By Lucinda Frye
Diverse and indigenous cuisine brought by the many ethnic people to St. Maarten from all over the world piques our interest. To this end, we are on a quest to find where it comes from, if it is used for celebrations, if it is exotic to some but normal food to others. Anything to do with keeping the body and soul nourished with what is produced from good old terra firma is what makes the world go around.
I have not met many Finnish people but the other day in the course of conversation with an acquaintance, I was told about his forebears who were from Lapland. He told me that where they came from his parents enjoyed serving homecooked regional dishes. Lapps apparently love to eat reindeer and moose meat! They smoke it, tartare it and of course roast the meat which is in essence game/venison. Stews and cured sausages are found in all homes for this meat is eaten as most others in the world eat beef.
Then there is fish of which local salmon is one of the best you can get. The Lapps smoke, grill and serve salmon as tartare. Herring is featured on many Lappish menus, generally as an appetiser with rye bread. An interesting sounding dish is Kalakukko, a fish and pork pâté en croute. Rye flour is used for this, but the fish can also be cooked in pastry.
The local berry they grow/pick is called a bilberry. Being the most common berry in Lapland you will find it used in many ways in desserts; tartlets, mousses, cakes or crêpes stuffed with bilberry jam. A remembered pastry dish was Karjalanpiirakka which, in researching, I found to be a rye crust filled with rice porridge. But there were also recipes for the crust to be filled with mashed potato and topped with boiled or scrambled egg.
The local digestif, after a splendid meal, will more than likely be of vodka – perhaps a Salmiakki Koskenkorva drink which is vodka, glucose syrup and liquorice extract blended (shaken not stirred sounds right.)
Christmas and Lapland – every child’s dream and seeing the aurora borealis – every adult’s dream. Lappish restaurants start serving Christmas menus in November so many tourists are made happy as they get a chance to experience Christmas before heading back home to enjoy the holidays with family and friends. The Christmas table could be laden with starters like mushroom salad, marinated herring and salmon in salad form. Then next course could offer ham, roasted reindeer/moose/bear with side dishes of veggies. Puds are varied with prune mousse being popular and rice pudding is a must (it is cold there).
Reindeer husbandry is a form of livelihood that dates back centuries in Lapland; the animal is an essential part of Lappish cuisine. Sautéed reindeer served with mashed potatoes and fresh lingonberries or lingonberry jam is the most classic dish. No parts of reindeer go unused, the meat is cut as beef is with all parts being used turning out cold cuts, dried meat (like jerky/biltong), mince and sausages.
Fishing in summer and ice-fishing in winter are two of the top drawcards for tourists in Lapland, famous for its pure waters. Salmon, trout, pike-perch, whitefish, arctic char, grayling and vendace are some of the fish commonly found on plates in the north. The iconic fish dish of Lapland is salmon soup.
It all sounds so exotic and cold!
The region has been associated with Father Christmas (he is not the same chap as Santa Claus although there are many shared characteristics) since 1927. Lapland is the largest and northernmost region of Finland. Lapland borders the region of Northern Ostrobothnia, the Gulf of Bothnia, Norrbotten County in Sweden, Finnmark County and Troms County in Norway, and Murmansk Oblast and the Republic of Karelia in Russia. -Wikipedia. I have not heard of many of these places before. There are so many places of interest in the world to travel to, be it only through cooking the recipes from the regions.
It is often a cold, white area of the world with the first snowflakes falling to the ground in late August/early September in the highlands, October arrives, and the ground will begin to get coated in snow till mid-October then by November for the next seven months it is heavy snow and wintery weather. Winter begins earlier up in Lapland than it does in Finland.
Finnish cuisine
“Combining traditional country fare and haute cuisine with contemporary continental style cooking” is the way it is described.
Fish and pork/beef/reindeer appear in traditional Finnish dishes along with various vegetables and mushrooms. The Finns like to use whole meal products like rye, barley, oats and berries – the bilberries as mentioned before and lingonberries, cloudberries, and sea buckthorn.
Milk and buttermilk are enjoyed for drinking and used in cooking. Turnips were the main starch until the 18th century when potatoes were introduced. Life without potatoes now is unimaginable.
The harsh and cold environment is not so conducive to agriculture and growing veggies, etc., was not top of the feeding game, so hunting and especially fishing played/plays an important part in feeding the family. By the beginning of the 20th century animal farming became important after some devastating crop failure in the 19th century caused many cases of malnutrition.
The country’s harsh climate meant that fresh fruit and vegetables were largely unavailable for at least nine months of the year. Dark rye bread and fermented dairy products, preserved fish and meat with few spices other than salt were available with herbs like dill and chives only available during the short summer.
Finnish traditional dishes are quite bland and are often stews in a simple form. However more recently the chefs in Finland have been gaining recognition by promoting “freshness” and cooking up excellent dishes that have gained a Michelin star or two. Of course, now with importing of goods becoming the norm, one can find almost anything one desires in restaurants and stores in Finland.
Recipes
Finnish Karelian Pies
- Makes 24 pies, best eaten straight out of the oven. These can be frozen without the egg topping; bring to room temp, reheat then brush with butter and top with egg.
Filling
Ingredients
1 litre full cream milk
1 ¾ cups water
1 cup short grain rice
Salt to taste
Method
Place milk, water, rice and salt into a large saucepan and allow to simmer
Stir regularly, it will start to thicken, and you will need to stir continuously
It is ready when all the liquid is absorbed, and it looks and feels like porridge
Crust
Ingredients
1 cup cold water
2 ¼ cups plain flour
1 ½ cups rye flour
1 tsp salt
Method
Mix cold water, salt, rye flour and plain flour into a dough
Roll dough into a log, cut into 24 pieces
Roll each piece into a ball and press into a flat round cake on a floured board
Roll each ball into a paper-thin round disks
Use flour sparingly to ensure surface and dough do not stick
Stack up rolled out circles with a sprinkle of rye flour in between each sheet
The filling has cool before you can proceed
Brush off excess flour on each dough disk as you use it
Spread about 2 TBL of rice mix in the middle of the dough in an oval shape
Start to shape by pinching the top end into a point, then with hands on either side of the circle pinch the sides from the top end to the bottom
As you pinch the dough will drag in, pinch the bottom end to a point so it looks like the top point
Place on a baking tray
Bake in a very hot pre-heated oven 450-475℉ for 20-25 minutes – it should be lightly browned
Brush the pastry with butter as soon as it comes out of the oven
Top with eggs
EGG Topping
Cream 6 hardboiled eggs with 1/2 cup butter and salt
Alternatively, top with soft scrambled eggs using the same ratio eggs to butter and salt to taste.
Lappish Soda Scones
Ingredients
8 oz butter
4/5 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup sour milk or buttermilk
3 1/2 cup flour
Method
Have all ingredients at room temp
Mix soft butter and sugar together
Add in the egg
Mix the baking soda and sour milk/buttermilk together
Stir into butter/sugar mix
Add flour and mix quickly into dough, without kneading too much
Leave dough in the fridge for an hour or overnight
Turn out onto a floured surface
Roll out into a rectangle about one centimetre thick
Cut strips about two inches by 4 inches and divide each strip into four pieces (look at the recipe picture)
Place onto a baking sheet prepared with grease proof paper (or silicone mat)
Gently bend each piece so it opens up each fork of the comb
Bake in a preheated 450℉ oven for about 10 minutes – the pastries should be just lightly browned.
