Family memories of Finnish food tradition

NEW YORK - When France's president, Jacques Chirac, called Finland's cuisine the worst in Europe, I took it personally.

I have fond memories of my Finnish grandmother's spicy herring and beet salad, and her cabbage rolls, not to mention the heady aroma of pulla, a cardamom-flavored coffee bread she baked each Christmas.

So when I learned that a couple of Finnish chefs were coming to cook at the James Beard House in downtown Manhattan, I was understandably thrilled - and my memories revived.

Despite Chirac's comments, Finland is becoming a presence on the wider culinary scene. Its capital city, Helsinki, hosted its first weeklong international food festival in the summer of 2005.

But traditional Finnish dishes like the pulla my grandmother made hold their own. It is still the key ingredient on the Finnish coffee table, which is set for every occasion: after sauna, after church, holidays, birthdays, weddings and funerals. The table is elaborately laid with baked items ranging from yeast coffee breads to fancy filled cakes.

Jani Lehtinen, 33, is executive chef and owner of Bucco, a trattoria-type restaurant in Pori on Finland's west coast. Bucco's chef de cuisine, Jari Seppala, 42, was also on hand. Lehtinen, who grew up cooking with six aunts, prefers simple food, perfectly presented. "You remember the taste for a long time," he said.

Finland, a land of forests and lakes extending from the Arctic Circle into the Baltic Sea, is known for its fish, wild game, and fresh berries and vegetables that get an extra boost of flavor and size during the long summer days of the midnight sun.

Fish is prominent in the cuisine of all Nordic countries, but because Finland has thousands of lakes, freshwater fish plays a more important role. Whitefish is so popular that Lehtinen's first cookbook, written with two other Finnish chefs, is devoted to it. He told me he likes to cold-smoke whitefish, and layer it with a fish mousse. He also likes it with crawfish sauce.

The abundant wild berries of Finland are used in desserts such as fruit soups, whipped berry puddings, and porridges.

"Juniper is classic in Finland," Lehtinen said, but he told me his favorite is the seabuckthorn berry called tyrni (deerr-nee) in Finland. These deep orange berries smell rather like pineapple and have so many vitamins and antioxidants that oil from the berries is sold in health-food stores. The berries grow wild on thorny bushes near the sea, but are now farmed as well.

Lehtinen uses the fruit for desserts. "It does well with ice cream, sorbets, syrups and parfaits," he said. "We also make cocktails with seabuckthorn berry juice. It takes care of your vitamin C level for the rest of the year," he quipped.

Like the wild berries, mushrooms, too, are abundant in the forests of Finland and more than 100 varieties grow wild. Finnish citizens, who take great pride in their forests, and have some of the most advanced environmental protection laws in the world, are permitted to pick wild berries and mushrooms freely.

The Flavors of Finland dinner at the Beard House was devoured with enthusiasm by the 80 or so guests. The herring made me remember my grandmother's herring salad, which I called "silly salad," because I could not pronounce the Finnish name, sillikasalaatti. My personal favorite was the creamy and smoky cauliflower soup.

Coffee is still the national drink in Finland, drunk many times during the day. Of course, to go with coffee, Lehtinen and Seppala make pulla all the time, so for them it is easy. Here is their recipe along with a few others from the Beard House dinner.

Finnish Coffee Bread (Pulla)

• 21Ú2 cups whole milk

• 1 egg, lightly beaten

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 tablespoon cardamom seeds crushed into a powder

• 1 ounce package of dry yeast

• 71Ú4 cups flour

• 71Ú2 ounces butter at room temperature

• 1 egg, beaten, and sugar for glaze

Warm the milk to 107 F and pour into a large bowl. Add the egg, salt, sugar, cardamom, yeast and half of the flour. Mix with large wooden spoon until well blended. Continue adding the flour cup by cup, gradually mixing it together. Add the butter last.

Place a towel on top of the dough and keep in a warm place for 30 minutes while it rises and doubles in size. Sprinkle some flour on a board or table and on your hands while working with the dough. Punch down the dough, turn it onto a board, and shape it into small buns, or roll out long strands and braid three together to form loaves. Cover buns or loaves with a towel and let rise for 15 minutes.

Glaze top of each bun or loaf with beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in a 400 F oven 12 to 15 minutes for buns, and 25 minutes for loaves, until golden brown. Serve with cold milk or coffee.

Makes 40 buns or 3 loaves.

Cured Salmon With Lime Vodka, Tomato-Caviar Vinaigrette and Rye Croutons

• 1 fillet of salmon weighing about 21Ú2 pounds

• 1Ú2 cup sea salt

• 1Ú4 cup sugar

• 1 cup lime-flavored vodka

To prepare the salmon:

Pack salt all over the salmon, using additional salt if necessary. Place fillet in a shallow dish or pan and sprinkle sugar on top. Pour the vodka over the salmon and refrigerate overnight.

For the Vinaigrette:

• 3 large tomatoes, not too ripe

• 1 shallot, finely chopped

• 1 ounce caviar or other fish roe

• 6 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

• Handful of fresh chives, chopped

• 1Ú2 teaspoon salt

• Pepper to taste

To prepare the Vinaigrette:

Put tomatoes into boiling water for 20 seconds and then instantly into ice water to loosen the skin. Peel tomatoes and cut each into four pieces and remove seeds. Make small dice from the tomato and put them into a bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix together gently.

For the Croutons:

• 1 cup bread cubes of dark rye bread

• 1 tablespoon butter

• 1Ú4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Melt butter in a saute pan and fry the bread cubes until they are crispy on the surface. Season with salt, to taste.

To serve:

Place 4 or 5 thin slices of salmon on each plate. Pour vinaigrette over and toss a few croutons on each serving.

Note: This can also be garnished with creme fraiche, chives, dill and caviar or fish roe.

Makes 4 to 6 servings as an appetizer.

Cauliflower, used in the following soup, is a popular vegetable with Finns and they prepare it in many ways. They grate it and roast it, and it's often served as a main dish.

Most Finnish kitchens have smoking boxes, so it is easy for the Finnish to smoke their fish. In the United States you can find cold smoked whitefish for this recipe in many gourmet and fish stores. The white truffles are optional.

Cauliflower Soup With Cold-Smoked Whitefish and Truffles

(Kukkakaalikeitto ja kylmasavusiikaa)

• 1 head cauliflower, cut up into small chunks

• 2 shallots, roughly chopped

• 61Ú4 cups whole milk

• 21Ú4 cups heavy cream

• About 1 teaspoon salt

• White pepper to taste

• 5- or 6-ounce fillet cold-smoked whitefish, cut into 16 to 24 thin slices

• Optional garnish of shaved white truffle (see note)

Put cauliflower and onions into large pot and cook them slowly in the milk for 20 minutes until tender. Pour the mixture into a blender, small amounts at a time, and process until smooth. Return to the pot; add cream, salt and pepper, and heat until warm.

To serve:

Place 2 or 3 thin slices of fish in the bottom of each soup bowl. Pour soup over the fish and if desired garnish with shaved white truffles.

Makes 8 servings.

Note: Other garnish options are fresh chives, dill, or caviar or other fish roe.