Karelian cuisine is similar to Finnish cuisine, but it also has its own distinct features.
As in Finland, fish dishes play a major role in Karelian cooking. However, for example, when making kalitka — the famous Karelian fish pie — the fish is placed inside whole, with its scales still on.
Baking in Karelian cuisine is also quite unique: wheat flour is rarely used, while rye and barley flour are preferred. For instance, traditional Karelian pancakes skantsy and sulchiny are made from rye flour. Karelian cuisine also includes many “forest” dishes, which use berries and mushrooms as key ingredients.
A
Ahavoittu kala
Dried fish
Аlkuruoka
Snack
B
Buolahuttu
Barley porridge with lingonberry
G
Gribakuašš
Mushroom porridge. Dried mushrooms are first boiled, then removed from the broth. Pearl barley is added to the broth and cooked until it becomes a thick porridge. The boiled dried mushrooms are mixed with salted mushrooms, fried in vegetable oil, then combined with the porridge and stewed over low heat.
H
Hernehrokka
Pea soup
Hillo
Морошка
Cloudberry
Hirvenliha
Elk meat
J
Juopukka
Blueberry
Juušto
Cheese
K
Kagrakiiseli
Fermented oat jelly
Kagrane kakkara
Oatmeal pancakes
Kakkara
Pancake
Kakriskukko
Closed turnip pie
Kala
Fish
Kalakeitto
A fish soup.
It is usually made with fresh fish (such as salmon or perch), potatoes, carrots, leeks or onions, and cream or milk. The soup is seasoned simply — with salt, pepper, and dill — which gives it a light, delicate flavor.
Kalakukko
A closed fish pie, a rybnik. The distinctive feature of traditional Karelian rybnik pies is that the fish is placed in them without being peeled, with the scales still on.
Kalarokkua
Kalarokua is a traditional fish soup, usually made from whitefish.
The secret of this dish lies in a special step: about five minutes before the soup is ready, the broth is passed through a thick layer of birch charcoal — this removes any bitterness and gives the soup a clean, delicate flavor. The soup often includes eggs, milk, rye flour, and even Icelandic moss, as well as pine and birch buds, which add a distinctive forest aroma typical of northern cuisine.
Kalittoa
A small open rye pie made with thin dough and a filling. There is a full equivalent of this dish in Finnish cuisine, where it is known as the Karelian pie (karjalanpiirakka). The traditional filling for the Karelian kalitka is mashed potatoes with butter and milk, or various types of porridge.
However, just like with pizza, every cook tries to create their own unique version — so in cafés and restaurants across Karelia, you can find kalitkas with almost any kind of filling
Karjalanpaisti
Karelian stew. This traditional dish is a combination of different kinds of meat — lamb, pork, and beef — cut into fairly large pieces. The meat is slow-cooked at a low temperature (around 120°C) in an oven or a traditional stove for several hours. The stew always includes onions, pepper, and salt, but there is a wide range of optional ingredients, such as bay leaves, carrots, and other root vegetables like celery or rutabaga. The result is a rich, tender, and aromatic dish, deeply associated with Karelian home cooking.
Karpalo
Cranberry
Kerma
Sour cream
Kettumaido
Baked milk
Kiisseli
Kissel is a simple dish with the consistency of a thick gel, and made of sweet fruit, berry, grains, peas, or from milk
Kukko
Closed pie
L
Leibä
Bread
Liha
Meat
Liha Petrun
Meat a la Petrovsky is a roast cooked in a cast iron or clay pot with potatoes, onions, carrots and mushrooms.
M
Maimakala
Small fish dried in a Russian oven: mainly ruffs, smelt, small perch and smelt, as well as other types of fish.
Maito
Milk
Marja
Berry
Marjarokka
Berry kissel (see above)
Moršši
Non-carbonated fruit drink prepared from berries, generally lingonberries and cranberries (alternatively bilberries, strawberries, raspberries or sea-buckthorn may be used)
Mähnä
Fish roe
Mussikka
Bilberry
P
Pačoiohco
Baked turnip. The turnip is chopped, vegetable oil and flour are added, a little water, salt, and baked in the oven. Finely chopped radish is added at the table.
Patakuašš
Barley porridge with meat
Puolukka
Lingonberry
R
Rahka
A cottage cheese
Riepöi
Mushroom soup with kvass (Kvass is a fermented, cereal-based, low-alcoholic beverage of cloudy appearance and sweet-sour taste.). Bread kvass is added to salted mushrooms.
Skanča
Deep fried pies made from thin dough and having shape of half moon. They are filled with a cereal filling.
Sulčinat
Pancakes made from rye flour, usually filled with rice or millet porridge in milk.
Suolattukala
Salted fish.
T
Talkkuna
Roasted grains ground into flour.
Tutina
Aspic
V
Vavarno
Raspberry