Estonian national food. National cuisine of Estonia. Recipes with step by step photos
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Estonian cuisine: features and traditions
Estonian cuisine is noticeably different from the cuisine of other nations and its national dishes will be unusual for everyone who will be in for the first time. These are tasty and nutritious natural dishes, not particularly refined and varied. The basis of Estonian cuisine is simple hearty meat dishes, as well as fish, vegetables and bread. Of all the known cooking methods, boiling is the most common here. Vegetables, meat and other foods are rarely fried.
The formation of Estonian cuisine was significantly influenced by the culinary traditions of the Scandinavian countries, as well as German and Russian cuisines, but despite this, it has retained its originality.
National cuisine and its traditions
Estonian dishes are distinguished by an unusual combination of products. Experts note that most of the dishes have a slightly sour taste and taste of milk, to which a variety of, sometimes unexpected ingredients are added, for example, peas or fish, most often herring or sprat. Of the usual dairy products on the table of local residents, you can see cottage cheese, whipped cream, yogurt, home-made cheese, which Estonians call in a special way - cheese.
For cooking, cereals are very widely used - pearl barley, barley, but Estonians practically do not use buckwheat. Like mushrooms, they are almost never found on the table of Estonians. But they eat a lot of potatoes, and they use it not only on their own, but also in the form of cereals with various cereals.
Estonian cuisine will surprise you with the ease of preparation of dishes and at the same time their satiety, as well as the availability of products. Despite the fact that there is no huge choice of foods in Estonia, and those dishes that are prepared can hardly be called gourmet delicacies, the menu of the inhabitants of the country contains dishes from almost all the ingredients necessary to maintain a healthy diet and give the body strength and energy.
The basis of the Estonian diet is simple but nutritious meals made exclusively from natural products. Dishes consist of meat, fish, dairy products, bread, vegetables (potatoes, cabbage, rutabaga), beans (peas, beans). Among meat products, Estonians give their preference to pork, and among fish - herring, sprat. Blood sausages and liver are popular in Estonia. Among dairy products, Estonian cuisine is rich in cheese, milk, curdled milk, sour cream, and yogurt. Dishes with these ingredients are supplemented very often, resulting in dishes with an unusual composition. Dishes are popular in which milk is added to peas and fish. The uniqueness of Estonian culinary traditions lies precisely in the fact that chefs in the country prepare dishes by combining a wide variety of ingredients with each other.
Boiling is the most common of all cooking methods. Frying as a method of heat treatment is used quite rarely.
A distinctive feature of Estonian national cuisine is the limited use of spices, spices and herbs. Perhaps the most popular are salt, pepper, marjoram, cumin, less often, but still cooking is not complete without dressing with dill, parsley, celery and green onions. Estonians adhere to a strict distribution of seasonings, that is, they do not add everything at once to each dish. For example, cottage cheese is flavored with cumin, fish with dill, blood sausages with marjoram, meat soups with parsley and celery.
A very important place in the diet of Estonians is occupied by bread, which is baked on its own, bought only in rare cases.
Estonian dishes are worth a try for lovers of simple but original food. In order for you to cook food according to the culinary traditions of Estonia at home, on our website we offer you step-by-step recipes with photos.
Recipes with step by step photos
- Kringel
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Sand cake with rhubarb -
Kartuliporss -
Multicapsad -
Piparkukas -
pickled pumpkin
Features of the national cuisine of Estonia
Features of the national cuisine of Estonia distinguish it from the cuisine of other countries: the country appreciates the simplicity of cooking, the use of natural products, as well as their nutritional value.
Touching upon the history of the formation of Estonian cuisine, it is worth noting that since ancient times, the main products that were part of the diet of the inhabitants of the state were fish, meat, vegetables, cereals, and dairy products. By way of life, the bulk of the population were peasants, fishermen, and therefore people could not boast of a large amount of free time for cooking amazing delights. For this reason, dishes were preferred that could be made in a hurry and eat quickly in order to get back to work. The tradition of avoiding complex dishes has remained to this day. Also, Estonian cuisine was formed under the influence of the cuisine of neighboring countries - Germany, Sweden, Russia. At the same time, Estonia has created its own unique dishes, which simply do not exist in other countries.
Traditionally, in Estonian cuisine, products are practically not fried. They prefer to cook the ingredients for dishes, doing this in milk, meat and fish, vegetable broths, and water.
As a result of this procedure, the taste of food acquires peculiar notes, which, out of habit, seem strange to residents of other countries of the world. Tourists are also perplexed, noticing the mixing of seemingly incompatible products, but remain satisfied with the original taste of the dish. An excellent example of such unique dishes is Kama. This is the name of oatmeal, from oats, rye, wheat, barley and other cereals or a mixture of them, which are served at the table along with curdled milk or milk. The history of this dish is long and, despite this, the dish has not lost its popularity, because it is in demand among people who adhere to a healthy diet. And this is always true for the inhabitants of Estonia. At the present stage, it is much easier to cook "Kama" than before, because now you do not need to grind cereals in a large mortar to make a mixture of them - fortunately, you can easily buy everything you need in the store.Fish occupies, perhaps, one of the most important places in the diet of Estonians. The most popular variety is herring. From it, dishes are prepared both for the everyday table and for the festive table. There are a huge number of ways to cook herring in Estonia, and the food from this product always turns out to be very tasty. Smoked herring is popular, the taste of which is very delicate, and the fish itself turns out to be quite oily, but at the same time very appetizing. The second place in popularity is occupied by sprat. Slightly less in demand is trout.
Estonian cuisine is distinguished by the presence of many varieties of bread. The country boasts gray bread, known as "Seppik", traditional barley and rye, honey, sweet with sour notes, potato. Such pastries become an ideal addition to both hot and cold dishes, and are also used during the preparation of many national dishes according to recipes.
In every house you can find sausages made from blood or liver, Estonians decorate the dinner table with meatballs, pork liver pates, nutritious potato salad with stuffed eggs and herring in sour cream sauce. Kissel called “Kaerakile”, which is boiled on a milk basis, is dearly loved by Estonians. All these dishes came to Estonian cuisine from ancient times and do not lose their demand.
An equally important place in the Estonian diet is occupied by dairy products. Milk, yoghurts, curdled milk, sour cream - cooking of national dishes rarely does without these ingredients. They are used for cooking both first courses, for example, milk soups, and second courses, and side dishes, including milk porridges. It is believed that there are about twenty or even more recipes for making soup with milk. Such first dishes are supplemented with fish, mushrooms, vegetables (potatoes, turnips, cabbage), eggs. The peculiarity of the dish is that, first of all, all products are boiled in plain water, reach half-cookedness, and only after that, almost at the end of cooking, milk is poured. The dish is kept on the stove until the dairy product boils along with all the ingredients.
In principle, all soups are loved by Estonians. Whether the first dish is vegetable, meat, fish or cereal, every Estonian will certainly taste it at least once during the day. The preference of the inhabitants of the country is given to bread soup, barley dish with potatoes, fish dishes from herring and potatoes, pea dish with barley porridge. Estonia is also famous for such original soups as blueberry and beer.
Meat dishes served on the "second" are prepared in a special way. Traditions have developed so that preference is given to pork. For cooking, special dishes are required, the walls of which will be thick enough. In such containers, the meat is left to languish, thanks to which it becomes tender, juicy and at the same time retains its excellent taste without losing useful substances from its composition. Many recipes, in addition to boiling, when the meat is baked in the oven. To do this, take a fresh meat product, and salted, and smoked.
One of the most popular meat dishes is jelly - in Estonian "Stilt". In some countries, any meat is poured with broth, which is also mixed with each other and a prefabricated one is obtained. In Estonia, they use it separately, without combining beef and pork.
The most common side dish is potatoes, cooked with various products and served in addition to meat or fish dishes. Potatoes are also the main ingredient for cooking some dishes.
Hot dishes are also served with all sorts of gravies, which do not have a sharp or spicy flavor due to the fact that spices and bitter seasonings are practically not added. Such sauces are prepared most often from dairy products - milk or sour cream.
Instead of burgers, hot dogs, shawarma and other popular “snack” food in street stalls, there is a wide choice for selling blood sausages stuffed with various cereals, sweet delicacies such as curd cheese, milk chocolate, to which merchant chefs add marzipan, nuts , pieces of dried fruit, marmalade, jelly.
Now a little about the meal plan. For breakfast in Estonia, it is customary to eat one of the unsweetened cereals with sandwiches. The composition of such "sandwiches" is rye bread, sliced \u200b\u200bwhich is laid out in slices of salted or smoked herring. They replace such sandwiches with others - fried bread in butter, which is served with tomato sauce, cheese, eggs or sweets - jam, jam. An Estonian lunch consists of any kind of soup, which is mandatory, and the choice of the second - meat stew with vegetables, mashed potatoes, which is also a side dish, baked, stewed, smoked herring, trout, pork knuckle, ribs. Dinner in Estonia is also meat or fish dishes. A sweet-tasting soup is often served as a dessert.
So, now you have much more information about the features of Estonian cuisine, you know what the inhabitants of the country prefer to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And now we will talk about this in more detail.
Main dishes
Estonia will please every gourmet with its main dishes, because, despite the lack of sophistication in terms of food, the dishes - first, second and appetizers - are very original and attractive.
Among the first courses, the main role in the diet of Estonians is given to soups. The most popular are, of course, those brewed with milk. Such dishes taste very unusual, but interesting. The use of the following milk soups is quite common: fish, pea, vegetable, egg, mushroom, milk (that is, those that are prepared from a mixture of various dairy products - yogurt, sour cream, cream). All these varieties of the first dish, in addition to the presence of milk in them, are also united by the technology of cooking recipes: first of all, whether it be vegetables, mushrooms, eggs, fish, peas or another ingredient, they are boiled in water, and when the components become almost ready, milk is added and remove from the stove as soon as the whole composition boils.
There are also soups with a cereal base, which complement flour, dairy products and vegetables. Elementary in terms of preparation and very famous in Estonia are dumplings called "Klimpisuppi". What is their simplicity? The fact that dumplings are simply boiled in milk. At the same time, the final result is a very tasty and original dish.
Vegetable soups are in demand no less than others. They dine in Estonia with the first dishes of cabbage, potatoes, peas, the peculiarity of which is that during the cooking process, smoked lard is added to the dish, albeit in small quantities. Not the last place is occupied by soups from meat or fish. It is important to note that most often chefs in restaurants and cafes, and housewives while cooking at home, do not use meat fillet, but offal - liver, heart, ventricles, navels, kidneys. This trend has developed because previously the price of meat in Estonia was too high to add it to soups. This tradition has been preserved to this day.
The second courses are represented by meat and fish. Also, dishes from these products can be served as a snack, if they are not supplemented with anything special. The fish is dried, smoked, dried. The purpose of smoked fish is to be the main ingredient in recipes for second courses, and dried and dried fish to complement first courses. It is hard to imagine Estonian cuisine without herring and sprat. These varieties are the most popular. On their basis, a delicious casserole is prepared, the peculiarity of which is that the fish is laid out in pots, stewed, gravy from milk, sour cream and eggs is added. Suitsukala - smoked trout, salted and spicy sprat, Kalapirukad herring, which is baked in the oven in rye dough, are noteworthy, the same fish is stewed and fried.
A wide range of second courses includes dishes from pork, lamb, veal and offal (kidneys, heads, animal blood). Pork meat is the most common. The Estonian menu is rich in options for cooking pork ears, sauerkraut shank, ribs, garnished with peas mixed with meat.
Estonians' favorite food is dishes with blood. What is the cost of national blood sausages! It is impossible not to mention the "Vera package guide" - blood pancakes. Regardless of such a frightening name of the dish, it has a peculiar taste that every inhabitant of Estonia likes.
Meat, which is intended for cooking second courses, is boiled either in water, or in soups, or cereals. A side dish for these dishes is boiled vegetables (potatoes, rutabagas, carrots). The jelly known under the name "Sylty" is very popular in Estonia. Their peculiarity is that they are prepared from lamb, pork and veal, namely, from heads and tails. Moreover, it is important that different types of meat do not mix with each other, but are placed separately.
As you can see, it’s impossible to get hungry at the Estonian dinner table. The main dishes of meat, fish and vegetables give a feeling of satiety, saturating the body with strength and energy.
Estonian side dishes
Estonian side dishes are somewhat different from those that most people in European countries are used to: there is a wide selection of cereals, vegetable dishes. The peculiarity of cereals is that they are cooked from several varieties at once - they put millet, barley, oats, wheat at the same time, and also supplement them with other ingredients - often vegetables. That is, there are cereal, cereal-vegetable or vegetable porridge. Combining several products to get one side dish is the most common technology in recipes for preparing additional dishes.
For example, buckwheat is supplemented with a vegetable mixture, and a magnificent very popular dish is obtained, the combination of pearl barley with cabbage is known as "Mulgicapsad", the mixing of pearl barley with potatoes is called "Mulgipuder". But the dish, without which it is simply impossible to imagine an Estonian dinner table, is Kama - porridge made from rye, oats, barley, peas (as well as other legumes), flour. This dish is really unique, because the ingredients are not amenable to heat treatment, and the whole composition is simply poured with milk or yogurt and served.
Vegetable dishes are quite common in Estonia, in particular, most of them are cooked with potatoes. As an independent dish, vegetable products are practically not served. They can be such only in one case - if a variety of cereals are prepared from them. They make pea, cabbage, rutabaga porridge. Estonians also love vegetables in milk sauce. Potatoes, cabbage, rutabagas are the most popular vegetables. They also use carrots, and in rare cases, perhaps only for making a salad, beets are taken.
Side dishes in Estonia can hardly be called ordinary, but it is this distinctive feature that is the highlight of the country. Albeit unusual, but very tasty, truly authentic.
Flour products and desserts
Flour products and desserts occupy a very important place in the life of Estonians, because Estonians do not consider a meal complete without eating fragrant buns or the most delicate biscuits with jam.
As in the preparation of main dishes, side dishes, Estonian chefs experiment with ingredients in the process of implementing recipes for cooking desserts, as a result of which the world is enriched with unique delicacies, which are almost impossible to find a substitute for in other countries.
Of course, here you can enjoy shortbread cookies, sweet cinnamon buns, jams and all kinds of fruit and berry jams, but these delicacies are not much different from those available in other countries. But sweet soups, of which there are countless cooking options, are unlikely to be found anywhere else. A perfect example of such a delicacy is bread soup. It would seem that nothing special, but once you soften the stale rye bread, add this composition with raisins, sugar and whipped cream, try the resulting mass and you will understand that such a dish deserves attention.
Berry soup is no less popular, the basis of which can be the most diverse - strawberries, lingonberries, blueberries, blueberries, strawberries. Complement this soup for dessert with nuts and honey. For dessert, a mousse is also served, consisting of various fruit juices and semolina. Every sweet tooth will not leave such a delicacy without attention.
There is also a traditional Christmas cookie, without which the festive table is considered incomplete. They call it “Pipercook” in Estonia, and it differs from others in that they put a lot of cinnamon in it, and also add ground pepper.
Estonian cuisine surprises with a selection of unusual ingredients for making desserts. Only in this country they make a unique jam, the basis of which is onions. Honey is added to the vegetable or, alternatively, powdered sugar.
Fruit and berry casseroles, jelly with whipped cream, traditional sweets with nut, mint, coffee, alcoholic (with liqueur, cognac) fillings - and such sweets can be found in Estonia.
Beverages
Drinks are in a wide range: alcoholic, non-alcoholic - there is a drink to everyone's taste. It is noteworthy that traditional ones remain in demand no less than foreign ones.
One of the most popular soft drinks is black coffee. They make it moderately strong and, for a change, add lemon, milk and other ingredients to it to saturate the taste. Since there are many fruits and berries in Estonia, this country is famous for its juices, compotes and fruit drinks, which the inhabitants of the state prefer to drink on the hottest summer days.
Among alcoholic beverages, beer occupies a leading position. Estonia can compete quite well in brewing with the Czech Republic, which is famous all over the world for a variety of beers. Estonian drinks of this kind are also prepared according to numerous old recipes everywhere. Each region has its own traditional recipe. And yet, two drinks break out into the leaders everywhere: among the dark varieties - "Saare", and light - "Saku". Popular honey beer. The drink is often made at home as well. They especially tend to beer brewed from juniper. His taste is quite unusual.
Stronger drinks are a coffee-colored liquor, where flavor notes of rum, a red hue, smelling of caraway seeds, mulled wine, aka Hoegwein, and much more can be clearly seen.
What to try in Estonia?
What to try in Estonia? We bring to your attention the names of the most popular national dishes in the table. We will also give a brief description of them so that you get acquainted with the features, and most importantly, the composition of the dish. After that, you will be aware of what you can eat in cafes, restaurants, bars in Tallinn and other cities of the country, being a tourist. You will also know what dishes you can cook at home in order to please your household with an original dish.
Name of the dish | Description |
|---|---|
Meat dishes |
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Ahjuliha | Oven-baked meat (whole piece of beef or pork). |
Vereverst | This is the name of blood sausage, the filling of which is barley porridge and chopped bacon. |
Kartulipores | This is a baked dish that is meat covered with mashed potatoes. |
killatuhlid | A lean stew consisting of boiled pork and potatoes. There are no spices. Sour cream is used for serving. |
maxcustmes | This is a liver stewed in milk, chopped into pieces, which is complemented by green onions. Served with sour cream. |
Multicapsas | Ragout consisting of pork meat, sauerkraut and pearl barley. |
Multicapsid | This is a stew made with pork, sauerkraut and barley. |
Tuchlinott | A meat dish cooked from pork and potatoes with flour, and dressed with salt, dill and marjoram. |
Fish dishes |
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Kiluworm | Sprat baked with onions and spices (salt, pepper). |
Roll pug | Herring marinated in vinegar. The fish is rolled into tubes, aged and served as an appetizer or second course. |
Silguworm | A layered dish of onions, potatoes, fish fillet (fresh and smoked Baltic herring, herring), filled with beaten eggs with milk. The dish is baked. |
Silgud Pekiketmes | Boiled herring in a sauce of bacon, onion, milk or flour. |
Suitsukala | Trout, which is smoked and served as a second course or snack (cut into small pieces). |
A dish without heat treatment, consisting of flour, peas, rye, oats, barley. |
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Multicapsad | A dish of pearl barley and sauerkraut. |
multipuder | A dish that includes mashed potatoes and pearl barley. |
Tanguzhpuder | Porridge from buckwheat and various vegetables. |
multicorp | Cheesecakes with cottage cheese, served with sour cream, jam or jam from fruits and berries. |
Pyparkook | Sweet traditional Estonian spiced cookies (includes ginger, cinnamon, black pepper) decorated with icing patterns. |
Marzipan | Cake in the form of different figures, which includes almonds and powdered sugar. The sweetness is covered with icing. |
So, this is the end of our acquaintance with Estonian cuisine. Now you know about many features and traditions of Estonian cuisine, about what dishes you should definitely try when you decide to pay a visit to this northern country. You also know which dishes will suit your taste and which ones you should cook at home. Ask for help with the step-by-step recipes with photos offered on our website, cook and enjoy the excellent taste of Estonian traditional dishes.
Estonia is one of the few European countries where the traditions of peasant cuisine are still alive. Estonian cuisine favors simple but hearty home-cooked meals, reliable grandmother's recipes and natural products grown in one's own garden. Traditional Estonian cuisine does not promise gastronomic sensations, but there are definitely no artificial additives among the ingredients of the dishes, and seasonings and spices do not overshadow the natural taste of vegetables and fruits.
Estonian lunch: tasty, simple and healthy
At one time, the national cuisine of Estonia was strongly influenced by the Scandinavian, German and Russian culinary traditions. The basis of the daily diet of the Estonian family is made up of products from the village table: black rye bread, cereals, potatoes, pork, liver and generous gifts of the forest - mushrooms and berries, and even in the art of baking and home preservation, Estonian hostesses are even ahead of the rest - they will even make jam from a bow, so much so that you lick your fingers.
Favorite dishes in Estonia are cabbage and milk soups, cereals, jelly, cabbage rolls, minced meat with gravy, potato casserole, curdled milk and oatmeal jelly, as well as all kinds of sausages, sausages and sausages. Instead of hot dogs on the streets of Estonian cities, they sell blood sausage stuffed with cereals, and those with a sweet tooth can take their souls to pastry shops, enjoying milk chocolate with nuts, marzipans, kohuka cheese curds and handmade confectionery.
Since Soviet times, chocolates from the Kalev factory have been in demand, and recently edible marzipan dough souvenirs made by one's own hands under the guidance of an experienced craftsman from the Tallinn Marzipan Gallery have come into fashion.
Not so long ago, Balbiino opened an interactive ice cream museum in the Estonian capital. The exposition is divided into thematic halls dedicated to the history of the origin of the favorite summer dessert and the technological intricacies of making cold treats, and the tour ends with a free tasting of different varieties of Balbiino ice cream.
Some Estonian dishes are borrowed from small nationalities and national minorities. Farmers in the southern counties learned how to cook hard cheeses with honey, poppy seeds and jam from the Seto tribe, and the popular mulgikapsad stew comes from Mulgimaa.
In lakeside villages, you will be generously served with fragrant hot-smoked fish, and in seaside resorts, not a single feast is complete without lightly salted herring and Baltic herring, trout and shrimp soup. Original coastal delicacies await tasters at the stylish restaurants Noa and Villa Mary in Viismi, Wicca in Laulasmaa, Ruhe in Jõelähtim, MerMer in Juminda and OKO in Kaberneeme. The Kolkya Museum of Russian Old Believers has an onion and fish restaurant serving interesting dishes from freshwater fish caught in Lake Peipus.
The sonorous echo of the Middle Ages, wandering among the castles and forts left by the crusaders, also left its mark on other sightseeing cities in Estonia. As a cold appetizer, you will certainly be offered game - sliced venison or elk, and for the second they can recommend bear or boar meat stew, stewed hare, quail with berry sauce or wild goose baked in clay.
Although Estonian restaurants are not yet listed in the Michelin digest, the skill of the chefs and the quality of the products used are no worse than in the star establishments in Italy and France, and prices have not yet managed to rise to European levels. A simple lunch in a street cafe will cost 7–10 EUR, and the average bill for a dinner for two in a good restaurant is 30 EUR.
Recently, gourmet tours to Hiiumaa to the city of Kärdla for Cafe Day and Restaurant Week have become widespread, so the development of the restaurant business in Estonia, apparently, is on the right track.
Estonians themselves do not really trust restaurateurs and prefer to eat at home, the old fashioned way. Since traditional cuisine, as we already know, is a phenomenon of peasant culture, the merits of national dishes are best revealed in the organic setting of a rural holiday or a noisy fair.
Gourmets from all over the world have already trodden the wide trail in Setomaa, where guests are treated to farm cheeses and ancient dishes from forest products. In summer, festivals are held in honor of the favorite products of the village menu - herring, pickles, mushrooms and homemade preserves.
Culinary festivals allow you to form the most adequate idea of the gastronomic preferences of the Estonian people. With live music, Estonian national dishes go with a bang, and dances, folk amusements and comic contests whet the appetite and deepen taste sensations.
You can't forbid drinking beautifully
Alcoholic drinks in Estonia are worthy of a poem. For many Soviet citizens, selfless love for the Baltics began with a sip of Old Tallinn (Vana Tallinn) rum liqueur or a strong tincture of Kännu Kukk on caraway seeds and juniper berries. In winter, it is nice to relax after a ski run, enjoying the spicy spirit of hot mulled wine or the subtle fruity aroma of glögg.
In summer, the baton is picked up by local beers - "Saku", "Pulse", "Saare" and "Viru" with juniper extract. Collectible varieties of beer are collected at the A le Coq Beer Museum in Tartu, and some farms brew original honey beer according to medieval recipes. In pubs, they usually serve home-made specialty ale with a signature snack - smoked pig ears in garlic sauce.
The Virmalised ales from Põhjala, Eesti Rukki Eil from Õllenaut and Vormsi Hele Eil from the Vormsi Brewery garner the most accolades. Fans of gastronomic experiments should definitely try red beer with berry juice, while healthy lifestyle enthusiasts can enjoy delicious and healthy non-alcoholic drinks - fruit drinks, compotes and Estonian kvass kali.
The best Estonian wines are collected in the collections of the Põltsamaa Castle Wine Cellar and the Drinking Culture Museum, which was built on the site of the pre-war Luscher&Martin distillery in Tallinn. The tasting of noble drinks takes place in the solemn atmosphere of an old-world estate, resurrecting the novels of Turgenev and Tolstoy.
Top 10 Estonian dishes to try
Kartulipors - pork baked in mashed potatoes. For fun, in some cafes, portions are made out in the form of funny pigs with olive eyes and a carrot patch.
Vereverst - blood sausage with pearl barley and chopped bacon.
Creamy Dunkles Soup - a first course with beans and smoked pork ribs in a toasted bread pot, thickly seasoned with a creamy sauce.
Pirukad - small yeast dough pies stuffed with rice, stewed vegetables or minced meat.
Mulgikapsid - sauerkraut stewed in a cast-iron pot with pork and barley grits, served with a side dish of boiled or baked potatoes.
Vere pakyogid - barley flour pancakes stuffed with peas, buckwheat and blood.
Mulgikorp are sweet curd cheesecakes served with sour cream or jam.
Kama is a mixture of dried or roasted grains of rye, peas and oats, filled with curdled milk, jam or honey.
Pyparkook - crispy biscuits with black pepper, ginger and cinnamon, painted with glazed patterns.
Marzipan is a figure cake made of grated almonds and powdered sugar, covered with icing.
The national cuisine of Estonia began to take shape only from the middle of the 19th century. Estonian cuisine has been greatly influenced by the culinary traditions of Germany and Sweden. The basis is quite simple, but fragrant and satisfying "peasant" dishes. It's all about the ingredients that are used to prepare certain dishes. For example: pork, all kinds of cereals, potatoes, fish (especially popular herring), offal (liver and blood), bakery products (rye bread, rolls and cakes made from barley flour). In addition, dairy and sour-milk products are very popular. There are more than 20 milk soups prepared according to a special Estonian recipe alone.
I would like to talk about Estonian soups separately. This is a very common dish in Estonian national cuisine, by the way, tasty, satisfying and healthy. In Estonia, there is a soup with barley groats, pearl barley, dumplings, peas, potatoes. Many will be surprised by herring soup, sweet blueberry soup, bread soup, unique in taste, and even exotic beer soup.
Seasonings in the Estonian national cuisine are used little, but they are treated very meticulously. Each seasoning is suitable for a specific dish. For example, celery and parsley are added to meat dishes, dill to fish, marjoram to black pudding (verevest), and cumin to cottage cheese. Almost no national dish is complete without “custmed” - it is milk, milk-sour cream, or milk-cream sauce.
Estonians are famous fishermen. If you happen to visit this country, then be sure to treat yourself to smoked trout (“suitsukala”), grilled flounder. Pleasant taste sensations, you will be given lightly salted whitefish, smoked eel, bream, Baltic herring.
Estonian forests are rich in berries and mushrooms. Therefore, on any festive table you will find pickled mushrooms, golden yellow chanterelle mushroom sauce, salted mushroom salad with onions and sour cream. In the house of every housewife, of course, there is home-made jam, pickled and pickled cucumbers, sauerkraut, all kinds of preparations from vegetables and fruits.
The national pride of Estonia is a variety of desserts. It is worth trying local cakes, muffins, unusual sweets with milk, coffee, liquor, nut, mint and other fillings. And Estonian chocolate with nuts is one of the most delicious and high quality in the world.
From drinks, Estonians prefer kvass, mead, birch sap. And as for alcohol, then in the first place, of course, is beer. Each region of the country brews its own unique traditional beer. Dark beer - Saare, from the famous island of Saaremaa and light beer - Saku are especially popular. Also, a good gift brought from Estonia will be Vana Tallinn liqueur and local mulled wine - Hoegwein.
Estonian cuisine has always been considered nutritious, tasty and natural. However, Estonian cuisine has never been distinguished by a great variety and sophistication of dishes. The basis of national Estonian cuisine is simple hearty meals from meat, fish, bread and vegetables. Many Estonian dishes resemble simple "peasant" treats.
National cuisines had a great influence on the formation of culinary traditions in Estonia Sweden and Germany. During Soviet times, Estonian gastronomic traditions were influenced by Russian, Caucasian and Central Asian cuisines.
Estonian National Cuisine Traditions
A distinctive feature of Estonian cuisine is a small amount of spices and seasonings. The most common spices in Estonia are salt, pepper, cumin and marjoram. Most dishes are prepared using food processing methods such as boiling in broth or other liquid. Frying vegetables, meat and other foods is rarely used in Estonian cuisine.
The main products used in the national cuisine are pork, fish (mainly herring), various vegetables and black bread.
One of the sights of the Estonian capital is considered to be the local zoo. Thanks to , you can watch the animals from your home. The link is available in our article.
An overview of other interesting places in Tallinn that are worth seeing is on our website.
Estonian dishes are distinguished by a combination of unusual products and a special sour taste. An example of traditional Estonian food is a variety of milk and pea dishes. One of the most popular and common drinks in Estonia is oatmeal jelly with milk.
A very popular dish that Estonians still use to this day is “kama” - oatmeal made from flour. The seeds of barley, oats and rye, as well as milk and curdled milk are added to the oatmeal.
Traditional Estonian dishes, which are still common today, are blood sausages, meatballs, herring with sour cream, stuffed eggs, potato salad and liver pate.
It is difficult to imagine an Estonian table without dairy products.
Estonians always eat milk, curdled milk, milk porridges and yoghurts.
Milk soups are especially popular in Estonian cuisine. More than 20 different milk soup recipes can be found in cookbooks.
In general, soups occupy a special place in Estonian gastronomy. Meat, vegetable, dairy and cereal soups are included in the diet of almost every Estonian. Barley soup with potatoes, bread soup, herring soup with potatoes, barley soup with peas are very popular. You can also try such exotic dishes as beer or blueberry soup.
Of the fish products on Estonian tables, most often there are herring and sprat. From meat locals prefer pork. Liver and blood sausages are very common. Meat, as a rule, is boiled in special dishes with a thick wall or baked in the oven. Estonians are very fond of jelly made from pork legs and head. The main side dish for meat and fish is potatoes.
Almost every hot national dish is served with a special sauce “kastmed”. Most often, gravies are made on the basis of milk and sour cream.
In Estonia, you can also try very interesting and unusual desserts based on semolina and bread.
Features of the modern national cuisine of Estonia
Despite the simplicity of most dishes, Estonian cuisine surprises many Russians unusual combination of products and composition of the traditional menu.
A typical Estonian breakfast, in addition to a variety of cereals with milk, which usually have a salty taste, may include sandwiches with butter and herring. For breakfast, croutons fried in butter are also often served with additives - eggs, tomato sauce, beans, cheese, jam.
The most important dish in Estonia during lunch is soup.
Second courses very often resemble traditional German cuisine.
The lunch menu often includes blood sausages, stewed sauerkraut, pork knuckle and buckwheat porridge.
For dinner, Estonians prefer fish and meat dishes. And finally, the traditional dessert on the Estonian table is sweet soup.
What to try in Estonia
To get an idea of Estonian cuisine, tourists should definitely try the following national dishes:
- Mulgikapsas - the dish is a stew of pork, barley (or pearl barley) and sauerkraut;
- Mulgipuder - porridge made from pearl barley and mashed potatoes;
- Kartulipors is meat baked in mashed potatoes;
- Vere pakyogid - pancakes with blood;
- Barley flour dumplings;
- Suitsukala - smoked trout;
- Tallinn sprat is sprat spicy salting which is very popular with the locals.
Cheese gourmets should definitely try delicious homemade fatty cheeses in Estonia.
In addition, pork knuckle, potato dishes, pickles, sweet and sour cabbage, fried herring, various porridges from swede and potatoes are popular in Estonia.
National Estonian desserts
Desserts in Estonia, as already mentioned, are distinguished by their original taste and non-traditional combination of products.
In addition to the usual cinnamon buns, shortbread cookies and berry jams, sweet soups stand out among Estonian desserts, which are offered in a wide variety of variations.
One of the most famous desserts is bread soup, which is prepared from stale bread soaked in water, with the addition of raisins and whipped cream.
No less popular among locals and berry soup, which is brewed from a variety of berries with the addition of honey and nuts.
Tourists visiting Estonia should also try Estonians' favorite Christmas cookies - pyparkook. Its distinguishing feature is a large amount of cinnamon.
Special attention deserves original Estonian sweets filled with mint, nuts, coffee or liquor. In addition, lovers of sweet desserts can try whipped fruit juice semolina mousse, apple casseroles and jelly with whipped cream in Estonia.
You can try the national cuisine of neighboring Latvia in one of the restaurants of the chain. Pork ribs and ears, peas with bacon, and other goodies you will appreciate!
Going on a gastro tour to Estonia, take care of obtaining a visa in advance. will help you understand the intricacies of this process.
Bad weather will not spoil the mood of a lover of delicious food, but you need to be prepared for anything:, follow the link - an article about the weather in Tallinn.
National Estonian drinks
Among non-alcoholic drinks, Estonians give the palm to various jelly. In addition, fruit drinks, kvass and coffee are very common among drinks.
Estonian spirits are well-deservedly popular outside the country. Estonians themselves consider it their national drink beer, which is brewed everywhere here. Each region of Estonia has its own traditional beer. The most popular are the dark beer "Saare" and the light beer "Saku".
Another traditional invention of Estonian cuisine is honey beer. Homemade beer with juniper is a truly traditional Estonian drink.
Very common in Estonia is “höegwein” - local mulled wine, which can not only be tasted in local cafes and bars, but also brought home as a souvenir.
While in Estonia, you should definitely try the famous Vana Tallinn liqueur("Old Tallinn"), released for the first time back in 1962. It is a dark brown rum flavored liqueur.
Vana Tallinn liqueur can be consumed both in pure form and with coffee or as part of various cocktails.
In Estonian stores, the drink is sold in three variations - with a strength of 40.45 and 50 degrees.
Another famous Estonian liquor is raspberry Kannu Kukk. Strong red liquor has a pleasant rich taste and aroma of cumin.
Where to try national cuisine in Tallinn
The most famous places in Tallinn specializing in national Estonian cuisine are…
Restaurant MEKK
Included in the number the best restaurants Estonia. The main "trick" of this institution is the observance of national traditions in the preparation of dishes using environmentally friendly products. The restaurant's menu changes depending on the season.
Restaurant Olematu Rüütel ("Non-existent Knight")
Has a special national flavor. In this establishment, you can try traditional Estonian soup with smoked sausages and pearl barley, liver pate with cognac and other national Estonian dishes.
Peppersack Restaurant
Located near the Town Hall Square, it specializes in medieval Estonian cuisine and offers its visitors unusual entertainment.
Maiasmokk
The oldest cafe in Tallinn for the sweet tooth (working in this very place since 1864), which is known among tourists for its delicious pastries and desserts. Here you can try and buy Estonian chocolate, the famous Estonian liqueurs Vana Tallinn Cream and Kannu Kukk.