Finnish Food: Lihamakaronilaatikko

As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm in Finland! 

Since I've been here, I've had the opportunity to talk to several native Finns, including a woman whose amazing cooking skills I witnessed firsthand. 

I asked this woman (We'll call her Mrs. V, since it's illegal in Finland to put people's personal information online without permission, including names) what she would say is the quintessential Finnish food that she would recommend to a foreigner.  Mrs. V said that if you go to a restaurant, the most classic dish is one from Lapland (way northern Finland, up in the Arctic Circle), and it is reindeer meat served with mashed potatoes and lingonberries (I will be trying this asap!).  But for the kinds of foods Finns eat at home, the most classic dish is "a macaroni casserole with meat and egg-milk, baked."

This bit about the macaroni casserole intrigued me, because before I came to Finland I was reading a Finnish children's book called Moominsummer Madness, which is the 4th book in the very popular Moomin series by Tove Jansson (it's also a comic strip).  The series is very uniquely illustrated, and has a beautiful flavor of childhood in a fantastical Finnish forest.  It's also really funny, in a British sort of way, but different, if that makes sense.  It's just a great series, reminiscent of Winnie the Pooh, and I will definitely be reading it to my future kids.

In Moominsummer Madness, the characters' home is flooded.  Instead of despairing, though, the young male character, Moomintroll (who is illustrated to look kind of like a hippo, as are his parents), decides to swim down into the pantry for breakfast ...with his parents' permission, of course. 

"Inside," Jansson describes, "the water was white with milk, with a few specks of loganberry jam thrown in.  A couple loaves of bread passed him slowly, followed by a school of macaroni" (24).
The image of a "school of macaroni," like fish, floating through a flooded pantry, really stuck with me.  It's just a cool image.  But I also wondered why on earth such a quintessentially Finnish book would have macaroni, an Italian noodle, featured in it.

But after talking with Mrs. V, it made sense.  The beef-and-macaroni casserole that she described (called "Lihamakaronilaatikko") is one of the most classic Finnish foods you can eat, something that the majority of native Finns eat at home regularly. 

I decided to try macaroni casserole in Finland at the first opportunity, in the spirit of the Moomin series.  I spotted it quickly during my visit to a local Prisma (which is like a super-duper Walmart -- meaning bigger and better), and bought a package.  It was just as Mrs. V described!  And it was quite good, although a tad bland.  Apparently, though, most Finns eat it with ketchup to spice it up a bit.

I looked at the ingredients carefully (after translating them to English) and then searched for a recipe for you guys.  This recipe below is almost exactly what I ate.  It's a very simple dish, and apparently a huge hit with Finnish kids who aren't big fans of strong flavors.  Try it with your kids!

It looks a little gross, but I promise that it's good!

Lihamakaronilaatikko
Adapted and adjusted to English measurements from Foodprint.eu

2 cups macaroni

6 1/4 cups water 

2 beef bouillon cubes (or equivalent as directed on packaging - about 2 tbsp.)

2/3 lb ground beef 

1 onion

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

parmesan cheese

 

"Egg-milk"                                      

3 eggs

3 cups milk 

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp white pepper 

 

Boil the macaroni in beef broth (water with bouillon cubes) until almost cooked, drain. Chop the onion into fine pieces. Add the ground beef and onion to a saucepan and allow them to brown. Season with salt and pepper. Mix the macaroni and beef together and then pour into a greased oven casserole. Mix together the eggs, milk, salt, pepper and pour over the macaroni-beef mixture. Sprinkle top with parmesan cheese and add a few pats of butter on the surface. Cook at 350 F for approximately 1 hour.  Serve with ketchup

 

 Here is a bunch of Moomin paraphernalia I spotted in Prisma.  I was really excited that I knew what it was.  Obviously, that series is quite popular here.

French Flan with Sugared Almonds

Sometimes you just have to feature the classics. Today, that classic is Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert, which takes place in semi-rural 19th century France.

Most of the time when I blog about food from a particular book, it means that I like the book. Not in this case. In fact, I quite detest this book.

 

*Gasp!*  A girl with an English degree who hates Madame Bovary?  How could I?

The real question is, how could I not? This story is all about an extremely selfish woman who has a great life and completely ruins it because she is greedy, envious, lustful, immature, and whiny. She is a sad excuse for a woman, and it makes me angry that she has become a pinnacle character in western literature.

Of course, the writing is beautiful, and the characterization is amazing.   But I can’t like a book when I hate the main character.

The thing with Madame Bovary, though, is that the food plays an essential role in the progression (or regression) of the title character. You see, Emma Bovary’s life falls into a negative spiral because she experiences little tastes of luxury, and wants more and more until she is incapable of being happy. Her first taste of luxuriousness was at her wedding, where her family served her and Charles (the groom) a beautiful French feast.
 

Enter French Flan. Gustave Flaubert describes it through Emma and Charles’ eyes, who have never experienced such extravagant food:
 

“Big plates of yellow custard shuddered at the slightest bump of the table; they had the initials of the newlyweds traced on their smooth surfaces in arabesques of sugared almonds” (24-25).
 

Now, flan has a bad rap here in America because of Mexican flan. Mexicans do so many foods right, but flan is not one of them. Yellow Jello? No thanks.

If you don’t know, flan is simply a thick, mostly solid custard, just like Flaubert described. But instead of using gelatin to get that consistency, the French do it the right way – with lots of eggs, and some sort of thickener. I used cornstarch, but the more historically accurate way would have been with flour. I normally would use the more historically accurate method, but I was pressed for time preparing for a sudden and long trip to Finland, and I didn’t do enough research. Sorry! For a more true-to-the-times recipe, click here.

Here is the recipe I used, below. It was thick, rich, and very luxurious.  As a side note, I chose a crustless recipe on purpose.  This is because Flaubert describes that the yellow custard "shuddered" (a.k.a. jiggled).  I didn't see this happening with a crust to hold its shape.  That's the main reason I chose this recipe.

French Flan

View original recipe at Cooking with Corinne

2 cups milk

1/2 cup liquid cream

1/2 cup granulated sugar

5 egg yolks

3 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

In a large saucepan, add first the dry ingredients starting by cornstarch and sugar. Stir to combine. Add the egg yolks and combine until you get a smooth mixture. Add the cream and the milk at the end. 

Place the saucepan on the stove, and bring the mixture to a boil over low heat while stirring constantly. Cook the mixture for about 10 minutes while keeping stirring.

Cover the bottom of a springform pan with parchment paper. Butter and flour the sides.

Pour the mixture in the pan. Reserve at least one hour in the fridge.

Preheat oven to 340°F and bake for 15 minutes.

Leave a room temperature to cold. Unstick the sides with a knife and remove the flan from the spring-form pan. Serve cold.

Before heating

Heated for 10 minutes after boiling.  See how it's thick enough to leave lines in the custard?

Baked

Confessions time: I cheated and used butter + milk instead of cream, since I didn't have any on hand.  I also didn't use a springform pan -- I just used a regular 8" round cake pan.  Even with these cheats, everything turned out fine.

For the sugared almonds tracing the couple's initials, I should have used this recipe, but again, I was in a hurry and only did cursory research.  So here's what I actually did, below.  I also used almond slices instead of whole almonds, which I later crushed to make them easier to work with.

Sugared Almonds

View original recipe here

• 1 cup whole blanched almonds
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

Heat almonds, sugar and butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until almonds are toasted and sugar is a golden brown, about 15 minutes. Stir in vanilla. Spread on aluminum foil; sprinkle with salt. Cool and break into clusters.

 

I kind of botched my sugared almonds by letting them cook too long. As soon as they barely start turning brown, get them off the burner! They’ll keep cooking (and quickly) even after you remove it from the heat).

 

When I should have removed it from the heat.  See how it's just barely starting to get brown on some of the sides?

When I actually removed it from the heat.  It got here in about 1 minute.  It cooks fast!

sugared almonds, cooled and crushed

I crushed my almonds with a rolling pin once they were cool and used the crumbs to monogram Charles and Emma Bovary’s initials onto the custard, as described. The sugar will start to dissolve on the damp custard, so you have to be very careful not to mess up. Either that or create a stencil, which is what I should have done.

 

 

I ate the E first, because I dislike Emma so much and think she ruins everything she’s a part of.  But the flan tasted fabulous!

Back to Back Posts: English Food

So after I wrote the last post, I was talking to Mary about English food. Both of us have been lucky enough to go to England (not together, unfortunately). I had a great time there and I know Mary loved it there too. I wanted to make a picture post of food that I ate in England, to give you all an idea of what English food is like ...and I just miss England. Here we go! (Caution: you may see me in these pictures as a blonde...this might be weird for some of you)



I had this lovely meal in the Chester Cathedral in Chester, England. That is Dandellion and Burdock soda ( I still have the bottle!) and Tuna with Sweet Corn Sandwich. The soda tasted kind of like...rootbeer and dirt and greenery... But I liked it!


This is an Egg Custard. I was in the town where the Bronte sister's parsonage was and went around the corner from this pub to the little bakery. The lady laughed at me when I asked what it was.


This is Yorkshire pudding. I was totally not expecting it! (Oh the naive girl I was). This is Yorkshire pudding with bangers (sausages). It's pretty good but definitely greasy and salty, like a lot of English food.


Before I left for Europe, my dad was so excited for me to have a Ploughman's lunch. I was excited when I finally got it but it's basically just a sandwich platter. I liked the pearl onions a lot =)


I love this picture. I was at the tea room directly across the street from Jane Austen's house and my friend Annie and I had tea and crumpitts with jam and clotted cream. I'm not even kidding. It was the most picturesque thing of the day!


I love this picture too. I just saw it in a random English town one day...it made me happy =)


This is in London. I was going to have fish and chips when I was by the coast but I was so bus sick I couldn't eat anything. The guy got mad at me because my friend Annie had other food that she wanted to sit down and eat at his restaurant and I ordered fish and chips. When he told me we couldn't eat there, I told him to make it to go...and he was grumpy about it, hence the fork.


Yes, this is also London. Yes it's raining. Yes I'm sitting ON THE GROUND in the middle of one of the dirtiest cities in the world eating sushi. This was right before I was going to see Les Miserables (I was leaning against the theatre). I went to this sushi restaurant that you went through a line with a box and picked out individually wrapped sushi rolls. It was so cool!


This is English junk food! I bought this right before I got on the Chunnel for Paris. I love English chocolate. =)



Oh, so back to the Harry Potter theme...I got to go to Lacock Abbey, where they filmed parts of the first two Harry Potter movies.


This is inside Lacock Abbey...looks like Hogwarts, huh? That's because it is!!


And finally...platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station in London. This was an interesting day. I dragged a bunch of my friends to go to this landmark...many of them didn't find it a priority, but I definitely did. I begged the people who came with me to videotape me asking a person in the station "Excuse me, could you tell me where I might find Platform 9 3/4?" (complete with British accent)...but none of them wanted to do it...so I just asked a worker (no British accent) who smiled and told me where it was.

Wow, I miss England now. I wish I could go back as the person I am now. A year ago feels like forever, and I've grown up and learned a lot since then. I want to go back! Oh yeah, I also saw a guy outside the Museum of Modern Art in London that I thought was Daniel Radcliffe. I took a creepy picture of him so I could zoom in and confirm if it was indeed Daniel Radcliffe...it wasn't.