Finnish cuisine

Finnish cuisine is the national cuisine of Finland and - due to the relatively young independent country's history - heavily influenced by Swedish and Russian cuisine. It is based mainly on potatoes and bread with fish and various meats.

Dine

• Karelian pie ( Karjalanpiirakka ), a small pastry made of rice or mashed potatoes in a sheath of rye is traditionally eaten with butter and eggs, but also with sausage, cheese, etc. Used as a type of bread used.
• Smoked Salmon ( savulohi ), is served warm in contrast to his Swedish counterpart.
• ( Gekringeltes ) sausages ( ( lenkki ) makkara ), an average of spiced sausage that contains more flour than meat; tastes best when grilled with a dollop of Finnish mustard ( sinappi ), which is very mild and sweet.
• Bread Cheese ( leipäjuusto ), a very shallow fried cheese is best served with cloudberry jam.
• Pea soup with pancakes ( yes hernekeitto pannukakku ), a typical Thursday food, served with strawberry jam ( mansikkahillo )
• Summer Soup ( Kesäkeitto ), popular, classic soup of summery vegetables ( sugar peas, spinach, carrots, beans, cauliflower, potatoes, radishes with meat broth, milk, egg yolks, lemon juice, butter, cream, sugar, salt, pepper, parsley, dill and shrimp ). Recipes vary.

• Various reindeer dishes ( poro ), not an everyday meal for Finns is, however, eaten by tourists and in the cold north like.
• Different berries in summer, including cloudberries ( Malacca ).
• Licorice ( lakritsi ), particularly salmiakki the strong, salty kind that gets its unique taste by ammonium chloride.
• Mämmi traditional baked Malzpudding
• Finnish cakes of all kinds are often eaten with coffee. They are often moist and soft. They are not classically pre-cut. Over coffee, each a piece cut out at will. Typical are the birthday cakes. They have a three-part dough with a filling of berries between each layer. Outside around is given a cream, chocolate, or a kind of syrup.
• Runeberg tarts A traditional classic.
• Pulla dough pastries. This is usually eaten with coffee, either small balls or a plait. It used to be tradition, first Pulla, then to eat cookies and cakes.
• Viili Finnish firm sour milk.

There are also various regional specialties, especially the fish tap ( Kalakukko ) from eastern Finland, where most typical Finnish dishes originate, and the blood sausage ( mustamakkara ) from Tampere. At Easter time mämmi is made, a traditional baked from rye pudding.

Finns eat only on certain occasions abroad, are correspondingly high, the restaurant prices. An exception is the midday, when thanks to a coupon system established by the government to offer restaurants in the cities food for about 7 €, mostly consisting of a main dish, salad table, bread table and a drink. University cafeterias, many of which are open to the public, are 2 to 3 € low especially for students, although you usually have to pay a little more without student ID.

In many BBQ stands ( grilli ) offered hot dogs, hamburgers or other mitnehmbare food - often late into the night. The Finnish equivalent of McDonald's is Hesburger with a similar menu.

In Helsinki and elsewhere, there are food stalls ( Nakki Kioski ) which open only in the evening and offer diverse fast food such as Makkaraperunat.

At Christmas, there is a traditional celebration meal among other things, mild cured, oven- baked Christmas ham ( Joulukinkku ), various casseroles, like (sweet ) with mashed potato, carrots and liver casserole, and beetroot salad ( Rosolli ).

Drinks

• Kahvi yes Munkki This sign can be found at each and every petrol station café. It denotes a snack consisting of a cup of coffee with a yeast dough pastry that was deep fried and rolled in sugar.
• Sima Traditional drink 1 May ( Vappu ). It consists of water, brown sugar and white, possibly beet syrup, lemon, and yeast; Fermentation control by raisins. The alcohol content is very low.
• Home beer ( kotikalja ) This traditional drink must on every big festival. It is a mixture of water, malt, sugar, and yeast. The alcohol content is very low with an average of 0,5 - 1 % alcohol.

The Finns have a reputation as the world's biggest coffee drinkers ( kahvi ); they drink an average of five cups a day, usually with sugar and milk. Every now and then you will be asked if you ( oikea kerma ) would like to have in your coffee instead of cream ( kerma ) "real cream ". This is however not a dairy product, but rather an alias for hard liquor.

Alcohol is relatively expensive, although the increased competition has led through the EU accession in 2004 to a lowering of spirits tax by 33%. Still does a bottle of beer in a bar or pub about 5 €, at the supermarket 1,20 €. While beer or cider ( siideri ) is available in any supermarket, there are wines and hard liquor only in the state alcohol shops. The age limit for buying alcohol is 18, of hard liquor at 20 years. Young -looking customers must be able to identify themselves usually. Beer is available in three diameter classes: I thought is very weak and for teenagers, III corresponds roughly to the German beer and IV is relatively strong ( Class II is completely unknown in practice).

In Finland, the so-called Salmiakki is widespread and something like the national liquor. The deep black spirit has 30-40 vol % alcohol and tastes strongly of licorice. At the 1952 Olympic Games a highball called lonkero was developed from a mixture of gin and grapefruit soda, thanks to its popularity, it is still manufactured today.

The Finns also like to ask himself alcoholic beverages ago: Kotikalja ( house beer ) consists of a fermented mixture of corn, yeast, water and a little lemon juice and is very refreshing. Some also operate in the forest hidden distilleries, the highly concentrated product is called Pontikka.

Varia

Formerly it was customary to thank after supper when leaving the table with a generally spoken in the room kiitos ( thank you) or Kiitos ruuasta (Thanks for the meal ) in the house wife or hostess. Even today, is considered polite and is a part of "good manners " in Finland.

Footnotes

• Finnish cuisine