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Simple ingredients, many everyday variations
Finnish cooking includes familiar ingredients from fields, forests and waters, alongside contemporary dishes and international influences. In Lapland, fish, potatoes, berries and seasonal food are useful starting points for understanding local flavours.
Fish, soup and bread
Salmon may be smoked, grilled, cured or cooked in soup. Perch, pike and pike-perch also appear in different dishes. Lohikeitto combines salmon, potato, cream and dill. Hernekeitto is pea soup, traditionally associated with Thursday in many settings, and sienikeitto is mushroom soup.
Ruisleipä, rye bread, is a familiar part of meals, often with butter, cheese or sliced vegetables. Dairy foods include viili, a cultured milk product with a distinctive texture.
Family dishes
Karjalanpaisti is a Karelian meat stew. Makaronilaatikko is a baked macaroni dish, often with minced meat, while perunalaatikko is a traditional potato casserole. Recipes and habits vary between families.
Lettu pancakes
Thin pancakes can be cooked on a suitable outdoor pan over a permitted fire or on the kitchen stove. Berry jam and a little cream are familiar accompaniments.
Ingredients for four
- 500 ml milk.
- Two eggs.
- 200 ml flour, measured by volume.
- A pinch of salt.
- One teaspoon sugar, optional.
- Butter for the pan.
Whisk the ingredients together and leave for about 30 minutes. Cook thin pancakes in a greased hot pan, turning until cooked. The source suggests a little sparkling water as an optional addition. Serve with bilberry jam, or butter and sugar.
Berries and forest flavours
Bilberries, lingonberries and cloudberries are used fresh, frozen, in jam or as juice. Cloudberries, lakka or hilla, are particularly associated with the North. They suit desserts and some cheeses.
Wild herbs are also used, but only gather correctly identified edible plants and follow harvesting rules. Taking shoots or branches from trees requires permission; not everything growing outdoors is available or safe to eat.
Reindeer
Poronkäristys is thinly sliced reindeer cooked and served with mashed potatoes and lingonberries. Reindeer husbandry supports many northern families. A meal offers one connection to that livelihood, without implying that every family eats or prepares it in the same way.
Sweet dishes and drinks
Mustikkapiirakka is a bilberry pie or tart, with many versions. Korvapuusti cinnamon buns often include cardamom in the dough. Coffee is a familiar part of visits and breaks; berry drinks, local beers and liqueurs offer other flavours.
Vegetarian and dietary needs
Many dishes can be adapted, but ask restaurants or caterers ahead about specific needs. A self-catering kitchen gives you flexibility: mushrooms, vegetables, potatoes and pancakes can all form part of a satisfying meal.
Try our salmon soup recipe or see the kitchen at Mökki Tikka.
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