FOODWAYS: THE BALTICS

Though some of the food in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania is similar, each country has its own recipes and culinary traditions. What ties them together is the simplicity and innovative use of ingredients that is the strength of all Baltic cooking.

ESTONIA:
    Estonia has a long seacoast and a long history of fishing to go along with it. Seafood soups, stews, casseroles, and stuffed breads are common in Estonian cuisine. In addition, honey, produced all over the country, is often spread on farmer cheese or sweet bread and drunk with tea.

LATVIA:
    In Latvia the richest table is laid during the holidays. A specialty for St. John’s Day and the summer solstice is a round, yellow farmer cheese with caraway seeds. Every autumn for St. Martin’s Day, a holiday unique to Latvia, a special roasted chicken is prepared for the family meal.

Janu Cheese With Caraway Seeds
(St. John’s Day Cheese)

Cheese, Farmers’, 1 kilogram (2 pounds 4 ounces)
Milk, 2 liters (8 cups)
Sour cream, 100 grams (1/3 cup)
Eggs, 2
Butter, 100 grams (1/3 cup)
Salt, a dash
Caraway seeds, 1/2tsp

     Heat the milk, stirring fom time to time until the temperature reaches 90-95 degrees C (194-203 degrees F). Add Farmer’s cheese. Continue heating fo 10-15 minutes in the temperature range of 85-90 degrees C (185-194 degrees F). When clear whey starts to form, stop heating and let the cottage cheese settle. Then pour off the whey. Put the cottage cheese into a cloth moistened in water and, holding the ends of the cloth, roll it from side to side so the whey that is still left will be separated and the cottage cheese will not cool down too much.
     Put the cottage cheese into a bowl. Add sour cream mixed with eggs, salt, and caraway seeds, and stir with wooden spoon. Put into a large kettle along with melted butter, in portion. Keep stirring for 10-15 minutes until the mass is even and shiny, with a temperature of 75-80 degrees C (167-176 degrees F). If melted in lower temperature and for a shorter time, the cheese will be more loose and soft; if kept at a higher temperature for a longer time, cheese will be harder. Once mass is even put it into a moistened linen cloth. The ends of the cloth are then tied together, the folds are evened out and the cheese is put in a cool place under a pressure. When the cheese has cooled off, take it out of the cloth and put on a platter or dish and cut into slices.
     Janu cheese can be served with butter or honey on a sandwich, or as a snack with beer.

LITHUANIA:
Lithuania has turned basic foods into special treats. Potato dishes such as kugelis, a potato pudding, or cepelinai, a meat or cheese-filled potato dumpling, are tasty favorites. Wild mushrooms are gathered in autumn, pickled, dried, or canned, then used in various recipes during the winter months.