伝統的なフィンランド料理
ルイスレイパ
フィンランドでは、ルイスレイパは自然発酵で作られたライ麦パンで、多くの伝統料理に使われています。いくつかの種類があり、最も人気があり入手しやすいのはレイカレイパというドーナツ型のパンで、「穴あきパン」とも呼ばれます。伝統的には梁に吊るされ、しっかりして平たいパンとして提供されます。
ナックレイパはライ麦パンのカリカリバージョンです。フィンクリスプクラッカーを含むいくつかの種類があり、フィンランド国外でも知られています。フィンランドの朝食では、ナックレイパはバターやチーズを塗って朝食に、昼食のスープに、または夕食のスナックとして使用されます。
Seasonal Food in Finland
Among typical Finnish dishes, fish is the main feature. Among Finnish fish-based foods, the Baltic Sea herring stands out, almost a national symbol, cooked in a thousand ways (from smoking to grilling), followed by the Lappish salmon with very delicate pink flesh; whitefish, perch, rainbow trout, and many others. Fish roe, served with onion, sour cream, and national vodka, is also much loved. Finnish recipes are not very difficult to prepare.
Kalakukko
Kalakukko is a fish pie, generally filled with whitefish, traditional in the lake region in eastern Finland.
JUNE
June is the month of new potatoes which, freshly harvested, are cooked with dill and served with silli, a sauce made from herring and butter.
Silli
Silli are new potatoes and herring. But also: new potatoes with fresh lake fish and chanterelle sauce; new potatoes with fish roe (mäti); new potatoes with just a knob of butter, some dill, and a pinch of salt.
The variations are truly endless and all delicious: Finns can keep talking about new potatoes until late at night, awaiting a summer about to start. Usually, new potatoes appear around mid-June, and the first harvest is so newsworthy that it warrants newspaper articles.
SUMMER
July is instead the period of berries, protagonists of unbeatable sweets and desserts, first among all, the black blueberry pie. The summer feasts reach their peak in early August, the season of freshwater crayfish, with their bright red shells and very flavorful meat. Many claim they are the best on the planet.
Mustikkapiirakka
July and August represent the blueberry season in Finnish forests. They can be found everywhere and for many their abundance is truly impressive. You can freely pick as many as you want, and maybe put them in the freezer for winter. This is something Finns do regularly, although the best way to enjoy them is freshly picked, perhaps preparing delicious blueberry pies, generally accompanied by fresh milk: you will be enchanted.
Another typical wild berry easily found in Finland is the lingonberry, more sour than the traditional blueberry and therefore excellent for jams and juices. In any case, the most exquisite Finnish berry is the cloudberry, also known as cloudberry, typical of the Lapland forests. With its bright orange color, it is truly a delicacy of the northern nature, whose arrival in the markets of southern Finland is eagerly awaited every summer.
Rapu
The crayfish parties or “kraftskiva”, a name imported to Finland from Swedish tradition, are events celebrating summer. Freshwater crayfish are considered a true culinary gourmet item and their price fully attests this: for this reason, they are eaten in great style. Elegant parties, prepared in the smallest detail in honor of the crayfish season, are typically organized between July 21 and the beginning of autumn.
Grillimakkara
Summer is not Finnish without a “grillimakkara”. These are large sausages, usually flame-cooked, stuffed with mustard and enjoyed with a refreshing beer. Finns love them; grillimakkara has fans of all ages.
AUTUMN
Autumn brings plenty of mushrooms and delicacies such as elk roast, and many other dishes based on game and even bear meat. The list of regional specialties is extensive, starting with flatbreads like karjalanpiirakka, of Karelian origin, filled with potatoes or rice, and rahkapiirakka, a fresh cheese pie. Typical of Savo is kalakukko, rye bread filled with fish (whitefish or perch) and pork, toasted for a long time in the oven. Along the Gulf of Bothnia, the rieska thrives, a thin and round unleavened bread, and leipajuusto, a fresh cheese similar to a crepe, which is aged over the hearth flame.
