Karelia is not only a land of forests and lakes, but also a place where you should aim to go for berries, gates and a hearty soup with cream. We will tell you what and where to try in Sortavala, Petrozavodsk and other northern cities.
Content
- Lohikeitto and other fish dishes
- Petrovsky style meat and Christmas Eve
- Sweets: gates, sulcins and skants
A trip to Karelia: the main thing
How to get: fly to Petrozavodsk — Besovets Airport accepts flights from Moscow, Sochi, Kaliningrad, Yekaterinburg, Cherepovets and Kazan, the cost starts from 7,345 rubles. To arrive in Petrozavodsk or Sortavala by rail: there are both regular trains from Moscow and St. Petersburg, and high-speed Swallows from the Northern capital. The minimum travel time is 4 hours and 10 minutes, and the cost starts from 1,135 rubles.
Where to stay:Choose from hotels, apartments and guest houses in the Republic of Karelia on the Island. There are hints of where the most sincere things are in this collection of suburban housing.
What to read: for those who want to explore the region on a short trip, we recommend that you study the guide to Sortavala. If you are ready to spend more than three days on a trip, study the article about Petrozavodsk and the most beautiful places of the Russian North.
Lohikeitto and other fish dishes
Lochikeitto
Traditional Karelian and Finnish fish soup with heavy cream, or milk soup. The name contains the main ingredient — salmon (lohi in Finnish).
There is no standard recipe — every family or restaurant adds something different to it, but four ingredients remain unchanged: salmon, potatoes, cream and dill. Professionals explain the presence of cream in the soup in different ways. For example, the brand chef of Hunter Nordic Kitchen & BBQ restaurant sees cream as beneficial for the throat, as it has an enveloping property and protects against bacteria.
How to cook:
- cook the broth;
- put the onion and potatoes;
- add trout or salmon fillets;
- pour cream;
- we are waiting a bit for the dish to be infused.
Traditional Karelian and Finnish fish soup with heavy cream, or milk soup. Photo: Nickola_Che/Shutterstock.com
Fish analogues
And here are other, no less interesting related lohikeitto dishes.:
- Kalaruokka is a Karelian ear made from whitefish, a variety of whitefish. It is prepared with milk, where pickled fish is added. Before removing the ear from the heat and setting it to boil, the broth is filtered through charcoal.
- Fried smelt is a simple and understandable dish. The fish is first rolled in flour and then fried in boiling oil.
- Maitokalakeito — somewhat resembles a very thick lohikeito. Trout or other red fish are poured with milk and stewed for a long time in the oven or oven. Served with dill and boiled potatoes.
Where to try
- Hunter Nordic Kitchen & BBQ Restaurant in Sortavala
- Cafe “Vazhenka” in the village of Girvas
- Restaurant “Karelia” in Petrozavodsk
- Restaurant “Yag and El” in Petrozavodsk
Fried smelt is a simple and understandable dish for us. Photo: Shaiith/Shutterstock.com
Petrozavodsk in one day
Here in O!The blog has a mini-leisure guide in Petrozavodsk ready for you, if you decide to stop for a day in this wonderful port of the five seas.
Petrovsky meat and Christmas eve
Petrovsky meat
A delicious hearty dish that is cooked in clay pots in the oven. It contains the following ingredients: moose meat, potatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms, broth. It is easy to find in any local restaurant in the republic.
How to cook:
- local root vegetables are placed in a pot with meat;
- mushrooms — according to season;
- butter at the end;
- the pot goes into the oven for a few hours.
A delicious hearty dish that is cooked in clay pots in the oven. Photo: Fanfo/Shutterstock.com
Christmas Eve
It is so named for the fact that it is prepared on the eve of a big holiday, you can try it only at major festivals.
How to cook:
- fish and meat are mixed in a pot;
- root vegetables and vegetables are added there;
- then everything languishes in the oven and It is served with a vegetable salad.
Where to try
- Hunter Nordic Kitchen & BBQ Restaurant in Sortavala
- Yag and Yelya Restaurant in Petrozavodsk
- Gustav Winter Restaurant in Sortavala
- Karelskaya Gornitsa Restaurant in Petrozavodsk
Gustav Winter Restaurant. Photo: Winter’s Cottage Park Hotel
Sweets: gates, sulcins and skants
Gates
From Karelian kalitt, kalittoa translates as spread. According to another version, the gates are named after the purse in which money was kept in Russia: it was tightened with a cord, forming similar folds. There is another interesting feature in the old cookbooks: each guest had his own gate at the common table. The pie is quite open, so there was always a place in the middle for the filling — it was chosen according to your own taste: from salted mushrooms to smoked fish.
Sulchiny
We also recommend trying sulchiny pancakes made from rye flour with fillings, both sweet (berry) and hearty.
We also recommend trying sulchiny pancakes made from rye flour with filling. Photo: Kcuxen/Shutterstock.com
Skants
Small Karelian tortillas fried in oil. Served with millet or rice porridge. There is also a sweet version — with honey or sugar.
Where to try
- Cafe “Istoria A” in Sortavala
- Bakker Joy bakery chain in Petrozavodsk, Sortavala, Kondopoga and other cities of Karelia
- Dom Berg Cafe in Sortavala
- Cafe “Kalitochnaya” in Petrozavodsk
Small Karelian tortillas fried in oil. Photo: SEAGULL_L/Shutterstock.com
After a couple of gates, a lohikato and meat in a pot, you will definitely want to move around and take a walk — there are dozens of pretty corners and routes in Karelia for this!
Cover photo: MariaKovaleva/Shutterstock.com
