fish pies, oblong in shape, with a hole into which sour cream is poured, are very common in Karelia, which makes the filling extremely tasty. Finnish Karelians, in order to flavor the fish, sometimes cover it with a layer of finely chopped pork fat. Fish in such a pie is put whole, in layers, sometimes interlayering with mushrooms and onions. The filling simply comes out with juice soaking a thin layer of rye dough, and the taste of such a pie can seduce any gourmet, even if he doesn't like fish dishes.

One of the notable varieties of fish cakes is the Finnish "Easter" cake - Kalakukko (kalakukko). Outwardly, it looks like a closed loaf of rye dough, but instead of bread crumb, inside it is juicy fish filling mixed with onions and lard. Easter fishbread is served warm with a crispy crust, and eaten with a spoon from a loaf like a stew.

Menu in Karelian restaurants

While vacationing in Karelia, you will probably want to try real Karelian cuisine: hearty and rich fish soup, authentic gates prepared with fresh wild berries, tidbits of salted fish and fried game.

If you are relaxing in our Karelian dream house - a guest house on the shores of Lake Onega on Malaya Medvezhka (Medvezhyegorsk) - then at your service is the restaurant menu, which is located next to the cottage, just 5 minutes of a leisurely step. , restaurant menu .

Those who are passing through Karelia, traveling the world, can visit our restaurant, as well as other taverns and cafes, which will certainly please with their varied menu. Here you can find dishes not only of Karelian cuisine, but also, without difficulty, order Caucasian shashlik, Japanese sushi, Swedish meatballs or even Mediterranean lasagne.

While passing through Petrozavodsk, we recommend visiting the Karelskaya Gornitsa restaurant, where you can taste such exotic northern dishes as Karelian salmon mint in juniper sauce or bear meat roast in a bag of rye dough. Names alone beckon and tease your appetite!

Also here you will be offered to taste a collection of tinctures on forest herbs and berries, with the addition of natural honey, prepared for visitors according to old recipes.

Video recipe for cooking whitefish on a barbecue from the chef of the Karelian Upper Room

Traditional Karelian pastries differs from modern ideas about sweet rolls and pies. In Karelia, most often baked goods were filled with cereals boiled in water or milk, later potato filling, often used for filling fish, meat, vegetables. Pies, gates, rybniki, kurniki were not a dessert, as we are accustomed to now perceive pastries, but accompanied the main course. They were eaten together with thick, soups, cereals, jelly. On the other hand, sweet pies are usually in traditional Karelian pastries without any filling at all. For example, skunks, various cupcakes. Or sweet pies were also filled with cereals, less often with cottage cheese, potatoes, and even less often with berries.

Rybnik

Traditional Karelian and Vepsian dish, widespread throughout the region. Karelians (southern and middle) call rybnik kurnik. They borrowed from the Russians the kurnik shape (chicken baked in dough) and its name. For the fishmonger, a sour (yeast) dough is prepared from rye or wheat flour. Unleavened dough is very brittle and juices may leak out of the fish during baking. The cake is rolled out 1 cm thick, fresh salted fish is placed on it, butter is added, wrapped in a boat, the edges are pinched and baked in the oven.
In northern Karelia, open fish farms are also baked from fresh salted fish. In this case, a little sour cream is poured into the existing hole. Fish in an open fishmonger tastes better, friable. In central Karelia, an open fishmonger is usually made from oily fish. Finnish Karelians put thinly sliced pork fat... The quadrangular chicken chicken was usually made from pike and burbot (fish was cut into pieces). A triangular fishmonger was also baked from pike. A round rybnik was sometimes baked from vendace, leaving a small area open on top.
The readiness of a closed rye was determined as follows: the product was taken out of the oven and slightly shaken. If the fish "walked" in it, it means that the fishmonger was ready. It was smeared with water or turnip kvass and covered with a towel.
The top crust of the fishmonger was cut off - it replaced the bread. No wonder the people said: "Huttu da kurniekkukuori on leibal abu" - "Thick and crust from a fishmonger - help bread."

Rybnik

Starokarelskoe product of northern Karelians, who called the fishmonger fish pie. From bread dough a quadrangular cake was rolled out, in the middle of which was laid cleaned and gutted fish (small - whole, large - in pieces). A little rye flour was poured on top and a layer of pork or lamb greaves, pieces of fresh or salted meat was placed. The edges of the cake were folded and pinched. Currently fish pies baked without meat, but cracklings or lard sometimes added to the filling.

Rybnik made from milk and burbot liver

This dish is widespread among the Karelian population of eastern Finland. Rybniks from milk and liver of burbot were usually baked when there was a rich catch of this fish. Milk and liver were pre-salted, boiled in water, crushed, and finely chopped onions were added. A small cake was made from the sour dough, in the middle of which the filling was placed, and the edges were pinched. The shape of the product resembled a closed fish farm. The pies were baked in the oven, the finished ones were greased with water and covered with a towel. Such fish were taken with them on the road.

Meat chicken

Previously, chicken meat was prepared from raw meat or lung. Pieces of meat or lungs were salted and finely chopped. A cake was made from bread dough, a filling was put on it, onions were added and, if the meat was low-fat, melted butter, wrapped the dough in an envelope, greased with sour cream or an egg and baked in the oven until cooked. Nowadays, in some villages, meat chicken is baked from yeast dough(wheat flour). A rectangular cake is made from it, put on a greased baking sheet. Place the filling on half of the cake, close it with the other half and pinch the edges. After smearing the surface with an egg and making 3 - 4 small holes on it with a knife, bake in the oven until tender. The finished chicken is taken out of the oven, put on a board, greased butter and close parchment paper, and on top - with a towel. Minced meat: 300 g of beef, 300 g of pork, 2 onions, salt to taste.

Crackling pie

Yeast dough (bread) or unleavened. For the filling, use pearl barley porridge, boiled in water. It is finely chopped into lamb, reindeer or beef bacon greaves. Roll out the cake and put the minced meat on it. The shape of a traditional pie resembles a fishmonger. After baking, the top of the cake is greased with butter and covered with a towel. They are eaten both hot and cold. Previously, such pies were also baked with turnip filling. The turnips were preliminarily finely chopped (planed), laid out on a dough cake, salted and slightly sprinkled with flour. Greaves or finely chopped fat were placed on top. In northern Karelia, such pies are still baked from yeast or unleavened dough. Filling: 500 g fat in chunks, 2 cups pearl barley or boiled turnip, 1 - 2 tbsp. tablespoons of flour, salt to taste.

Liver pie

Yeast dough. The liver (lungs, kidneys) is cleaned of fat and films, boiled in salt water, and crushed. Cook porridge (rice, pearl barley) in milk, cool it and mix with chopped liver and fried onions. Put the filling in the middle of the dough cake and wrap the edges with an envelope. Before putting in the oven, grease with a beaten egg or brewed tea. Such a cake was considered a festive one.

Pea pies

Small cakes are made from sour dough (bread), in the middle of them they are filled with boiled peas with oatmeal. You can add onions. The edges of the cakes are connected and pinched. Finished pies are greased with sunflower oil. Pea cakes were usually baked on fast days.

Pies with oatmeal

Roll the sour dough into small flat cakes (1/2 cm thick). The lard is mixed with yogurt and sour cream, a beaten egg is added, salt is added - and the filling is ready. It is placed in the middle of the cake, the edges are connected and pinched. The pies are greased with sour cream and baked in the oven.

Mushroom pie

Old Karelian and Vepsian products. Yeast dough (bread). Salted mushrooms were soaked in slightly salted water, and dry ones were soaked or boiled in water. Finely chopped both, added onion fried in butter (you can put chopped eggs boiled in milk, pearl or rice porridge), everything was mixed well. The dough was rolled out into a rectangular layer 1 cm thick.On one half, the filling was placed in a slide (you can fill it with a chatterbox of raw beaten egg and flour), the filling was covered with the second half of the rolled layer and the edges were pinched. The top was greased with an egg or strong tea, made with a knife several small holes in the upper crust so that excess moisture evaporated through them, and baked in the oven. In the Karelian and Vepsian villages, they also cooked small pies stuffed with salted mushrooms. Filling: 100 g dried mushrooms, 300 - 400 g salted mushrooms, 2 - 3 onions, 3 - 4 eggs, 50 g butter, a cup of cereals, 1 teaspoon of flour, salt to taste.

Colobes

In the old days, Karelians baked kolobas from sour (bread) rye dough. In many villages they were called shangs. Modern housewives, as a rule, cook colobes from white flour using yeast. The dough is cut into small cakes, in the middle with a pestle, a depression is formed, into which the filling of mashed potatoes or semolina is placed. The edges of the cake are not folded. On top of the kolob, grease with sour cream and bake in the oven. Ready-made kolobas are flavored with melted butter. Dough: 1 glass of warm milk, 200 g of margarine, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of vegetable oil, 1 egg, 1/3, a pack of yeast, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of granulated sugar, salt. Mashed potatoes: 1 kg of potatoes, 1 - 2 eggs, 1/2, a glass of hot milk, 1/2, cans of sour cream (100 g), 2 tbsp. tablespoons of butter, salt to taste. Semolina: 3 teaspoons semolina, 3/4 cup milk, 1/4 cup water, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of butter.

Potato pie

Knead soft yeast dough, and while the filling is being prepared, it stands in a warm place. For the filling, boil potatoes (preferably in a "uniform"), make mashed potatoes (not thick). Roll out the dough, transfer the cake to a baking sheet or large frying pan, put mashed potatoes, the edges of the cake are folded. Smear on top with sour cream and bake in the oven. 200 g margarine, 1 glass of milk, 1/2, a pack of yeast, 1/2, a teaspoon of baking soda, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon of salt.

Lingonberry pie

Yeast dough (sour). Fresh or soaked lingonberries are mixed with granulated sugar. If there is, add candied orange peels, mix everything and put on a rolled cake on a baking sheet. The edges of the cake are carefully folded over. To prevent the lingonberry juice from leaking out, you can sprinkle the berries on top with starch or streusel powder. Powder "streusel": put a tablespoon of flour on a plate, a piece of butter (better ghee) butter (20 - 30 g), 1 tbsp. a spoonful of granulated sugar and knead everything well with your hands. You can add egg yolk. It turns out mealy-buttery crumbs, which are sprinkled with berry (very juicy) pies. Start sprinkling the cake from the corners, as these are the most vulnerable spots for juice leakage.

Blueberry pie

The Karelians baked a pie with blueberries on the Makovei holiday (August 14) - farewell to summer. Yeast dough, sour. The berries were previously cooked, now many housewives use raw blueberries mixed with granulated sugar for the filling. Sprinkle blueberries on top with potato flour, especially the corners of the pie, so that the juice does not flow out, but it is better to sprinkle with "streusel". Previously, small pies such as cheesecakes were baked with blueberries (lingonberries). Crumpled berries with granulated sugar served as a filling. You can also recommend this recipe for blueberry pie. Sort blueberries, wash in cold water, pour over boiling water in a colander. Sprinkle the berries with granulated sugar and let stand for 1.5 - 2 hours. The dough is suitable for both yeast and shortbread. The composition of the shortcrust pastry: 200 g butter margarine, 2 yolks, 1 protein, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of sugar, 2 glasses of flour.

Russian pancakes

There are many recipes for pancakes, but the principle of their preparation is the same, the only difference is in the proportion of the products being poured. In 800 g of warm milk or water, dissolve 20 g of yeast, salt, add the yolk and 500 g of flour. Stir everything well and put in a warm place for 2 hours. After that, put butter or margarine (150-200 g), whipped protein, stir and set for another 2 hours, stirring the dough from time to time. Before baking pancakes, 2 - 3 eggs are driven into the dough and a cup of hot milk is poured. The finished dough should have the consistency of liquid sour cream. It is important that the dough does not overstay, otherwise the pancakes will turn out sour and pale. If you start baking without letting the dough ferment, the pancakes will be bland and not lacy. The frying pan (cast iron) must be wiped with vegetable oil and ignited well, so that the smoke goes. After that, wipe it again with a cloth - and you can bake. Pour the finished dough with a ladle or a large spoon into a hot, greased frying pan and, tilting it, distribute the dough in an even layer. Pancakes are fried on both sides. The finished pancakes are greased with oil and, so that they remain warm, they are placed in a saucepan with a lid, placed in a basin with warm water... It is good to put a clean towel under the lid - it will absorb the steam and the pancakes will not become wet. Many housewives add buckwheat flour to the dough for Russian pancakes, about 1/3 of it - they are dry and crispy.

Finnish pretzel

Dilute 1/2, packs of yeast, pour into 1/2, l warm milk, salt, add 3 eggs, melted butter (250 - 300 g), 1 tbsp. a spoonful of sunflower oil, 1 - 2 tbsp. tablespoons of granulated sugar, a handful of washed and dried raisins, 6 - 8 pieces of cardamom (peel and crush). Knead the thick dough and put it in a warm place. As soon as the dough starts to come up, knead it and let it stand still. Three bundles are made from the dough, weaved them into a pigtail and rolled into a pretzel. Smear with yolk whipped with milk and put in the oven. If the pretzel starts to burn from above, cover it with parchment paper or foil soaked in water. The readiness of the pretzel is determined by piercing it with a match or thin stick: if it is dry, the pretzel is ready. Taking it out of the oven, grease the pretzel with an egg-milk mash. Sprinkle with icing sugar on a slightly cooled pretzel. Serve on a tray or platter. You can put candies in the middle or put burning candles (birthday cake).

Finnish buns

In a cup of hot milk, dissolve softened creamy margarine (200 g), salt, pour in 1/2 packs of yeast dissolved in warm milk with granulated sugar, and knead the dough. They let him come up (40 - 50 minutes, you can hold it longer, if you have time). Then roll out a large flat cake 0.5 - 1 cm thick, grease it with melted butter on top, sprinkle with granulated sugar and wrap it in a roll. From the end of the roll, cut small slices (10-12 cm) and, pinching on one side, put them on a baking sheet. Buns are greased with whipped milk egg yolk or brewed tea and put in the oven. Bake in moderate heat until tender.

Skantsy

A traditional festive dish of the Karelians and Vepsians, now almost forgotten. Skans were made from rye or barley flour, sifted several times. The thick dough was kneaded in water, yogurt or skim milk, and salted. The same cakes were made from the dough as for the gates. Very thin cakes were rolled out of them ("rocks"). The Karelians said that a good scamper, if you blow, should rise above the table. Skans were baked on coals in front of the mouth of the furnace. Sometimes the coals were raked and baked right on the bottom of the oven (now you can use a frying pan for this purpose.) The finished skunks were greased on one side with melted butter and stacked in a pile. They were stuffed with porridge cooked in milk already in the process of lunch, when the soup was eaten. A pot of porridge was taken out of the oven, covered with it, then rolled around the edges, and again - in half. It turned out like a tube, which was abundantly lubricated with oil. When they ate skunks, it was customary to break them in half, even for oneself. Anyone who did not do this was considered greedy. They ate skantsy dipping them in melted butter or warmed sour cream. Was washed down with cold milk or curd milk.

Kits

To prepare the dough, pour 1 cup of curdled milk into a bowl (it can be replaced with fresh milk or sour cream), add a little water, salt and stir well. Then add flour, preferably rye, and knead the thick dough. If there is no rye flour, the dough can be made from black bread. The crust is cut off, and the pulp is poured with kefir or sour cream, and allowed to stand. Knead the dough with wheat flour, then put it out of the bowl on the board and continue to knead until it stops sticking to the hands and board. Allow the dough to stand for a while and then roll it into a sausage, cut pieces of the same size from it, make balls, and from them - small cakes (7 - 8 cm in diameter), which, sprinkled with flour, are stacked so that the dough does not dry out.
Take one flat cake from the stack and roll out thin skunks, 1 - 1.5 mm thick and 30 - 35 cm in diameter. Finished skunks are also stacked on top of each other. To prevent them from sticking together, lightly sprinkle them with flour.
The filling can be from cereals (boiled or soaked), oatmeal, mashed potatoes. The cereal filling is prepared from barley and millet groats. Barley groats are not boiled, but in the evening they are soaked in yogurt with a small amount of ghee. By morning, it becomes soft and slightly sour in taste. To prevent the gates from being sour, fresh milk is sometimes added. Bar gates are good because they are tasty and cold.
Millet for gates is washed, boiled in milk, salted and butter is added. The porridge should be viscous. The gates are stuffed with rice porridge cooked in milk, as well as oatmeal, thickly mixed with fresh salted yogurt or sour cream.
Mashed potatoes for the filling are always made from potatoes boiled in their "uniform". Hot potatoes are quickly peeled, kneaded with a crush, hot milk, sour cream, salt, eggs (yolks), butter are added. The puree should not be very thick.
Olonets and Tikhvin Karelians and Vepsians bake wickets with cottage cheese.
Before, when the hostess ran out of filling, and the scandals still remained, on hastily they made garve - finely ground barley flour was mixed with yogurt, milk or sour cream, and with this mass they stuffed skanets.
Pinch or fold the edges, grease with salted sour cream mixed with raw yolk, and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Wickets, while they are hot, are abundantly greased with butter.
Wickets were baked on Sundays, as well as in holidays... They ate them with fish soup, soup, milk.
Potato wickets were never prepared for a memorial dinner. This is explained, apparently, by the fact that potatoes are a rather late crop in Karelia.
Wickets are very popular in the region nowadays. They are made everywhere, and not only by Karelians, but also by representatives of other peoples living in Karelia.

Son-in-law pies

In the past, it was a traditional ritual dish of the Karelians and Vepsians. Such pies were fried when matchmakers came to the house. The first scarecrow was to be rolled out by the bride. They interfered with her in every possible way. The matchmakers and the groom threw chips into the dough to ruin the product. It was believed that only in this case would the matchmaking be successful. The son-in-law was treated to "wedding" pies when he came to visit his mother-in-law, hence their other name - "pies for the son-in-law". It is no coincidence that a Karelian proverb says: "Kun on vavу kois, siit on seinat vois" - "When the son-in-law is in the house, the walls are oiled." The "cake" son-in-law, in contrast to the "thick" (neighbor's), was called the distant (sweet) son-in-law.
Pies for the son-in-law were served on the table for the builders of the house when the blockhouse was ready. In some Karelian villages, they were baked from the flour of the new crop after the last sheaf had been compressed.
There are many options for son-in-law pies. We offer three of them.
1. Prepare unleavened dough. Beat 1 egg, add 2 tbsp. spoons of sour cream, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of cream, 2 tbsp. spoons of water, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of granulated sugar, a pinch of salt. You can put in a little butter or margarine, but in moderation, otherwise the cakes will not turn out crispy. Knead the thick dough, roll it into a sausage and let it stand for 10 - 15 minutes. Then the sausage is cut into pieces of equal size, from which small cakes are made (like in gates), they are put in a pile and they begin to roll out. The scanners should be very thin. Finished skunks (they are 18 - 20 pieces) are folded on the table. Half of each of them are sprinkled with granulated sugar and covered with the other half. The edges are neatly cut with a saucer (you can just pinch them). Fried in a well-heated pan in vegetable oil. These cakes are sometimes called yarn or sweet (mageapiirat). Loose millet porridge cooked in milk, viscous rice porridge with boiled egg and thick oatmeal gruel with sour cream. Tver Karelians also use cabbage filling or cottage cheese. The product is still widespread today.
2. They don't cook very well butter dough for pies with cereal filling. The manufacturing technology as a whole is the same as in the previous recipe, but the skunks are made thicker. The recipe is as follows: 1 egg, 1 glass of water, flour, salt. For the filling - 1/2 cup of rice, 2 hard-boiled eggs, salt to taste.
3. Prepare the crunchy dough. 100 g of butter is chopped on a board with flour to fine crumbs, then put into a bowl and pour 1/2 cup of salted boiling water. Knead the thick dough, roll it into a tourniquet, and then proceed as described in the first option.

Kosovik

A traditional festive dish that is widespread in central and southern Karelia to this day. It is prepared from two layers - potato tortillas and stuffed pancakes. Potatoes are boiled in "uniform", peeled, crumpled with a crush, salted, add butter, egg, milk and a little white flour. You can knead a tough dough of rye or wheat flour and roll out a flat cake 1 cm thick. Pancakes are baked ahead of time. For the filling, boil loose millet porridge. Oatmeal can also serve as a filling, barley porridge, cottage cheese, blueberry and lingonberry jam. A pancake is placed on a greased potato cake, a filling is placed on a half of a pancake, which is covered with the second half from above - again a pancake with a filling, and so 4 - 5 times. Then cover everything with the second half of the potato cake and pinch the edges. Smeared with sour cream and baked in the oven (oven). The product is obtained in a semicircular, "oblique" shape, hence the name. They are eaten warm and cold. 1/2 cup wheat flour, 1 egg, 1 kg potatoes, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of butter, 1/2, a glass of milk.

Ryadovik

This product is prepared, like the kosovik, but before the cakes were made from unleavened rye dough, and now - from wheat flour. A thin crust is placed on a skillet richly greased with oil, a pancake is on it, on top is a thin layer of porridge (barley, millet, rice, semolina) or oatmeal mixed with sour cream (you can use berries - lingonberries with sugar, blueberries); so several rows. All this is covered with a second flat cake, the edges are pinched and baked in the oven until tender.

Lenten pies

Starokarelskoe lean product... The dough was prepared as for gates, elongated (oval) skunks were rolled out. The filling was kohahus - a gruel made from barley flour with sourdough from bread sourdough. Kneaded late in the evening so that the leaven did not over-acid. In the morning they added a little more flour and stuffed the skantsy. The edges were pinched, like at gates, or folded at the elongated ends. They baked in the oven. The finished product was lubricated with sunflower or hemp oil.

Pretzel

Pretzels were made from both unleavened and sour dough. For unleavened dough fresh milk well sifted barley flour was bred, 2 - 3 eggs were added, a thick dough was salted and kneaded, from which a tourniquet was made on the board. They were cut into equal pieces and small bundles were rolled from them. They put them side by side, bent them - it turned out a pretzel. It was dipped in boiling salted water, boiled for 2 - 3 minutes, then taken out, placed on a leaf covered with flour and placed in the oven. The technology for making pretzels from sour (bread) dough is similar to that described. They took pretzels with them on a long journey or to work in the forest. They did not harden for a long time. Keittileivat, custard bread, was also baked.

Pancakes

A traditional product of the Karelian cuisine. The son-in-law was treated to pancakes, often they were prepared especially for him. Pancakes with filling were usually baked on holidays. Nowadays, pancakes have become an everyday food, but they are baked from wheat flour and without filling. A Karelian proverb says: "Kyrzy kyzyy kuuzi", which is literal. means: "Pancakes ask for six", that is, six components: flour, yogurt, butter, milk, water and filling. South Karelians made pancakes from well-sifted oat flour, the northern ones are made of barley. The dough was diluted with yogurt, milk, but more often with water, without salt, liquid (it was stirred for a long time). Pancakes were baked thin in a frying pan, which was placed on the coals. Ready-made pancakes were laid out on a plate in a pile or folded in corners, bent in half and again bent in half. They ate pancakes with barley porridge cooked in milk. The porridge was put on half of the pancake, covered with the other half, the filling was again applied and the pancake was folded again or rolled up in a tube. Dip in melted butter or sour cream. Pancakes without filling were baked for breakfast any day. During the post, pancakes were baked in vegetable oil.

Cottage cheese pies

An ancient ritual product. Usually baked for Peter's Day (July 12) - the beginning of haymaking. They made curd paste (see rahkakabu-pacxa). Small cakes were rolled out of it and baked in a frying pan or on sheets in the oven. There they were dried a little. The kabud remained in this form for a long time. They were taken for haymaking - they are very satisfying (high in calories). In some villages (Kondopozhsky district), cottage cheese pies were not baked, but made from curd paste small balls were put on a "cake" board and put in a cold place. They ate without warming up.

Crumbly pies

A simple and quick dish to prepare. Knead 200 g of softened margarine (in no case melt!), Add 200 g of sour cream and 2 glasses of flour, salt and knead the thick dough. It's nice to put it in the cold for 1 - 2 hours, but if you don't have time, you can do without it. They make small cakes, stuff them with cabbage (fresh, fried), fish, apples, minced meat... The edges are pinched. Each pie is greased with egg yolk whipped with milk and baked in a heated oven for 10 minutes. There is another way to prepare unleavened dough. 1 - 2 eggs are poured with milk to make a full glass of liquid, salt. Flour is poured onto a cutting board in a slide, 200 g of butter margarine is placed on it and chopped until fine grains are obtained, pouring the contents of a glass. A semi-thick dough is formed. It is kneaded by adding flour and set in the cold for 2 hours. Roll out a large cake, cut into circles with a glass and stuff them with cooked minced meat. They are baked in the oven. Ready-made pies cannot be covered with a towel - they will get wet and lose their loose structure.

"Hare skins"

A culinary product very widespread among the Finnish population of Karelia. If you still have boiled potatoes, you can bake them delicious pies... The potatoes are pounded, a little wheat flour is added, salted, tortillas are made and stuffed fried cabbage... The edges are pinched and baked in the oven. You can fry such pies in a pan

Potato pies

Wipe boiled potatoes, add slightly dried flour, salt, eggs. Knead the dough and cut the cakes. In the middle of each flat cake, put a crumbly millet porridge seasoned with butter. You can stuff potato pies with mushrooms (dried, boiled beforehand, or salted). The edges of the cake are connected, pinched. The pies are greased with an egg and baked until tender.

Karelian cake ("Centennial")

To make cakes, you need 1 glass of sour cream, 1 egg, 1 glass of granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon of soda quenched in vinegar, salt to taste. All this is thoroughly ground, flour is added and a thick dough is kneaded. A tourniquet is rolled up from it and divided into 13 parts. Each piece is rolled into a thin skim the size of a large plate and baked in the oven. To make cakes, you need 1 glass of sour cream, 1 egg, 1 glass of granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon of soda quenched in vinegar, salt to taste. All this is thoroughly ground, flour is added and a thick dough is kneaded. A tourniquet is rolled up from it and divided into 13 parts. Each piece is rolled into a thin skim the size of a large plate and baked in the oven. To prepare the cream, 1 glass of sour cream is ground with 1 glass of granulated sugar. Ready-made cakes are greased alternately with sour cream and lingonberry or cranberry jam and put on top of each other. The finished cake is covered with parchment, a small load is placed on top, which is kept overnight. Decorate in the morning.

"Cake without an oven"

Milk is boiled, cooled slightly. One side of the biscuits is moistened in hot milk (for such a cake you need 3 packs of any, but not round biscuits) and put on a tray with the dry side down. When one pack is stacked, a layer of cottage cheese is put on top, mixed with a glass of granulated sugar and an egg, then again a layer of cookies - only now they are dipped in milk completely - again a layer of cottage cheese and finally - a third layer of cookies, moistened, like the first, on one side , but lay it so that the top is dry. All this is covered with glaze. It can be made from chocolate bars (200 g) - cut them, add 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon of milk and 1 teaspoon of butter. Mix all this, boil, cool and pour over the cookies. It is good to put such a cake in the refrigerator overnight. In addition to cottage cheese, it can serve as a layer butter cream(100 g butter and 1/2 can of condensed milk or 100 g butter and 1/2 cup granulated sugar, etc.).

Anthill cake

4 yolks are mixed with 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 300 g of softened butter are added, everything is thoroughly mixed. Coffee is brewed from two glasses of water (3 tablespoons), you can use instant coffee(2 tablespoons), boil for 10 minutes. Then carefully, one teaspoon at a time, pour it into the cream, whipping. The coffee should be hot all the time (but no grounds). "Karelian snowballs" (meringues) are dipped in cream and spread on a dish in a slide. The remaining cream is smeared with "Anthill" and sprinkled with chopped nuts on top. Consumption of "Karelian snowballs" - 350 g. The cake should stand in the refrigerator for some time. And here is another version of "Anthill". Knead the tough dough and put it in the refrigerator for 1 - 2 hours. Make a thin crust, place it on a greased baking sheet and bake in the oven until tender. After cooling, grind it into crumbs, mix with cream and spread the resulting mass on a dish with a slide, sprinkle it on top with chocolate cut on a coarse grater. Dough: 200 - 250 g butter or margarine, 1 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 2 cups flour, salt to taste. Cream: 1/2, cans of condensed coffee or cocoa are ground with 200 g of softened butter.
There is also an easier cake to make, not a festive "Anthill". Knead a tough dough of two eggs, 1 pack of butter margarine, a glass of granulated sugar, a pinch of salt and 1 teaspoon of baking powder. The dough is passed through a meat grinder, scattered with grains on a sheet, put in the oven and baked until tender (until it is browned). The finished "grits" (half of the norm) are placed in a greased bowl, poured with a can of condensed milk and lightly tamped. Then the bowl is overturned, sprinkled with grains with nuts on the slide and put in the cold. Before use, the cake is cut into pieces and put on a plate with a spatula. The other half of the "grits" can be folded into the jar for the next cake.

Rosantsy

The product became widespread among the Karelians. Usually rosants are baked on big holidays and, as a rule, on New Year... To make them, take 5 egg yolks and white from one egg, beat with a fork, adding 1 tbsp. a spoonful of cream (or vodka, or even better - both), on the tip of a knife - baking soda, 2-3 teaspoons of granulated sugar, a pinch of salt, and knead the hard dough. Scans are rolled out of it, preferably very thin. Warm up in an aluminum mug or saucepan with a handle sunflower oil or vegetable fat (you can mix it) and begin to fry the rosants. The fat should be more than half of the dish. Make 3 - 4 cuts on the skim at the same distance from each other, use a wooden stick to "type" through the cuts the skim onto the end of the stick and lower it into boiling oil, without separating it from the stick, which should be held vertically and use it to rotate the skim in oil so that he took the form of a flower. As soon as the rosane begins to turn pink (this will take no more than a minute), it is carefully taken out of the pan, the excess fat is allowed to drain and the product is transferred to a plate to cool. When all the rosants are baked (there should be 18 - 20 pieces), they are placed on a large dish and each rosant is sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Finnish cupcake

A very simple and quick product to manufacture. A glass of granulated sugar is ground with 2 eggs white, add a glass of flour, a can of sour cream (200 g) or 200 g of margarine (melted) and a teaspoon of baking powder. Beat the mass well, salt, pour into the mold and bake for 15 minutes in the oven over moderate heat.

Pies - cottage cheese cookies

200 g of softened margarine is mixed with 200 - 300 g of cottage cheese and 2 cups of flour, salt, add 1 teaspoon of baking powder (or vinegar with soda - 1/2 teaspoon). Knead the mass with your hands, roll it into a ball and put it in the refrigerator for 1 - 2 hours (preferably in the freezer). Then they roll out the dough into a tourniquet, make small cakes, sprinkle each with granulated sugar, fold the cake in half, sprinkle with sand again and fold it again. Pinch the edges lightly and bake in the oven.

Butter croutons

The product is "capricious", it does not always turn out to be successful, but if you put all the ingredients in the proper order, you get delicious and crumbly croutons. 250 g of softened butter margarine (preferably 150 g of margarine and 100 g of ghee or butter) are ground white with 3 yolks, 1.5 cups of granulated sugar. The more time spent on this procedure, the tastier the product. In vinegar, an incomplete teaspoon of soda is quenched, allowed to stand for a while, and then poured into a pounded mass, salt and mix well, add 200 g of sour cream (you can replace it with mayonnaise), 100 g of raisins and mix everything again. The dough should be slightly more than medium thick. 4 bundles are rolled from it along the length of the baking sheet, greased with brewed tea or yolk whipped with milk, and put in the oven. The readiness of the harnesses is determined by puncturing one of them with a match. If it is dry, the product is ready. The baking sheet is taken out of the oven, but the fire is not turned off. Cut the plaits into small slices, put them back on a baking sheet and put them in the oven on low heat to brown and dry the croutons. Butter crackers are best stored in enamel pot with lid. A clean cloth is placed on the bottom.

Finnish lemon pie

To prepare the cake, 75 g of butter or margarine is well mixed with 1/2 cup of kefir, add 2 cups of flour and a spoonful of baking powder (or 1/4 teaspoon of soda quenched in vinegar), a pinch of salt and knead the dough. A flat cake is rolled out of it. The edges are folded over so that they hold the filling. It is convenient to bake a flat cake in a frying pan in the oven. For the crust, you can also prepare shortcrust pastry... The filling is made in this way: 2 egg yolks are ground with 1 glass of granulated sugar, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of butter, stir, add 3 tbsp. tablespoons of flour (with top), mix well again, pour in a glass of boiling water, put on low heat and, without stopping stirring, bring to a boil. The mass is cooled, the juice of one medium-sized lemon is added - pour in small doses, thoroughly mixing the filling. If it turns out to be liquid, you can add a little flour. The mass is poured onto the cake. For decoration, beat 2 squirrels with 2 tbsp. tablespoons of granulated sugar until thick and spread with a spoon on the pie. Then put the pan with the pie for 1 - 2 minutes in a not very hot oven.

Berry pie with whipped protein

The yolks separated from the proteins are thoroughly ground with granulated sugar, mayonnaise (sour cream), softened margarine, flour and baking powder ( slaked soda). The mass is thoroughly kneaded and laid out in a greased frying pan. Put on top berry filling(fresh berries, jam) and bake the pie in the oven until half cooked. Then they take it out of the oven, fill it with whipped whites with sand and bake it. For the dough: 3 yolks, 1/2, a glass of sand, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of mayonnaise (sour cream), 100 g of butter (margarine), 200 g of flour, 0.5 teaspoon of soda. For pouring: 3 squirrels + 1/2, glasses of sand.

Cracker

100 g of butter (or butter margarine) is ground with 3/4, a glass of milk, 1/2, a glass of granulated sugar, 1/2, a teaspoon of soda. Pour 1 glass of wheat flour and 2 glasses of potato flour into the resulting mass, knead the hard dough, which is placed in the refrigerator for 1 - 2 hours. Roll out a cake less than 1 cm thick, cut out circles with a glass or special molds, make tattoos with a fork. The cookies are placed on a greased sheet and placed in the oven over moderate heat. It turns out dry loose biscuits that can be stored for a long time.

Oatmeal cookies

Old Karelian pastries. Oatmeal home production stir in sour cream, cream, yogurt, add salt, let the dough come up. Then they laid it out on the table, crushed it well, rolled out a flat cake as thick as a finger and cut out dough circles with a glass, which were abundantly greased with butter and baked in the oven. Cooked such cookies on holidays.

Rye flour cookies

Break 2 eggs into the prepared dishes, add 3 tbsp. tablespoons of granulated sugar and stir well, adding 50 - 60 g of melted butter, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of sour cream and 1 teaspoon of baking powder (or baking soda mixed with flour). Then add 2 cups of rye flour and knead the hard dough. Having rolled it out in a thin layer and smeared the surface with egg yolk, cut circles with a notch or glass, put on a baking sheet and bake in the oven. Rye flour cookies were baked on holidays.

The Republic of Karelia, located in the northwest of Russia, is often referred to as the Lake District. It is not surprising: there are really many lakes on the territory of this region. It must be said that Karelia is not only a Russian region. There are also provinces of South and North Karelia in neighboring Finland. The population of Karelia consists of Russians, Karelians, Finns and Vepsians (a small Finno-Ugric people who also live in the Leningrad and Vologda regions of the Russian Federation).

Karelia is a region visited by a fairly large number of tourists. They are attracted here by the numerous lakes already mentioned - the beautiful, restrained, austere northern beauty of nature, the famous islands: Kizhi (with monuments of wooden architecture) and Valaam (Valaam monastery). Karelian cuisine, without a doubt, also cannot but arouse interest among those who come to Karelia, and those who simply love culinary experiments, expanding the geography of prepared dishes.

Fish

It is not for nothing that this small virtual culinary journey was started by mentioning the numerous Karelian lakes. The fact is that fish, which abounded in local water bodies for a long time, is the main food of the people who inhabited the region. They used it in a variety of forms: they cooked it fresh, salted it (in Karelian - suolattu kala), fermented it, dried it (ahavoittu kala), but almost never smoked it.

For storage of salted fish by varieties, special pits were used, as well as wooden barrels, tubs. The fish was covered with a torch on top and a heavy stone oppression was placed - the brine was supposed to cover it. Northern Karelians cooked fish “with a smell” (kevätkala). In addition, the northerners often ate raw salted fish, while the southern and middle Karelians always boiled it, and even pre-soaked it.

Kabakala, a dried fish breeze, was very popular. A strong ear was made of essence. For medicinal purposes, they ate fish oil, melted from the insides of a pike or perch. The consumption of fish by the Karelians can be called almost waste-free: they made flour from fish bones. Basically, however, it was added to livestock feed. However, sometimes it was also used to make fish soup. The scales of large fish went to the jellied meat. Valuable caviar, as a rule, was sold, and the rest was often baked in the oven (even caviar pancakes were made) and eaten hot or cold.

Ukha (kalaruoka) was and remains the main Karelian first course. A typical Karelian fish soup is made from whitefish. There can also be a milk ear, and also an ear made from pickled fish. However, the latter is now rarely cooked, except in the villages. The fact is that, following the traditional recipe, before the end of cooking (about five minutes), such an ear should be passed through a layer of birch charcoal - this will relieve the ear of bitterness and possible unpleasant odor. Agree, in urban conditions, birch charcoal is not always at hand ... chicken eggs... In general, unlike the Russian fish soup - transparent, the Karelian ear is unclear. Indeed, in addition to milk and eggs, it may also contain Icelandic moss, birch and pine buds, essence and rye flour.

By the way, it is worth mentioning the influence of the Russian oven on the Karelian culinary tradition. Its appearance in Karelian dwellings changed the technology of cooking. In the Russian oven, Karelians cooked, stewed or baked their food. The Karelian language lacks the word “fry”. Even some types of pies that were actually fried in oil were called keitinpiiroa - "boiled (in oil) pies."

All the rest

Returning to the first courses - apart from fish soup, Karelians ate and something else. Cooked, for example, cabbage soup or soup (both were called in one word: ruoka). Cabbage soup was made from fresh or pickled cabbage leaves... They also added onions, turnips, later potatoes (when they began to grow), as well as barley grits. This cabbage soup was an ordinary daily Karelian meal. They had lunch or dinner with them. Sometimes meat was added to the cabbage soup. Also known Karelian potato soup, which is made from only one potato and seasoned with sour cream. However, if the hostess stored mushrooms (salted or dried them), they and onions were added to the soup. In addition, there is an old Karelian soup with wheat flour, potatoes and linseed oil.

Meat. At the time of its ancient Karelians ate little. Basically, it was meat of wild animals (elk, deer, wild boar, game birds). Later, when the Karelians mastered cattle breeding and agriculture, there was also meat from livestock (beef, sometimes lean mutton, less often pork). Mostly meat was eaten during haymaking and in winter. To keep it for a long time, it, like fish, was salted and dried. Often they took jerky meat with them on a long journey.

Turnip is the main root vegetable of the Karelian cuisine. Many different dishes were prepared from it: soups, casseroles, porridge, stewed fruit, made kvass, dried. Potatoes replaced it only at the beginning of the last century. Other vegetables used by the Karelians: radish, onion, cabbage, rutabagas, carrots in small quantities. Gardening in Karelia used to be rather poorly developed.

Karelians loved (and love) milk, as well as products from it. Cottage cheese is especially popular. Many Karelians prepared cottage cheese during the spring-summer period, and made of it for the winter homemade cheese(muigiemaido) eaten with boiled potatoes and sour cream. In addition, the curd was dried. Was on the Karelian tables and yogurt. It was often served mixed with fresh milk. Goat milk became widespread among the Karelians only in the 1930s. It is also worth remembering colostrum - the milk of the first milkings. In some regions of Karelia, it was baked in pots, resulting in a product similar to cheese (yysto). The Karelians did not eat reindeer milk, although they were engaged in reindeer husbandry (especially in the north). The Karelians also whipped butter. It was mainly put into porridge, later into potatoes. They hardly ate butter with bread.

As for the bread itself, in Karelia it was baked from rye, barley or oat flour. Often there was not enough flour, so the practice appeared and took root various additives into flour: moss, barley straw, pine sapwood. except plain bread baked pies. In addition to the already mentioned fishmongers, wickets (sipainiekku) were also baked - pies filled with millet and barley groats, oatmeal, mashed potatoes. Local housewives used a proverb: "A gate requires eight." It meant that for the manufacture of such pies, as a rule, eight components are needed: flour, water, salt, milk, yogurt, sour cream, butter and filling.

I must say that in the Karelian cuisine there are neither fruit dishes nor confectionery... Pies with wild berries (cranberries, blueberries, lingonberries) were and remain a dessert. Karelians often ate cloudberries and eat them soaked. But some of the Karelians did not collect blueberries at all - many believed that it was an “unclean” berry, and it gave them a “headache”. Fresh berries with milk are a favorite Karelian delicacy.

Among the drinks, it is worth noting kvass (from turnips, bread or malt). Karelians knew and tea, they drank, including, for medicinal purposes, decoctions of forest herbs. From alcoholic beverages Karelian beer is known. True, the traditional recipe for its preparation is now considered lost. From a certain time the Karelians also knew vodka with wine, but these drinks, of course, were borrowed from other cuisines. First of all, from Russian, but also from Finnish.

Ritual Karelian dishes.

It should be said about the dishes that the Karelians ate during various rituals. So, on holidays, weddings, oatmeal jelly was always served. An interesting Karelian custom is known: oatmeal jelly was served to the groom after the first wedding night. If he started eating jelly from the edge, everything is fine. But if from the middle, then the bride lost her virginity before the wedding. And this was a shame for her and for all her relatives. However, the wedding was not necessarily upset because of this ...

Another old Karelian custom is also known: if matchmakers came to the younger sister in the family, and the older one was not yet married, then they were offered to taste the lower layer of jelly first, so as not to touch the upper layer that covered it.

The same oatmeal jelly, however, was served at the commemoration, along with rye jelly (now it is customary for Karelians to commemorate the dead with berry jelly). Bread kvass was also an obligatory "funeral" drink. Moreover, he was sipped with spoons from the common dishes. In some regions of Karelia, kulaga was prepared from sprouted rye. Rye malt was poured into boiled water and eaten hot with bread. She, like kvass, was treated from the common dishes.
On Petrov's day (06/29/12/12) curd cakes (kabu) were baked, and when they saw off the summer (08/01/14/08) - blueberry pies.

Karelian cuisine recipes

Naturally, many old Karelian dishes are now, alas, forgotten. Others have changed somewhat. Karelian cuisine in the twentieth century borrowed a lot from Russian cuisine. Borscht in Petrozavodsk (the capital of Karelia) is as common today as in Moscow. But "Culinary Eden" still offers you more traditional recipes Karelian cuisine. What is called - let's taste Karelia. Let's start with fish, of course.

Smelly salted fish (kevätkala).

Ingredients:
a bucket of fish,
1700 g of salt
nettle.

Preparation:
To cook fish "with a smell", it is advisable to catch it yourself in the Karelian lakes or rivers. You can, of course, buy in a store, but the pleasure will not be that.

Fish is caught during spring spawning (except for burbot), cut from the back - large, or along the belly from head to tail - medium and small. The fish is gutted, washes well. Coarse salt is poured inside. The fish are placed in a wooden barrel or tub with their backs down. Sprinkle each row with salt. Then cover the barrel with a lid. When the fish has released the juice, place a load on top and place the fish in a cool place.

Having stood like this all summer, the fish will be salted, but will begin to emit an unpleasant odor. To avoid this, it can be shifted with nettles even when salting. Kevätkala is considered good if the fish does not bend when held by the tail in a horizontal position.

Caviar pancakes

Ingredients:
fresh fish caviar,
rye or oat flour,
melted butter,
salt to taste.

Preparation:
Peel caviar from films, lightly salt, mix with flour. There is no need to add water. Cook in a skillet with ghee.

Fish ear (kabarokka)

Ingredients:
sushik (dried fish fines, including roach),
water,
potato,
black peppercorns,
onion.

Preparation:
Put the essence in cold water and soak for 1 hour. Then, without changing the water, put the essence on the fire. Simmer for 20 minutes. Then cut the potatoes into medium-sized wedges in the ear. Before the end of cooking (when the potatoes are cooked) - chop the onions. This ear can be served both hot and cold.

Karelian roast (Karjalanpaisti)

Ingredients:
200 g of beef
200 g pork
150 g lamb
100 g liver and kidneys,
2 onions,
Bay leaf,
salt to taste.

Preparation:
Rinse the meat well. If using salted meat, pre-soak it. Cut into pieces and place in a clay pot. First lamb, then beef, pork, and on top - pieces of liver and kidney. Fill everything with water so that it covers all the meat, salt. Add the chopped onion. Put the pot in the oven, but not very hot, or in the Russian oven, if you have one. The point is to keep the roast in the oven or oven for a long time, perhaps even the whole night or day until evening.

Water, potatoes, onions, bay leaves, black peppercorns, salt.

Process. Clean the fish and wash thoroughly (do not peel the scales of a perch, cut large fish into pieces)... Put potatoes and a whole onion, cut into pieces, into boiling water, cook for 10 minutes, then add fish. Cook after boiling for 15 minutes. At the end of cooking add black pepper and bay leaf.

After cooking, let the soup brew, remove the fish from the fish soup on a separate plate. First they eat fish soup, then fish.

Earlier, fish soup was cooked on Syamozero, potatoes and onions were not put, and they drank from mugs.

Components: freshly caught vendace, Syamozero water, onion, salt.

Process. Clean the fish and wash thoroughly. Fold the vendace with backs down into a deep frying pan, top with chopped onion rings, pour water to cover the fish. Salt, cook for 20 minutes, skimming off the foam.

Components: 500 g of meat (beef, lamb), 10-12 potatoes, 2 onions, 2 tsp salt, 5-6 black peppercorns, salt, pepper, dill, 50 g butter.

Process. Cut the meat into small pieces, cut the washed and peeled potatoes into large pieces, cut the onion into slices.

Put potatoes, meat, onions and spices, meat again, potatoes on top in a cooking utensil, for example a cast iron. Fill cold water so that it covers the top layer. Add butter. Put the cast iron in the oven, simmer until tender.

This dish is served with pickles or sauerkraut... Simple, tasty and nutritious.

Rybnik

In Karelian: kurniekku... In Syamozerie, both fishmongers and meat pies were called so.

Components: milk 0.5 l, yeast 25 g, sugar 1 tbsp, half a teaspoon salt, fish 1 kg, rye and wheat flour.

Process. Dissolve the yeast in 100 ml of warm milk with sugar and let the yeast ferment. Pour the remaining warm milk into a bowl, add salt, diluted yeast, mix well. Then add flour until thick dough. Knead the dough well so that it does not stick to your hands. Let the dough stand and rise. Then knead again.

Divide the dough into two parts, one slightly larger than the other. Roll out a cake with a thickness of a little less than 1 cm from a larger piece, put the layer on a greased baking sheet. Put the fish in slices on top. Roll a second cake out of the remaining dough and put it on the fish. Pinch the edges of the dough carefully so that the juice does not flow out.

Pierce the top layer with a fork in several places, grease with oil. Bake at 180 degrees for 40-50 minutes.

Remove from the oven, grease with plenty of oil on top, cover with a towel and let cool slightly. Bon Appetit!

Kurnik

In Karelian kurniekku.

It is baked like a fishmonger, but with meat. Although in Syamozero, the fishmongers were sometimes called that. Kurniks were cooked from rye yeast dough. When fish was baked, unleavened dough was sometimes used.

Kurniks with meat were eaten only on Sundays and holidays. On ordinary days, fishmongers baked.

Wickets

In Karelian piirakka or pie.

Of course, there are no Karelian, or even Syamozero, others.

Components: a glass of milk , 2 tbsp. spoons of water, salt, rye flour .

Process. Stir all this well! If the dough turns out to be liquid, then add flour: it should be thick. Roll out the sausage, cut into pieces. Then roll out thin (1.5 mm) tortillas from each piece (sprinkle them with flour and put them in a stack so that the dough does not dry out).

Then put the filling and pinch the edges, giving any shape: round or oblong. The filling can be mashed potatoes or millet and barley porridge (barley groats are poured with kefir for the night, by the morning it will soften, add melted butter).

In Finland, you could see karjalanpiirakka, which means Karelian pie. It is also a wicket, but with rice. On Syamozero, and indeed in Karelia, rice is not put in the gates. Although with rice filling, the gate lasts longer. Have Karelian gates storage problems are not worth it: they fly away, you will not have time to serve. Remember, the real gate is the one with the potatoes!

In Karelian surčinat.

Components: a glass of milk (can be replaced with kefir with sour cream or yogurt), egg, 2 tbsp. spoons of water, salt, rye flour (half rye, half wheat).

Process. Knead a thick dough from the products. A sausage is made from the dough, it is divided into small equal pieces (balls). Very thin cakes are rolled out of them (scoot) (sprinkle them with flour and put them in a pile so that the dough does not dry out). Then they are baked. Finished skanets are greased on the outside with melted butter and stacked in a pile. From the inside, the scans are smeared with porridge or mashed potatoes, roll it up.

Scans are eaten by dipping them in melted butter or warmed sour cream. Very tasty and just like that, with milk or tea.

Thin pies

In Karelian keitinpiirai.

Components. For the dough: 1 egg, 1 glass of milk, salt to taste, wheat or rye flour. For the filling: ½ cup rice, 2 hard-boiled eggs, salt and sugar to taste.

Process. Mix the egg and milk well, add salt and, gradually adding flour, knead the hard dough. Roll the dough into a rope, cut into pieces of the same size, roll them into balls. Roll each ball as thinly as possible. Ready-made crusts can be folded in a slide, previously lightly sprinkled with flour so that they do not stick to each other.

For the filling, boil crumbly rice porridge, add tough eggs cut into pieces and granulated sugar to taste. You can use only granulated sugar. It will also be very tasty. Children like these pies very much.

Put a couple of tablespoons of the filling on one half of the skins and cover with the other half, folding the skins in half. Slightly press down and trim the edges of the crust by rolling over them with the edge of the saucer. Fry the pies in a well-heated skillet in vegetable oil.

Whatever cakes and pastries are on the table, these pies will fly away in no time. The deliciousness is extraordinary. Previously, they were baked for holidays, for guests and when they received matchmakers.

Scrambled eggs in milk

In Karelian munamaito.

The constituents for as much as in the photo: 1 liter of milk, 5 eggs, one and a half teaspoon of salt.

Process. Break the eggs into a bowl that can be put in the oven or oven, pour milk over them, mix well, salt. Pour a little melted butter on top, then do not interfere. In an oven preheated to 200 degrees, keep for about an hour. You can keep it in the stove longer - it will only get better.

The same yummy hot or cold. With Syamozero pastries - gates, thin pies with rice, pancakes - delicious!

Oat pancakes with or without filling

In Karelian čupoj, vällöi.

Components for the test: oat or barley flour, milk or water, salt.

Process. Knead batter... Bake in a greased frying pan thin pancakes... For the filling, boil barley, millet or buckwheat porridge... Add butter to it. Put the porridge on half of the pancake, cover with the other half and fold in half again.

They eat it dipped in sour cream or butter, with Karelian scrambled eggs or curd milk (curdled milk is put in an unheated oven, kept for several hours, and curd milk is obtained). Yum!

The same pancakes without filling are called vällöi.

In Karelian pyöröi.

Components for the test: 1 glass of warm milk, 200 g butter or margarine, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, 1 egg, half a pack of yeast, rye or wheat flour, sugar, salt.

Process. Kolobas made potato and semolina. Accordingly, mashed potatoes or semolina were used for the filling.

Stir heated milk, diluted yeast, sugar, salt, eggs, add sifted flour and knead the dough. Add softened butter or margarine, knead and sprinkle with flour, cover with a towel and put in a warm place for an hour and a half. When the dough rises, knead it and put it back to fermentation. After 2.5-3 hours, divide the dough, ready for baking, into small flat cakes, make a small depression in the middle of each and put the filling there. Grease the top with sour cream. Bake in an oven or oven. Spread the finished kolobas with melted butter.

Karelia is the land of lakes and rivers. This also affects the national cuisine. It is based on freshwater fish and wild meat. The gifts of the forest complement her. These are mushrooms and berries, various wild herbs and nuts. Still, fish occupies the central place in Karelian cuisine. Of course, in order to taste the dishes in their original performance, you need to visit this amazing land. But you can try to do something similar at home.

Subtleties of Karelian cuisine

Fish dishes here great amount... Each housewife knows at least ten ways to prepare the catch. The fish is boiled, dried, salted and even fermented. Its taste in ready-made dishes is set off by mushrooms and berries: strawberries, blueberries, blueberries and cloudberries. But wheat flour is practically not used here. It is replaced with great success by rye and barley.

Karelian cuisine is distinguished by the fact that it almost completely excludes dishes from dairy products. Of course, today the boundaries of national cuisine are greatly blurred, but we are talking about traditions. Special is and heat treatment products. There is no concept of frying here. What we think of as fried is for them boiled in oil.

Primordial dishes

Speaking about the Karelian cuisine, one cannot but recall the fish soup. This simple fish soup is prepared here in different variations almost every day. Often this is a fish soup made from several varieties of fish, sometimes with the addition of cream or milk. Various cereals are also typical for the Karelian table. The hostesses cook barley and pea, oat and millet porridge here. But the highlight of the table is the bearberry. It is usually eaten with berries. Dishes of the Karelian cuisine are simple, but at the same time they are tasty and healthy.

Vegetables are often used as a side dish. These are turnips and radishes, zucchini and cabbage, potatoes and onions. As a rule, they are stewed or boiled. Traditionally, in the villages, they were simmered in ovens to make the vegetables tender and crumbly.

desserts

Karelian National cuisine is a sample healthy eating... It is still not customary to eat sweets here. But each family harvests lingonberries and cranberries in large quantities. Berries are served with tea in a pounded form, used as a filling for pies. Excellent jelly is made from them. Dried blueberries and raspberries are harvested. It is usually used for medicinal purposes. The inhabitants of this amazing country have a lot to learn. Favorite drink is tea. It is usually drunk with baked milk... Often, an infusion of St. John's wort flowers, raspberry leaves and stems acts as a tea.

Cooking features

Surely the readers are also interested in the recipes of the Karelian cuisine, so now we will proceed directly to their consideration. In the process of getting acquainted with the traditional dishes of the Karelians, you notice another characteristic feature - this is the almost complete absence of second courses. They are being replaced simple pies from unleavened dough. They are usually prepared with the same fish. It is put into the filling without first cleaning it, that is, together with the scales.

So, the first dish that needs to be given its due is, of course, the ear. It is prepared from a wide variety of fish, but it is best to choose fatty varieties. Chopped potatoes and an onion are placed in boiling water. When the water boils, the gutted and washed fish sinks into it. It is recommended to cut off the head of the roach so that the ear does not taste bitter. Before the end of cooking, bay leaves and black pepper are added. Traditionally, a little rye flour was added to the hot soup. In some places, the ready-made soup was flavored raw egg.

Ear royally

For every day, fish soup was prepared from the simplest and most affordable products. But this dish can be worthy festive table... Considering the recipes of Karelian cuisine (you can see a photo of some of them in the article), one cannot but pay attention to the trout soup with cream. This is actually a red fish in a creamy sauce, which is served in our restaurants as a gourmet dish.

You will need:

• Fresh trout - 400 g.
• Potatoes - 3-4 tubers.
• Carrots, onions - 1 pc.
• Cream - 1 glass.
• Spices.

The cooking time does not exceed 30 minutes, so you can start cooking just before lunch. The fish must be thoroughly washed and divided into portioned pieces, cut the potatoes into cubes. Pour 1.5 liters of water into a saucepan and put potatoes to boil. Fry the onions and carrots separately in butter. 10 minutes after boiling the potatoes, put the fish, and after another 7 minutes fry. The potatoes are ready, now add the cream and spices, bring to a boil and let stand for another 5 minutes.

Rybniki

There are also pies in the Karelian cuisine. And such that just drools will run. Of course, for the filling, you need to take pitted fillets so that you don't have to pull them out of the finished pie later. In fact, this is a kurnik, only instead of a bird there is fish. It is made from yeast dough, because unleavened dough is too fragile, and during baking, all the juice will escape. For cooking you will need:

• Flour - 350 g.
• Water - 250 ml.
• Vegetable oil - 2 tablespoons.
• Butter - 50 g.
• Dry yeast - 2 teaspoons.
• Sugar - 1 tablespoon.
• For the filling, you need 700 g of fish and a little onion.

The first step is to prepare the dough. To do this, pour over the yeast with warm water and leave for 10 minutes. Add all other ingredients and mix soft dough... While it fits, you can do the filling. To do this, the fish fillet must be seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. Onion cut into half rings. If you use green, then it needs to be finely crumbled.

Divide the finished dough into 8 parts. Roll each of them into a cake and put part of the fish in the middle. Onion goes on top and a piece of butter is obligatory. Now roll it up with an envelope and make a puncture with a fork, and you also want to grease the surface with an egg. They are baked at a temperature of 200 degrees to golden brown... Then brush with butter.

Wickets

This is one of the most famous national dishes... To prepare the dough, a glass of yogurt or kefir is poured into a bowl and a little salt is added. After that, they begin to gradually add flour to make a soft dough. It is recommended to take rye flour, and if it is not, then take wheat, but add crusts of black bread soaked in water.

It is these pies that have become a symbol of Karelian cuisine. Wickets can be prepared with different fillings... This can be milk porridge or mashed potatoes. Cottage cheese is also suitable. The dough must be rolled into a tourniquet and cut into pieces. Roll each of them lightly and stretch with your hands. The edges need to be bent and generously greased with salted sour cream mixed with raw yolk. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes and grease with plenty of hot butter.

Karelian roast

As we have already said, fish is traditionally used more often in Karelia. But the abundance of forests and game simply obliges you to cook and meat dishes... Karelian roast is prepared from several types of meat. Of course, it is difficult to find an elk, bear or wild game in an urban setting. Therefore, let's simplify the task a little:

• Pork belly - 250 g.
• Beef - 250 g.
• Lamb shoulder - 250 g.
• Bulb onions - 100 g.
• Bay leaves and spices.

Cut the meat into cubes and fry until golden brown. After that, the oven must be preheated to 90 degrees and folded in layers in a roaster, first lamb, then beef and pork. Pour boiling water over to cover the meat and set to simmer for 6-8 hours. It is very important to do this at a moderate temperature. The meat should not boil, then the dish will turn out to be surprisingly tasty and very tender.

Blueberry pie

Sweets are baked less often in Karelia, but all the same, these recipes need to be paid attention to. Traditionally, such pies were made in the farewell to summer. The dough is sour, yeast. Such as for a fishmonger is also suitable. For richer baked goods, add an egg to the recipe and replace the water with milk. You can replace it with your favorite yeast dough, it will still turn out very tasty.

The most important thing is fresh blueberries for the filling. For Karelian hostesses, this was not difficult, but today we often sell only frozen blueberries. But she will do just fine. You just need to grind it with granulated sugar. The dough that comes up is rolled out a centimeter thick and spread on a baking sheet. On top of it are berries rubbed with sugar. To prevent the juice from flowing out of the pie, you need to sprinkle it a little with potato starch. Or put a spoonful of starch directly on the berry.

This pie is very tasty with shortbread dough. To prepare it, you need to chop 200 g of butter margarine with 2 cups of flour, add 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 yolks and 1 protein. Roll quickly into a ball and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Berry kissel

It can be cooked any time of the year using fresh or frozen berries. During the season, the Karelians harvested a lot of wild berries and then ate amazing jelly until spring. The cooking method is simple, it is available even for a novice cook. To do this, the berries need to be sorted out, washed and combined with sugar, without grinding. The proportions are selected individually. For 1 glass of berries, you need to take 3 glasses of water.

As soon as the water boils, add the berry and add sugar to taste. Separately in a cup, dilute 2 tablespoons of starch with cold water and pour into a saucepan in a thin stream. Boil - and you can remove from heat. It turns out a jelly of medium density. It can be changed by decreasing or increasing the amount of the gelling component.

Today we told you about Karelian cuisine. Recipes (with a photo of some of the dishes can be found above) will allow you to diversify the table and surprise your family with delicious dishes.