All delicious things Finnish

[ChocoMom]

There is a Finnish baked pancake that's popular around here..It is called Finnish Kropsu. (Which I believe means "baked pancake")

 3 eggs

1/2 c sugar

1 t salt

2 c milk

1-1/4 c flour

Melted butter

oven 375 for 20 min

mix all ingredients with mixer (*or immersion blender), except for the butter.  1/2 stick of butter, melt in pan. Use either a 9 by 13, or a large round iron pan. Once the butter is melted, add half of it to the batter and mix. once mixed, pour the batter onto the remaining hot butter in the pan and bake.

My FIL does not make the baked one; his are more like the pannukakku batter, only he makes them into ultra-thin, crepe-like yummies that we drown in syrup, or sprinkle powdered sugar on. They're mighty tasty.  All the kids and grandkids "make reservations at Grandpa's" for breakfast when they come to visit, because they know he'll make those for them.

[Darienne]

Hi ChocoMom,  and what is the main difference between the Pannukakku and the Kropsu?  Not sure I see any really, except the Kropsu has more milk in it...which may just be the main difference? 

(and what's the difference between the V3 and V4 emoticons....oh, probably Version 3 and 4?)

[EsaK]

From what I've read, kropsu is specifically from Pohjanmaa/Ostrobothnia. Biggest difference to pannukakku is supposed to be that kropsu is thinner and somewhat crispy on top, whereas pannukakku is more "custardy" / thicker and not crispy. 

 

Joululimppu is great. Put some cured salmon on top of that and you're good to go. And for karjalanpiirakka's flavor, the pie itself I guess isn't super tasty. In my opinion, what makes it tasty is when you put some egg butter on top and eat it warmed. Still, it's a very humble pie if you look at the ingredients and I wouldn't call it a flavor bomb or anything. Probably the same thing could be said of most other Finnish dishes that come from the earlier times when ingredients were scarce. 

[Darienne]

I'll try making the karjalanpiirakka, but I won't promise to eat it.  Hard-boiled eggs are not my thing at all.  I had a bad encounter with an egg and a very ferocious British woman during WWII...now that's a long time ago but some things stick forever...and it's not for me.  But many thanks, EsaK.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I made the pannukakku recipe for dinner tonight. I used Darienne's tips, like the Pyrex dish and sprinkling all the blueberries on top of the batter. I also used maple instead of birch syrup.

 

It was very good. My husband particularly loved it.

 

I think I may have messed up though by using huge fresh blueberries, which are full of juice that they release into the already thin batter. I also went blueberry-crazy, and at least doubled the amount called for, so all errors are mine. This resulted in a very moist custard center that didn't rise. The edges puffed and rose high above the pan and were crispy, and I loved the textural contrast with the softer, moister center. The flavor is delicious, and it smells so good while it's baking.

 

Next time, I won't use such large fresh blueberries or so many frozen ones. Bigger and fresher is not always better. 

[ElsieD]

I bought some maple and birch syrup in Cochrane Ontario from a place called North of 49.  Their Web site is  northof49birch.ca

In addition to the syrup I bought, they also sell pure birch syrup.

 

 

 

 

 

[LindaK]

Back when I was a kid, an uncle on the Swedish side of the family made homemade birch beer every summer. I loved it, but I haven't had it in many years. Very unique flavor. more sharp than sweet. I wonder if birch syrup is the base. Does anyone know?  I'd love to try making it myself.

 

From what I'm reading, it sounds like Finnish and Swedish food have a lot in common, I'll give some of these a try. Thanks for getting the topic started, Darienne.

[VilleN]

Another Finn here! Haven't checked eGullet for a week or so and there's this lively thread about some of my favourite delicacies.

 

Around the turn of January and February there's also the stuffed pulla - laskiasipulla. You just cut the top off, scoop out some stuff and add some jam (either strawberry of my favourite, raspberry) or almond paste and whipped cream, and put back on the top. There's also the different "schools" of what's the right thing to have in your laskiaispulla. But if you're not in to orthodoxy, you can even put in jam AND almond paste. For what I've understood, also the Swedish have something very close to that, which speaks for the similarities of Finnish and Swedish food.

[Darienne]

Breakfast this morning for overnight guests.  Could not resist taking a photo of the Pannukakku and already they were beginning to fall.  A great success and the guests went home with the recipe.

 

[rotuts]

@Darienne  

 

I admit I had to google this.

 

I didn't have to google its deliciousness though ....

[Thanks for the Crepes]

16 hours ago, Darienne said:

Breakfast this morning for overnight guests.  Could not resist taking a photo of the Pannukakku and already they were beginning to fall.  A great success and the guests went home with the recipe.

 

 

Those look great @Darienne. I had thought about eliminating the blueberries from my first attempt at the recipe because they seemed to inhibit the rise, and now you have reinforced that idea.

[Darienne]

The first time I didn't put the blueberries in, TFTC,...I simply forgot to.  And was pleased with the results. 

I see that there are a myriad of recipes online.  I'll stick with my one until I really feel it's under my belt.

A question from me:  I've made it in pyrex and I've made it in metal.  The above are in metal of course.  (Don't really know what metal it is....?)  Is it my imagination or do they rise better in the metal?  Not as good a presentation as the glass...but then rise is what I am after.  Partly because folks are so surprised when they first see them.  And we serve them out of our kitchen.  I never learned to serve from the dining table really.

 

Also: what about making the batter and keeping it in the fridge overnight?  I am not at my swiftest before breakfast...which I am making.  And, as far as I can read, keeping pancake batter overnight in the fridge is a contested issue. 

[SylviaLovegren]

I always used a big old cast iron skillet to bake mine in the oven.  Glass doesn't seem right. 

[Darienne]

Cast iron sounds good...I'll try that the next time the Pannukakku is just for us.  But I am thinking of the dish as part of a brunch/breakfast for a group.  One recipe's worth (as printed) serves 3 and yesterday, we were five.  Thus, two metal 9"X13"s.

 

(Have to refigure the amounts obviously.  Next...)

Edited March 23, 2016 by Darienne (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

20 hours ago, Darienne said:

The first time I didn't put the blueberries in, TFTC,...I simply forgot to.  And was pleased with the results. 

I see that there are a myriad of recipes online.  I'll stick with my one until I really feel it's under my belt.

A question from me:  I've made it in pyrex and I've made it in metal.  The above are in metal of course.  (Don't really know what metal it is....?)  Is it my imagination or do they rise better in the metal?  Not as good a presentation as the glass...but then rise is what I am after.  Partly because folks are so surprised when they first see them.  And we serve them out of our kitchen.  I never learned to serve from the dining table really.

 

Also: what about making the batter and keeping it in the fridge overnight?  I am not at my swiftest before breakfast...which I am making.  And, as far as I can read, keeping pancake batter overnight in the fridge is a contested issue. 

 

@Darienne, I don't know if the pannukakku rises better in metal or not, because you recommended here to do it in Pyrex, and I've not tried the recipe again since following yours. I did screw it up by using the huge and fabulous fresh blueberries from Chile that were the first of the season for me, and doubling the amount called for. 

 

I do know that when I make popovers or Yorkshire pudding (similar), I always do it in metal, and it was lighter and rose higher than my results from the recipe you linked from Ontario Magazine. My recipes for Yorkies only contain half as many eggs for the same milk and flour, though.

 

It's amazing to me that you can get a batter to rise and be so delicious with no yeast or baking powder, no leavening at all except the "incredible edible egg". 

 

There's a thread here on popovers, with many tips, and some of them include refrigerating the batter overnight, but then it must be brought out early enough to come to room temp on the counter before the bake.

 

Your metal pans, BTW, look like my one beloved 9 x 11 aluminum roaster pan that I used to cook fish in tonight. Steel ones usually get darker than that over years of use. Yours have some polymerized oil brown streaks and spots, and to get to that point, steel pans would be darker overall, I think.