Karelian dishes. Karelian national cuisine. Caviar pancakes

The Republic of Karelia, located in northwestern Russia, is often called the lake region. It’s not surprising: there are really a lot of lakes in this region. It must be said that Karelia is not only a Russian region. The provinces of South and North Karelia are also in neighboring Finland. The population of Karelia consists of Russians, Karelians, Finns and Vepsians (a small Finno-Ugric people also living in the Leningrad and Vologda regions of the Russian Federation).

Karelia is a region visited by quite a large number of tourists. They are attracted here by the already mentioned numerous lakes - beautiful, restrained, strict northern beauty, 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 among those who simply love culinary experiments, expanding the geography of the dishes they prepare.

Fish

It is not for nothing that this small virtual culinary journey began with the mention of numerous Karelian lakes. The fact is that fish, which abounded in local reservoirs for a long time, is the main food of the people who inhabited the region. It was used in the most different types: they cooked it fresh, salted it (in Karelian - suolattu kala), fermented it, dried it (ahavoittu kala), but almost never smoked it.

To store salted fish by grade, special pits were used, as well as wooden barrels and tubs. The fish was covered with a splinter on top and a heavy stone oppression was placed - the brine was supposed to cover it. North Karelians cooked fish “with flavor” (kevätkala). In addition, northerners often ate raw salted fish, while the southern and middle Karelians always cooked it, and even pre-soaked it.

Sushik (kabakala) - dried fish fines - was very popular. They made strong fish soup from the dry soup. For medicinal purposes, they ate fish oil melted from the insides of pike or perch. The consumption of fish by Karelians can be called almost waste-free: flour was made from fish bones. Basically, however, it was added to livestock feed. However, sometimes they were also used to prepare fish soup. The scales of large fish were used for 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.

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

By the way, it is worth special mention about the influence of the Russian oven on the Karelian culinary tradition. Its appearance in Karelian homes changed the technology of cooking. Karelians cooked, stewed or baked their food in a Russian oven. There is no word for “fry” in the Karelian language. Even some types of pies that were actually fried in oil were called keitinpiiroa - "boiled (in oil) pies."

Everything else

Let's return to the first courses - in addition to fish soup, Karelians ate something else. They prepared, for example, cabbage soup or soup (both were called in one word: ruoka). Shchi was made from fresh or pickled cabbage leaves. They also added onions, turnips, and later potatoes (when they began to grow them), as well as barley. These cabbage soup were common, everyday Karelian food. They had lunch or dinner. Sometimes meat was added to the cabbage soup. Karelian potato soup is also known, which is prepared from only potatoes and seasoned with sour cream. However, if the housewife had stocked up on mushrooms (pickled or dried them), they and onions were added to the soup. In addition, the ancient Karelian soup with wheat flour, potatoes and linseed oil is famous.

Meat. In ancient times, Karelians ate little. Basically, it was meat from wild animals (elk, deer, wild boar, game birds). Later, when the Karelians mastered cattle breeding and agriculture, they also began to eat livestock meat (beef, sometimes lean lamb, 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. They often took dried meat with them on long journeys.

Turnip is the main root vegetable of Karelian cuisine. Many different dishes were prepared from it: soups, casseroles, porridges, stewed fruit, kvass, and dried. Potatoes replaced it only at the beginning of the last century. Other vegetables consumed by Karelians: radish, onion, cabbage, rutabaga, and carrots in small quantities. Vegetable gardening in Karelia was previously quite poorly developed.

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

As for the bread itself, in Karelia it was baked from rye, barley or oatmeal. Often there was not enough flour, so the practice of various additives to flour appeared and took root: moss, barley straw, pine sapwood. In addition to simple bread, they baked pies. In addition to the already mentioned fishmongers, they also baked wickets (sipainiekku) - pies filled with millet and barley cereals, oatmeal, and mashed potatoes. Local housewives had a saying: “A gate requires eight.” It was meant that to make such pies, as a rule, eight components are needed: flour, water, salt, milk, curdled milk, sour cream, butter and filling.

It must be said that in Karelian cuisine there are no fruit dishes or confectionery products. Dessert was and remains pies with wild berries (cranberries, blueberries, lingonberries). Karelians often ate cloudberries and still eat them soaked. But some Karelians did not collect blueberries at all - many believed that they were an “unclean” berry and that they 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 also knew tea and drank decoctions of forest herbs, including for medicinal purposes. Karelian beer is known among alcoholic drinks. True, the traditional recipe for its preparation is now considered lost. From a certain time, Karelians knew vodka and wine, but these drinks, naturally, were borrowed from other cuisines. First of all, from Russian, and also from Finnish.

Ritual Karelian dishes.

One cannot fail to mention the dishes that Karelians ate during various rituals. So, at holidays and weddings, oatmeal jelly was always served. There is an interesting Karelian custom: oatmeal jelly was served to the groom after the first wedding night. If he started eating the jelly from the edge, everything was fine. But if it’s from the middle, it means 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 eldest was not yet married, then they were offered to first taste the bottom layer of jelly, so as not to touch the top layer that covered it.

The same oatmeal jelly, however, was also served at funerals, along with rye jelly (it is now customary for Karelians to remember the deceased with berry jelly). Bread kvass was also an obligatory “funeral” drink. Moreover, they slurped it with spoons from 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. It, like kvass, was enjoyed from common dishes.
On St. Peter's Day (06.29/12.07) they baked cottage cheese cakes (kabu), and when they said goodbye to the summer (08/1/14) - pies with blueberries.

Karelian cuisine recipes

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

Salted fish “with flavor” (kevätkala).

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

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

The 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 and washed well. Coarse salt is poured inside. The fish is placed in a wooden barrel or tub with its backs down. Each row must be sprinkled with salt. Then cover the barrel with a lid. When the fish releases juice, place a weight on top and place the fish in a cool place.

After standing like this all summer, the fish will be salted, but will begin to emit an unpleasant odor. To avoid this, you can top it with nettles while 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 roe,
rye or oat flour,
melted butter,
salt to taste.

Preparation:
Peel the caviar from films, lightly salt it, mix with flour. No need to add water. Cook in a frying pan in ghee.

Soup soup (kabarokka)

Ingredients:
sushchik (dried small fish, including roach),
water,
potato,
black peppercorns,
onions.

Preparation:
Place the dryer in cold water and soak for 1 hour. Then, without changing the water, put the dryer on the fire. Cook over low heat for 20 minutes. After this, cut the potatoes into medium-sized slices. Before the end of cooking (when the potatoes are cooked), chop the onions. This soup can be served both hot and cold.

Roast Karelian style (Karjalanpaisti)

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

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

Fishing is one of the main industries of the local population, therefore fish in all forms - salted, dried, dried, smoked - occupies an important place in the diet of Karelians.

Salted fish is used to prepare soups, main courses, and is also served with hot potatoes.

Fish is included vegetable salads, it is boiled, fried, baked in dough.

The Karelians' favorite snack is salted fish with boiled potatoes.

It is characteristic that finished goods When serving, do not pour sauce over the fish.

Karelian cuisine also uses meat products: pork, beef, veal, poultry.

In summer and autumn in Karelia they prepare a lot of mushrooms for future use (mostly salted).

Salted mushrooms served with vegetable oil, onions or sour cream.

In addition to mushrooms, strawberries, blueberries, blueberries, cranberries, and cloudberries are used.

Among the second courses, products made from rye and wheat flour, potatoes and various cereals predominate.

Pancakes and flatbreads made from unleavened dough are served along with porridge, mashed potatoes, generously sprinkled with butter.

Fish, mushrooms, turnips and other products baked in dough are served whole or pre-cut into portions.

Recipes of Karelian cuisine

Salad "Karelian"

The caviar is salted, and the milk and liver are boiled.

Then the caviar, milk, liver and onion are finely chopped and everything is mixed.

Fresh fish caviar 75, milt 30, fish liver 30, green or onion 25.

Maimarekka (soup with sushi)

Place potatoes and onions, cut into large slices, into boiling water.

When the water and potatoes boil, add sushik (small dried fish), bay leaf, pepper and cook until tender.

Sushik (dried fish) 80, potatoes 150, onions 25, spices, salt.

Kalaneitto (soup)

Potatoes are placed in boiling water, allowed to boil, then milk, fish, and onions are added and cooked until tender.

Fresh pike perch 100, potatoes 195, milk 300, onion 10, salt.

Naparokko (dried snapper soup)

Place thoroughly washed and pre-scalded dried perch into boiling salted water and cook until tender.

The pulp is separated.

Strain the broth, add fish pulp, bring to a boil, add potatoes, cut into cubes, and continue cooking.

At the end of cooking, add flour diluted with cold broth and bring to readiness.

When serving, add sour cream.

Dried perch 80, potatoes 200, flour 3, spices, sour cream 10, salt.

Maitokalakeitto (fish in milk)

A piece of fish is placed in a portioned frying pan, poured with milk and placed in a hot oven.

Serve with oil.

Cod fillet 180, butter 15, milk 50, salt.

Kalalimtikko (fish and chips)

Raw potatoes, cut into slices, are placed in an even layer in a frying pan, and thin slices of herring are placed on it, sprinkled with chopped onions, flour, poured with oil and baked.

When the potatoes are ready, the fish is poured with a raw egg mixed with milk and baked again.

Potatoes 150, egg 1/2 pcs, fresh herring 40, onions 20, sunflower oil 10, milk 25, wheat flour 3, salt.

Lanttulaatikko

Prepare rutabaga puree, dilute it with milk, add sugar and eggs, put it in a pan greased and bake.

Rutabaga 160, butter 5, milk 25, sugar 10, egg 1/5 pcs.

Rice baked with beets

The rice is boiled and combined with pieces of boiled beets.

Raw eggs are diluted with milk, salt is added and mixed.

This mixture is poured over rice mixed with beets and baked.

Kalaladika with pork (casserole)

Fresh or salted herring fillets are cut into pieces.

Slices of raw potatoes are placed in a layer on a baking sheet, sprinkled with pieces of herring and chopped onions; Place another layer of potatoes and a layer of fatty pork on top.

Sprinkle with onions, cover with a layer of potatoes, pour in fat and bake.

The finished dish is poured with eggs mixed with flour, salt and milk, and baked a second time.
Serve hot.

Potatoes 150, salted or fresh herring 20, pork 20, onions 20, egg 1/5 pcs., flour 3, milk 25, fat 5.

Kalakayareytya (fish farmers)

The sour dough is rolled out into a flat cake 1 cm thick, fish fillets are placed on it, salted, sprinkled with fat, the dough is wrapped and baked.

Wheat flour 145, sunflower oil 10, sugar 5, yeast 5, fresh cod or herring, or trout or whitefish 120, butter 5.

Potato gates

Round flat cakes are formed from unleavened dough; the filling of mashed potatoes diluted with hot milk and mixed with butter or margarine is placed in the middle of each.
The edges of the cakes are pinched, the products are greased with sour cream and baked in the oven.

Flour 230, potatoes 750, milk 250, butter margarine 50, sour cream 75, salt.

Kakriskukka (turnip pie)

The unleavened dough is placed in a warm place and allowed to rise.

Roll out thin layers, place turnips cut into thin slices on them, sprinkle with salt and flour, cover the filling with a second layer of dough and bake.

The finished pie is cut into portions.

Flour 550, water 230, sugar 38, yeast 15, turnip 440, margarine 30, melange 30, fat 5, egg 1/2 pcs., salt.

Pannukakku
(bread in a frying pan)

Sugar, ground with egg, sour cream and milk, is added to wheat flour.

The dough is thoroughly kneaded, placed in a greased frying pan and baked in an oven.

The hot flatbread is cut into portions.

Wheat flour 390, milk 390, sour cream 80, sugar 80, egg 2 pcs., butter 15, salt.

Kapkarat (unleavened pancakes in a frying pan)

Pour a little cold milk into wheat flour mixed with salt and mix thoroughly.

Then pour in the rest of the milk and stir with a whisk.

The dough is poured in a thin layer onto a frying pan greased with lard and fried on both sides.

Before serving, place a thin layer of viscous rice or wheat porridge on the pancake. Drizzle with butter.

Wheat flour 50, milk 125, egg 1/2 pcs., lard 2 lard, butter 15, salt.

Ryyunipiiraita (fried pie)

Unleavened dough is rolled out into a flat cake 1 mm thick, and crumbly wheat porridge with sugar is placed on it.
The edges are connected, giving a semicircular shape.
Fry in melted butter.

Flour 30, butter 10, millet 20, sugar 5.

Makeita piiraita (sweet pies)

From choux pastry, rolled out in a thin layer, cut out mugs with a notch, place granulated sugar in the middle, fold them into a semicircle and fry.

Wheat flour 30, sugar 17, melted butter 10.

Scans (flatbread with cheese)

Thin flat cakes are rolled out from unleavened dough and lightly dried in the oven.

The flatbread is placed in a frying pan, sprinkled with grated cheese, covered with another flatbread, poured with oil and baked.

Flour 30, sour cream 10, water 50, grated cheese 15.

Coconut with cottage cheese

From unleavened dough, roll out a skaniets (flatbread) 2 mm thick, grease it with butter and place two pancakes on it, greased with oatmeal mixed with butter and cottage cheese.

The layered pancakes are folded in half, greased with butter, covered with skeins, the product is given a semicircular shape, pinched and baked.

Served with butter.

Wheat flour 50 (including for pancakes 20), sour cream 10, water 50, ghee 5, oatmeal 30, cottage cheese 15, butter, salt.

Potato bulbs

Flatbreads are rolled out from sour dough to a thickness of 1 cm, on which mashed potatoes are placed, greased with sour cream and baked.

Wheat flour 40, potatoes 115, yeast 1, milk 50, butter 10, sugar 1, sour cream 15, salt.

Perunapiyraita (potato pies)

The boiled potatoes are stirred, flour and salt are added and the flatbreads are cut, millet porridge is placed in the middle of each, the product is shaped into a semicircle, greased with butter and baked.

Potatoes 75, flour 18, butter 8, millet 10.

Kulebyaka with mushrooms

The sour dough is rolled out into strips 18-20 cm wide and 1 cm thick.

Minced salted chopped mushrooms and onions are placed in the middle of the strip.

The edges of the dough are connected and pinched.

Brush with egg and bake.

Wheat flour 160, sugar 8, sunflower oil 8, yeast 3, egg 1/6 pcs., onions 35, mushrooms 150.

Cocachipea

Flatbreads are formed from sour dough.

Place minced meat in the middle of each, join the edges of the dough and pinch them together.

The products are greased with vegetable oil and baked.

Minced meat is prepared from peas, minced and mixed with oatmeal, chopped onion and butter, and salt.

Rye flour 60, sourdough 10, oatmeal 10, peas 15, onions 10, sunflower oil 15, salt.

Oatmeal spikes

Flatbreads 1 cm thick are formed from sour dough.

In the middle of each is placed minced meat made from curdled milk mixed with oatmeal and egg.

Spread with sour cream and bake.

Rye flour 30, sourdough 10, oatmeal 20, curdled milk 20, egg 1/10 pcs., melted butter 5, sour cream 10, salt.

Lingonberries with oatmeal

Lingonberries are washed, then pounded and mixed with oatmeal and sugar.

Lingonberries 100, oatmeal 50, sugar 50.

Oatmeal jelly

“Hercules” cereal is poured with warm water and placed in a warm place for 24 hours, the mixture is filtered, salt is added and boiled, stirring frequently, to form a thick jelly.

Butter is placed in hot jelly, then poured into molds and cooled.

Served with milk.

When serving, you can sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Cereals 60, water 240, salt 2, milk 200, butter 4.

Moussmanny with rhubarb

The rhubarb is cleared of fibers, washed, finely chopped, boiled in water with sugar for 5 minutes, wiped, cottage cheese is added and mixed, and then brought to a boil.

Add semolina and cook until thickened.

After cooling to 40°, the mass is whipped into foam, poured into molds and cooled.

Served with fruit or berry sauce.

Semolina 100, Veda 700, sugar 175, rhubarb 350.

Wickets, mushrooms, bear meat, elk meat, sweet and sour lingonberry sauce with meat dishes, herbal teas and infusions, various tinctures - there is something to enjoy in Karelian cuisine. The dishes are very interesting and tasty.
To learn more about Karelian cuisine, we went to one of the best places in Petrozavodsk, a restaurant of Karelian cuisine.

2. The Karelian Upper Room restaurant is known to every resident of the city; all guests are brought here and rightly so. The establishment specializes in Karelian cuisine; absolutely everyone here knows about it.

3. Wonderful slogan: “Taste Karelia!” Looking ahead, I will say: I really liked Karelia.

4. We begin our acquaintance with Karelian cuisine with a short excursion that immerses us in Karelian life. Each room is decorated in a special way.
A house with a stove that warms the severe frosts. Elements of the hut, women's things stand separately from men's.

5. The bar is stylized as an ancient dwelling.

6. Woman at the loom. Sometimes a real weaver comes here and shows how fabrics used to be made.

7. The images behind the stylized windows are photographs of a Karelian village. Each season the photographs are changed to suit the time of year.

8. The young people’s room, everything is simple here, they have not yet acquired wealth.

9. A richer room. This is the dwelling of a merchant of the 18th century.

10. After the excursion, we sit down at the table. It is better to go to a restaurant with a group so that you can try different dishes.
Let's start with appetizers. On the table are salads of mushrooms and vegetables, cloudberry and lingonberry fruit drinks, and small pies called wickets.

11. As an aperitif, you can order a set of various liqueurs. Everything is very tasty.

12. Wickets are small open pies made from rye unleavened dough. There was little grain in Karelia, so the dough was made thin. Potatoes or millet are used as filling. We have tried the wickets in several places and here they are incomparable.

13. We tried two types of soup. The first is mushroom soup, which tastes like a rich mushroom soup made from porcini mushrooms.

14. The second soup is called Lohikeito. This creamy soup from trout. Very tasty.

15. It’s the turn of the hot dish. Here we had three types of roast peas covered in baked dough.
Roast pork and beef - the taste is quite familiar, the meat is very tender. In another pot is roast elk. A bit like beef, but denser.

16. And here is the star of the day - roast bear meat. It used to be believed that bear meat made warriors strong and invincible.
Bear meat is darker than beef, the taste is very unique, I can’t find an analogue. The meat is served with lingonberry sauce, also typical of Scandinavian cuisine.

17. It's time for desserts. Aromatic Karelian tea is brewed in the teapot, which may include various herbs and infusions.

18. The simplest dessert is pies for your son-in-law. The dough with sugar filling is fried in oil and tastes like chak-chak or brushwood.

19. This cake is called Karjalancake. Delicate souffle and berry sauce, you'll lick your fingers.

20. Cake "Agave". Honey cakes and again berries, very rich taste.

21. It was incredibly tasty and satisfying. By the way, there is a shop at the restaurant where you can buy your favorite liqueurs. Of course, it’s not them in the photo, but a decorative corner.

22. In general, the most best recommendations travelers. Everyone who has come to Karelia at least once should visit here.
The restaurant has one, but information can be obtained without it: every resident of Petrozavodsk will recommend “Karelian Upper Room” for getting acquainted with national cuisine.

Thank you very much and see you on your next visit!

Travel partners to Karelia:

Karelia is virgin nature, rich history, unique architectural monuments and shrines of the Russian north. This is the land of taiga forests that surround the glacial lakes Ladoga and Onega, the harsh nature of the White Sea. And Karelia is also people - a bizarre conglomerate of Karelians, Finns, Vepsians and other representatives of northern nationalities on the one hand, and Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians on the other.

Natural resources Since ancient times, they influenced the formation of national cuisine, the basis of which was hunting and fishing trophies and gifts from the forests. Karelian cuisine is simple and understandable to our stomach, it is tasty and healthy. What is worth trying in Karelia?

Food in Karelia

In the land of lakes and rivers, the main dish at all times was fish - the basis of a well-fed life. IN different options There is a saying among local residents that if the earth does not feed, then the water will. Lake fish is salted, dried, dried, smoked, pickled, baked, fish soup, pies, etc. are prepared from it.

The local cuisine has traditionally been influenced by the culinary traditions of its neighbors - Estonians and Finns and, of course, Old Russian cuisine. On the table, borscht with Scandinavian muffins, Finnish milk soup with Russian pies sit side by side in complete harmony.

Top 10 Karelian dishes

Gate

It is rightfully considered the most national and most popular dish. A common feature of Karelian, Estonian and Finnish cooking is the predominant use of barley and rye flour. These pies are also baked from rye dough and filled with fish, potatoes, cottage cheese, cheese, berries, millet or barley porridge, etc. They different shapes: oval, round or with different numbers of angles. The gates are baked with an open center and figuratively pinched edges, greased with butter or sour cream. The dough is made unleavened, using yogurt, and the wickets are certainly baked in the oven.

The name comes from carols, Christmas songs. The pies were originally baked specifically to treat carolers. Today, wickets are an indispensable and famous attribute of local cooking - from restaurant menus to home feasts.

Kalaruoka

Fish soup, the main first course of the national menu. In Karelian, kala is fish, ruoka is food. A dish of inimitable taste in any variation. In Karelia it is prepared not only with fish broth, but often with milk and even cream. White fish soup is called kalakeito, salmon soup with cream is called lohikeito. The latter dish is known to gourmets all over the world; it has a complex, mild taste with almost no fishy smell. Lohikeito is also prepared from trout from Karelian lakes. It’s also worth trying – creamy, rich, delicious fish soup.

In popular usage, the fish soup was called yushka. According to old recipes, the fish was boiled whole, flour, eggs, and even birch or pine buds and Icelandic moss were added to the fish soup. Not just for thickness. Such exotic seasonings provided vitamin support during long, harsh winters.

Rybnik

Gifts from the Karelian lakes are the main components of many original recipes of national cuisine. Fish pies - rybniki - are also baked from rye unleavened dough in a Russian oven. This method of preparation deserves special mention. Simmering in the oven is traditional for almost all dishes of Karelian cuisine. Both fish and wild meat reveal their flavor better, and the dish turns out much healthier than fried meat. Today's food folk recipes they are simmered on modern equipment, but with the effect of a Russian oven, observing centuries-old traditions.

Rybnik is baked in a rectangular shape or in the shape of a fish. This is a must-have dish for all holidays. It turns out juicy because the fish in the pie is put raw and fresh, sour cream, onions, and sometimes mushrooms are added to it. Be sure to try it – it’s not only delicious, but also practically healthy.

Fish dishes

There is a huge selection of them in Karelia. Like most dishes, fish is stewed/simmered in different variations. Cod with new potatoes in cream, or fried fish under a thin crust of cheese - everything turns out incredibly tasty. The popular Karelian fish is used both as a first and second course. Cod or vendace is covered with a layer of potatoes and chopped onions, filled with water, spices and oil are added and simmered over fire. They eat it hot or cold, but it tastes better cold. When visiting the island, you can buy smoked trout from the monks, which is incredibly tasty.

Recipes for dried fish - pike, ide, small salmon - are borrowed from Finnish cuisine. The result is a delicacy for gourmets.

Bakery

It occupies a special place in the national cuisine. For pies they use traditional rye flour. The pies are made thick and thin. Among thin ones, son-in-law pies are very popular. The dough is rolled out thinly to an oval pancake, the filling is placed inside, the pancake is folded in half and pinched. The filling can be wild berries, mushrooms or fish. It still turns out delicious.

A truly popular filling is considered to be porridge well boiled in the oven with onions and butter. According to a long tradition, porridge pies are made in the shape of a sickle, as a symbol of peasant labor.

As for baked goods, experts recommend trying sulchiny – Karelian rye pancakes stuffed with sweet porridge. A hearty delicacy, more suitable for breakfast.

Gifts of the forest

Northern berries - lingonberries, cloudberries, cranberries - as well as blueberries and strawberries, occupy a large place in the national cuisine. Pies with wild berries were and are considered a traditional dessert in Karelian cuisine. On par with soaked lingonberries and cloudberries. Karelians also eat lingonberries with oatmeal and fresh berries with milk for dessert.

Gradually, even ritual jelly, oatmeal and rye, was replaced with berry jelly, at a variety of events - from weddings to funerals.

Today, delicious fruit drinks and jelly made from forest products can be tasted in any Karelian catering establishment: in canteens, in iconic restaurants and in any cafe. And you can order lingonberry sauce for meat and fish dishes - it will be delicious!

Mushroom table

The range of mushrooms from the Karelian forests is simply fantastic. There are about 300 species, 23 species are listed in the Red Book. In Karelia, mushrooms are used in cooking in second place after fish. Since ancient times they have been salted, dried, cooked into soups and made into pies. Mushroom pickles are also worth trying. Or salads with mushrooms, for example “Valaam”: porcini mushrooms with cucumbers and peas cream sauce.

You can try any mushroom soup - from chanterelles, honey mushrooms, porcini mushrooms or any others. Its taste, stewed according to ancient traditions, will not disappoint expectations. Minced mushrooms are used not only as a filling for the famous Karelian wickets and other baked goods. Meatballs, cabbage rolls, stuffed tomatoes and others are made from it. delicious dishes. In any case, every guest of the northern region, when introduced to the local cuisine, will try Karelian mushroom delicacies and will not be disappointed.

Wild meat or game dishes

In the old days, the forest fed not only mushrooms and berries. It was not easy for hunters to obtain prey, so venison, elk, wild boar and even bear meat were considered a delicacy on the Karelian table. The cooking principle was traditional - simmering. For long-term storage, the meat was salted and dried. Today in restaurants you can try roasted elk meat at old recipe- in a pot with a lid made of rye dough. Or even more exotic - bear meat. It is simmered with carrots and onions in a vessel made of rye dough. Interesting, tasty and unforgettable.

It is also worth trying game: partridge, wood grouse or black grouse. The carcasses are cooked entirely in herbs, with wild berries.

Karelian Kanunik or traditional meat with local flavor

With the advent of livestock among the inhabitants, dishes made from beef, pork and even lamb appeared in the national cuisine. But still in accordance with Karelian traditions. A typical example: eve. The meat is stewed in pieces with turnips, rutabaga and potatoes. When it is almost ready, they add... fish, of course! In season - fresh vendace, in winter salted or dried. And they continue to simmer until done. Often kanunik is prepared from three types of meat - pork, beef and lamb. It’s worth a try to appreciate the combination of meat and fish flavors.

Dairy dishes

The proximity to milk also affected the recipes for dairy dishes. Darling dairy product Karelov - cottage cheese homemade. Curd butter is often prepared from it: butter and sour cream are added to freshly prepared cottage cheese. Egg butter is prepared by analogy: mashed boiled eggs are mixed with softened butter. Still worth a try curd cheese, also according to the Finnish recipe. It is based on the same cottage cheese with melted butter. Delicious, especially with boiled eggs or boiled new potatoes.

You can try cheese pasta as a sweet dish. This soft cheese from curd milk, whipped with sugar, butter and eggs. Often - with the addition of raisins.

The Republic of Karelia, located in northwestern Russia, is often called the lake region. It’s not surprising: there are really a lot of lakes in this region. It must be said that Karelia is not only a Russian region. The provinces of South and North Karelia are also in neighboring Finland. The population of Karelia consists of Russians, Karelians, Finns and Vepsians (a small Finno-Ugric people also living in the Leningrad and Vologda regions of the Russian Federation).

Karelia is a region visited by quite a large number of tourists. They are attracted here by the already mentioned numerous lakes - beautiful, restrained, strict northern beauty, 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 among those who simply love culinary experiments, expanding the geography of the dishes they prepare.

Fish

It is not for nothing that this small virtual culinary journey began with the mention of numerous Karelian lakes. The fact is that fish, which abounded in local reservoirs 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.

To store salted fish by grade, special pits were used, as well as wooden barrels and tubs. The fish was covered with a splinter on top and a heavy stone oppression was placed - the brine was supposed to cover it. North Karelians cooked fish “with flavor” (kevätkala). In addition, northerners often ate raw salted fish, while southern and middle Karelians always cooked it, and even pre-soaked it.

Sushik (kabakala) - dried fish fines - was very popular. They made strong fish soup from the dry soup. For medicinal purposes, they ate fish oil melted from the insides of pike or perch. The consumption of fish by Karelians can be called almost waste-free: flour was made from fish bones. Basically, however, it was added to livestock feed. However, sometimes they were also used to prepare fish soup. The scales of large fish were used for 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.

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

By the way, it is worth special mention about the influence of the Russian oven on the Karelian culinary tradition. Its appearance in Karelian homes changed the technology of cooking. Karelians cooked, stewed or baked their food in a Russian oven. There is no word for “fry” in the Karelian language. Even some types of pies that were actually fried in oil were called keitinpiiroa - "boiled (in oil) pies."

Everything else

Let's return to the first courses - in addition to fish soup, Karelians ate something else. They prepared, for example, cabbage soup or soup (both were called in one word: ruoka). Shchi was made from fresh or pickled cabbage leaves. They also added onions, turnips, and later potatoes (when they began to grow them), as well as barley. These cabbage soup were common, everyday Karelian food. They had lunch or dinner. Sometimes meat was added to the cabbage soup. Karelian potato soup is also known, which is prepared from only potatoes and seasoned with sour cream. However, if the housewife had stocked up on mushrooms (pickled or dried them), they and onions were added to the soup. In addition, the ancient Karelian soup with wheat flour, potatoes and linseed oil is famous.

Meat. In ancient times, Karelians ate little. Basically, it was meat from wild animals (elk, deer, wild boar, game birds). Later, when the Karelians mastered cattle breeding and agriculture, they also began to eat livestock meat (beef, sometimes lean lamb, 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. They often took dried meat with them on long journeys.

Turnip is the main root vegetable of Karelian cuisine. Many different dishes were prepared from it: soups, casseroles, porridges, stewed fruit, kvass, and dried. Potatoes replaced it only at the beginning of the last century. Other vegetables consumed by Karelians: radish, onion, cabbage, rutabaga, and carrots in small quantities. Vegetable gardening in Karelia was previously quite poorly developed.

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

As for the bread itself, in Karelia it was baked from rye, barley or oatmeal. Often there was not enough flour, so the practice of various additives to flour appeared and took root: moss, barley straw, pine sapwood. In addition to simple bread, they baked pies. In addition to the already mentioned fishmongers, they also baked wickets (sipainiekku) - pies filled with millet and barley cereals, oatmeal, and mashed potatoes. Local housewives had a saying: “A gate requires eight.” It was meant that to make such pies, as a rule, eight components are needed: flour, water, salt, milk, curdled milk, sour cream, butter and filling.

It must be said that in Karelian cuisine there are no fruit dishes or confectionery products. Dessert was and remains pies with wild berries (cranberries, blueberries, lingonberries). Karelians often ate cloudberries and still eat them soaked. But some Karelians did not collect blueberries at all - many believed that they were an “unclean” berry and that they 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 also knew tea and drank decoctions of forest herbs, including for medicinal purposes. Karelian beer is known among alcoholic drinks. True, the traditional recipe for its preparation is now considered lost. From a certain time, Karelians knew vodka and wine, but these drinks, naturally, were borrowed from other cuisines. First of all, from Russian, and also from Finnish.

Ritual Karelian dishes.

One cannot fail to mention the dishes that Karelians ate during various rituals. So, at holidays and weddings, oatmeal jelly was always served. There is an interesting Karelian custom: oatmeal jelly was served to the groom after the first wedding night. If he started eating the jelly from the edge, everything was fine. But if it’s from the middle, it means 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 eldest was not yet married, then they were offered to first taste the bottom layer of jelly, so as not to touch the top layer that covered it.

The same oatmeal jelly, however, was also served at funerals, along with rye jelly (it is now customary for Karelians to remember the deceased with berry jelly). Bread kvass was also an obligatory “funeral” drink. Moreover, they slurped it with spoons from 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. It, like kvass, was enjoyed from common dishes.
On St. Peter's Day (06.29/12.07) they baked cottage cheese cakes (kabu), and when they said goodbye to the summer (08/1/14) - pies with blueberries.

Karelian cuisine recipes

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

Salted fish “with flavor” (kevätkala).

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

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

The 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 and washed well. Coarse salt is poured inside. The fish is placed in a wooden barrel or tub with its backs down. Each row must be sprinkled with salt. Then cover the barrel with a lid. When the fish releases juice, place a weight on top and place the fish in a cool place.

After standing like this all summer, the fish will be salted, but will begin to emit an unpleasant odor. To avoid this, you can top it with nettles while 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 roe,
rye or oat flour,
melted butter,
salt to taste.

Preparation:
Peel the caviar from films, lightly salt it, mix with flour. No need to add water. Cook in a frying pan in ghee.

Soup soup (kabarokka)

Ingredients:
sushchik (dried small fish, including roach),
water,
potato,
black peppercorns,
onions.

Preparation:
Place the dryer in cold water and soak for 1 hour. Then, without changing the water, put the dryer on the fire. Cook over low heat for 20 minutes. After this, cut the potatoes into medium-sized slices. Before the end of cooking (when the potatoes are cooked), chop the onions. This soup can be served both hot and cold.

Roast Karelian style (Karjalanpaisti)

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

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