National Lithuanian cuisine: features, best recipes and reviews

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Today, Lithuanian cuisine is known all over the world and loved by many. Its distinguishing features are simplicity, uncomplicatedness, concise design of dishes, the use of the most common products. This is what she is famous for.

But few people know that along with the Lithuanian culinary school, there is also the Old Lithuanian one. And they differ from each other in the same way as a peasant woman differs from a noble lady. The traditions of the Old Lithuanian cuisine were formed from the 14th to the 18th century, and today many of its wonderful recipes, unfortunately, have been forgotten. It was focused on noble gentlemen, at whose court real feasts were held. In the case of the Old Lithuanian cuisine, everything is as follows: it is characterized by the most complex recipe, an abundance of ingredients bordering on excess, and the most daring combinations of products are also not uncommon for it. Traditional Lithuanian cuisine is much more accessible and simple. Perhaps some recipes will fill up your cookbook.

First courses

What to serve for dinner? We often answer this question quite unequivocally: hot, s alty and liquid, preferably with meat. But the first dishes of Lithuanian cuisine are sometimes sweet. And some of themserved cold. A very popular recipe for sweet dumpling soup.

To prepare it, boil a glass of water, add 4-5 prunes, a pinch of cinnamon and citric acid. Season with sugar to taste. While the soup is boiling, knead the dough from one yolk and 2 tablespoons of flour. We form small dumplings, dip into boiling soup. It is recommended to serve this dish with sour cream. Prunes can be replaced with plums or apples.

Zrazy

If you decide to discover such a phenomenon as Lithuanian cuisine, you will have to master the recipes first of all. They are very common, unusual, diverse. The famous Lithuanian cepelinai was invented in the deep Middle Ages, and is more typical for the Old Lithuanian cuisine, because it was served at the best feasts of the state. But his adapted recipe went to the people. In fact, it is a kind of zraz.

To prepare the zeppelin, grate 15 raw and 3 boiled potatoes. Knead the dough by adding 1-2 eggs and a little rye flour to it. We prepare the filling from boiled beef (500 g). Boil the formed zrazy in boiling water and serve with sour cream and herbs.

Lithuanian national cuisine includes many recipes for zrazy. They are not only boiled in broth, but also fried in breadcrumbs, baked in the oven. Not always a "wrap" is made from potatoes, although this recipe is the most common. Often the filling is wrapped in minced meat or chop.

Popular fillings: minced boiled meat, huntingsausages, liver and boiled liver, forest mushrooms, smoked lard, lard mixed with bread, whole or chopped eggs.

Meat dishes

Many meat national dishes of Lithuanian cuisine have analogues among other national cuisines of the world. For example, in Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian, recipes for brawn or s altison are common. The Lithuanians were preparing a roll from the head. To prepare it, boil the pork head for 3-4 hours, adding spices and garlic to the broth. Then, after cooling a little, they take out the facial bones and roll the layers of meat with skin into a roll.

With the help of twine and cling film, a product is formed and allowed to cool under pressure for several hours. This roll is served chilled, thinly sliced into portioned slices. It goes well with spicy sauces with horseradish or garlic.

Vegetables

It cannot be said that Lithuanian cuisine glorifies vegetables and uses them widely, as, for example, the cuisines of the peoples of the Far East or the Mediterranean. Most often in recipes we meet onions, carrots, potatoes and beets. But Lithuanians, of course, prepare unusual snacks from fresh seasonal vegetables. Do you want something unusual, but without overseas delicacies? Prepare Lithuanian style stuffed cucumbers.

It is best to take fruits of small size. The number of ingredients depends on their size relative to each other. My cucumbers, cut into halves lengthwise. With a teaspoon, carefully scoop out the pulp. Peel boiled carrots and beets, cut into small piecescubes, mix with chopped pulp, season with vegetable oil, sprinkle with s alt, sugar and seasonings. If desired, you can add a few drops of lemon juice, chopped blue onion, chopped garlic. We fill cucumber boats and serve.

Baking

Lithuanians are very fond of oven-baked pies and casseroles. They are prepared with s alty and sweet fillings. Lithuanian pastries are very diverse. If you want to master it, be sure to try making Meduolis gingerbread.

Sift a glass of rye and wheat flour, sauté in a dry frying pan. Add 400 g of warmed honey, mix thoroughly. Pour in a tablespoon of vodka (preferably Lithuanian, with spices). To make the gingerbread fragrant, add an incomplete teaspoon of ground ginger, a pinch of lemon zest, a couple of black peppercorns and 3-4 cloves. The dough must be thoroughly kneaded for at least half an hour. It will acquire the necessary plasticity and roll out easily. Cut out curly gingerbread or simply cut into squares. Bake in a preheated oven for about 5 minutes.

Fish dishes

Lithuanian cuisine gives a worthy place to fish dishes. The recipe for Burbot with Mushrooms and Cucumbers may seem unusual, because more often we eat cucumbers without heat treatment. But they play an important role in this dish.

The skin of burbot is tough, it is better to remove it. Carefully separate the meat from the bone, remove the insides. The liver of this fishedible, the main thing is not to damage the gallbladder. Cut the fillet into portioned pieces, roll in flour, fry in oil until half cooked. Separately, fry the onion and mushrooms, cut into half rings. Put a layer of onions, fish, thinly sliced cucumbers into a saucepan, and top with mushrooms and onions. We also send the liver here. Add a glass of broth and white wine, s alt and pepper. You can stew this dish on a small burner or in the oven. Boiled potatoes are perfect for such fish as a side dish.

Dishes with mushrooms

There are many wonderful dishes with mushrooms in Lithuanian cuisine. They stuff pies, add them to soups and borscht, stuff zrazy.

One of the most popular recipes is stewed morels. These mushrooms grow in forests all over the continent and are considered a real delicacy in Lithuania.

We clean half a kilogram of morels from the earth and impurities, soak for an hour in water, rinse thoroughly under the tap. Like all forest mushrooms, morels need to be boiled first. It is enough to let them boil for 10 minutes. Drain the broth, and transfer the mushrooms to a wok, pour oil and fry. Sprinkle with flour (a handful is enough), add a glass of sour cream and simmer. If the sour cream is too thick, you may need some water. This dish goes well with cereal side dishes.