Your favourite traditional Finnish dish?

[Rob A.]

I typically don't bother with the senapssill...OK, once in a while, but not really to my taste...

Sinappisilli in Finnish. (See here as well.) Come to think of it, I tend to buy that variety most often...

Me, too. Many is the roadside meal I've made of that together with new potatoes boiled over a can of gas.

But surely nothing can be more Finnish than new potatoes and smoked salmon....with dill. Simple but exquisite...

[Edit: Oh yes...I also remember buying some bulk marinated herring ...and a pickled Polish style cucumber at the Kamppi K-market... I was a bit apprehensive about it..being from an open container, but it was good and I survived...probably a relatively low risk thing to do in well-organized Finland... ]

[Jukka Aho]

I don't remember the "BOY" brand,

I was about to say they're a relative newcomer but no, they've actually been around since 1977. "Boyfood Oy"... pretty weird name for a company manufacturing herring products...

but I do remember "ABBA" from the K-Market in the Kamppi Mall....

Yeah, they're like the dancing queen in these parts, if you know what I mean. Money, money, money... but I digress!

and "PIRKKA" which I guess is a housebrand...it was on everything...so I was reluctant to buy it ...

Yeah, Pirkka is the house brand of the "K" chain of supermarkets.

one brand that I tried was "AHTI" which seemed to be a "premium" brand ...???

"Ahti" is perhaps the most traditional one of the pickled herring brands, yes.

"Ahti" has, at times, been thought of being the Finnish equivalent of Poseidon - hence the brand - but apparently that interpretation is incorrect.

[Such choice here is reserved for peanut butter...or ketchup...I'll bet you can't get Heinz Red Thai ketchup in Finland....marvellous stuff... :lol:]

Haven't seen that one here... my local grocery store had the Heinz Mexican ketchup, though, which was quite OK. I'm not sure if they still carry it.

I just noticed something called katajanmarjasilakkafilee....now that looks interesting, but it is the PIRKKA brand...I wonder who actually prepares it...some venerable Finnish company....or somewhere in China?? ... :wink:

Lots of the stuff marketed under house brands comes from the same local companies which also make the more "premium" products. Sometimes they even come from the same factory line and the only difference is the packaging... and price.

silakka seems to be another word for silli....how would you distinguish these two words or are they interchangeable? :D

Wikipedia to the rescue:

• silakka (Clupea harengus membras)
• silli (Clupea harengus harengus)

Here's yet another definition:

"Silakka on murtoveteen sopeutunut sillin alalaji. Silakka on silliä hidaskasvuisempi ja vähärasvaisempi."

[Upphew]

one brand that I tried was "AHTI" which seemed to be a "premium" brand ...???....

Dunno how premium Ahti is, but their silli is definitely neater than Pirkka or some other cheaper ones which have decent bits but also stuff that seems to be leftovers from Ahti...

[AnnikaL]

You only need a bit of an ahti herring, maybe a little boiled egg and red pepper on rye. They're packed full of flavour. The other brands of herring are - yes - sloppier, I guess. I always end up using more. I do like the Boy sinappisilli. Dill pickle, sweet and sour. Yes... herring in general are nice

Rossoli, karjalanpiirakat are things my mother makes exceedingly well and are favourites of mine (she makes rossoli through the year, not just for christmas!).

[Rob A.]

[Such choice here is reserved for peanut butter...or ketchup...I'll bet you can't get Heinz Red Thai ketchup in Finland....marvellous stuff... ]

Haven't seen that one here... my local grocery store had the Heinz Mexican ketchup, though, which was quite OK. I'm not sure if they still carry it.

I looks like that would be available here, but I've never noticed it...and if I'm interpreting this list correctly the Red Thai sauce [not ketchup apparently is available only in Canada...though it certainly seems like a spicy version of regular ketchup]... I see from that list that New Zealand has a surprisingly large number of Heinz specialty products....hmmm...perhaps Heinz recently bought out some local company....

...

silakka seems to be another word for silli....how would you distinguish these two words or are they interchangeable?

Wikipedia to the rescue:

• silakka (Clupea harengus membras)
• silli (Clupea harengus harengus)

Here's yet another definition:

"Silakka on murtoveteen sopeutunut sillin alalaji. Silakka on silliä hidaskasvuisempi ja vähärasvaisempi."

Thanks....an Itämeri subspecies....the Finnish wiki article just redirects to the main English Atlantic herring article.... And a bit of grammar/vocabulary ..."Silakka is a brackish water adapted herring subspecies.... Silakka is slower growing and lower fat than Atlantic herring." So a healthier choice...unless the slower growth allows a greater concentration of toxic heavy metals ....

[Rob A.]

You only need a bit of an ahti herring, maybe a little boiled egg and red pepper on rye. They're packed full of flavour. The other brands of herring are - yes - sloppier, I guess. I always end up using more. I do like the Boy sinappisilli. Dill pickle, sweet and sour. Yes... herring in general are nice

Rossoli, karjalanpiirakat are things my mother makes exceedingly well and are favourites of mine (she makes rossoli through the year, not just for christmas!).

I'm glad to hear rosolli could be available year 'round....I'll look for it the next time I'm over there...I remember buying a supermarket version of punajuuri salaati in the summer.... several times...

one brand that I tried was "AHTI" which seemed to be a "premium" brand ...???....

Dunno how premium Ahti is, but their silli is definitely neater than Pirkka or some other cheaper ones which have decent bits but also stuff that seems to be leftovers from Ahti...

So how would the IKEA silli rank among sillin tuntijat??? I assume it is easy to get in Finland....and my silli experience is rather limited.

[Kutittaa]

Makaronilaatikko.

Hands down my favourite. Seems that no matter what I feel like Makaronilaatikko fits the grade. I could really do for some now..

Golden chanterelles (kantarelli or keltavahvero in Finnish) are maybe not a "Finnish dish" as such but pretty nice if you manage to pick some. They only need to be sautéed in some butter..

These are wonderful but I barely ever see them anywhere..

http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silakka <-- Fine but they're just a bit salty no matter what you do with them..

Trying to figure out what things I can cook with the wife.. she'll cook just about anything.. http://www.kotikokki.net is a good place to start but I can spend hours on there before deciding.



You guys forgot to mention this always a winner at the dinner table with the children. !!

[Upphew]

You guys forgot to mention this always a winner at the dinner table with the children. !!

Liver is only winner if it is Liverpool and even then only with Sami Hyypiä...

[Rip]

[Silakka is slower growing and lower fat than Atlantic herring." So a healthier choice...unless the slower growth allows a greater concentration of toxic heavy metals

Fish fat is supposed to be healthy, and/but unfortunately the Baltic sea is pretty polluted. The silakka has a EU special exemption to be sold for human consumption despite being contaminated more than legally allowed - the justification being the Finnish peculiarity that statistically people here get more healthy with increasing dioxin levels in blood (rest of the environment being reasonably clean, fish is the predominant source and benefits outweigh the negative effects).

[Pursuivant]

You're living in a country blessed with a plethora of eatery options from every corner of the globe

I live in a town in the Fens sunshine, even my local Vantaa ostoskeskus had better pizza opportunities. The local Birmingham-house is reserved for sundays, and a man can't live on singapore noodles alone. I do have a haggis in the fridge though, its waiting for some inspiration.

[Karhunkoski]

Seriously, have you given marks and sparks food hall a go? They do some (or at least used to do) some excellent quality "easy-cook" ready-ish meals (a variety of global influences).

[Rosamunda]

Best meal of the year is Midsummer at the mökki, we dig up our first "timo" new potatoes (which are quite small but packed with earthy flavour) and serve them up hot with butter and dill, salted cream and various kinds of salmon. Usually it's too early for home-grown strawberries but I agree with Cory they are definitely high up on the list (with our own ice-cream, of course). I quite like the stuffed cabbage leaves, with the sweet, syrupy glaze - my SO gets teary-eyed when I make those, it reminds him of dinner at his grandma's when he was small. Last year I had some really tasty perch fillets from Ahvenmaa (where else...) fried in butter with a garlic/mustard sauce, they were excellent. And I like all the root vegetable baked casseroles. A good lanttu laatikko is not just for Christmas.

Am also a big fan of crayfish parties - but there always seems to be too much akvavit (?) and not enough crayfish. Or maybe we are just no good at catching them.

[Pursuivant]

Seriously, have you given marks and sparks food hall a go?

The highest epitome in town is Waitroses.

[Karhunkoski]

Seriously, have you given marks and sparks food hall a go?

The highest epitome in town is Waitroses.

Waitrose is on a similar level to M&S as regards the quality demanded from suppliers. Wish I had a Waitrose up here, pig in poo? I wouldn't be happier!

[AldenG]

I think that roast moose remains my favorite, though a reissumies with a little mayo, a leaf of lettuce, some aged cheese, and mustard herring or other flavor of silli is a close second. American beers are too sweet for me but I'll gladly have a Finnish beer to go with that.

I suppose the moose meets Kutittaa's criterion of being a little harder to find, because as far as I know you can't buy it in any store but have to get it from a hunting team.