Tourists, who decided to make a trip to the amazing country of Latvia , are always advised to get acquainted with the local cuisine. In many respects it resembles the European, which is due to the location of the country. Thanks to the neighborhood with countries such as Estonia , Lithuania, Belarus, Russia, Latvia's national cuisine includes dishes similar to those prepared in these countries. At the same time, it has its own peculiar characteristics.
Latvian national cuisine - dishes
Dishes, which represent the national cuisine of Latvia, can be both customary and containing unusual combinations of products. You can list such variations of dishes popular in this country:
- Meat - for which pork and poultry are used. Beef is also used, but to a lesser extent. Almost every house in Latvia cooks such a meat dish as a pork chill, and blood sausage is common;
- To the meat, as a rule, various sauces are served, for the production of which sour cream or oil is used;
- Latvians are very fond of bread, which accompanies almost every dish, it is represented by very many kinds of varieties and is famous for its magnificent taste;
- thanks to the close location to the sea, the country is very fond of and often prepare dishes from seafood . Applied as sea fish - mackerel, cod, Baltic herring, flounder, and freshwater - pike, carp, bream, perch. Refined tourists can taste salmon cooked in various ways. A dish like a fish cooked in milk is served, which is served with a creamy sauce. Fish casseroles are popular, for example, from cod ("Zivya pudinsh") or from herring ("Siltu pudinsh").
- in the national cuisine of Latvia all sorts of baking are welcome. Here you can try pies filled with ham, corned beef, vegetables - cabbage, potatoes, they are called Skandu Raushi, buns with jam, poppy seeds, cottage cheese, donuts, bagels, Piparkukas cookies, cakes. Popular buns with bacon, which are served for a snack or for the first course, this is an obligatory attribute of Christmas;
- Latvians are very fond of sauerkraut , which can be of three kinds: sweet, sour or sweet and sour. Also, stewed cabbage is a dish taken from German cuisine.
Unusual Latvian dishes
Together with traditional food, which can be tasted in European countries, the cuisine of Latvia offers dishes that can only be found in this country. Among them you can list the following:
- Buberte - semolina porridge with whipped whites;
- Jan cheese - for its manufacture use the ancient recipe, which was passed down from generation to generation. It is closely connected with the national Latvian holiday, which is called Janov's Day;
- Kisel from black bread ;
- an unusual combination, which is traditionally inherent in Latvia, is the combination of boiled potatoes and cottage cheese that are consumed together
- bread soup with dried fruits ;
- An interesting national dish is gray peas - it is served at Christmas and is associated with Latvians on this holiday. A special sign is associated with it - peas are considered a symbol of tears, therefore, in order not to cry in the coming year, it should be eaten as much as possible. Popular variant of its preparation in combination with fried bacon and onion;
- jelly from rhubarb with whipped cream ;
- soup with sour cream - putraba , it is made from barley, water or buttermilk. This dish is served on hot summer days, it has a refreshing effect, due to the fact that it is pre-cooled for 6-12 hours. Lastly, add sour cream, use soup in combination with herring or bread and butter;
- black bread with cranberry juice and honey ;
- It is widely known even outside of Latvia such a dish as "Peasant Breakfast" , for which components such as homemade sausage, smoked loin, boiled potatoes are used, everything is mixed and poured with a mixture of beaten eggs and milk, and then baked in a frying pan.
Beverages of Latvia
In Latvia, distributed dairy drinks, which include curdled milk, kefir, whey. It is recommended to try the so-called peltels - pea or oat jelly, in which add yogurt or sour cranberry juice. Such unusual juices, obtained by nature, such as maple and birch, are popular. Summer can be refreshed with traditional bread kvass.
Also, Latvia is famous for its beer , it respects the ancient traditions of brewing, many types of beer are based on the processing of barley. Among the alcoholic beverages, the most famous is Riga Black Balsam , it is rightly considered the visiting card of this country. It is prepared in oak barrels, and it consists of 24 plant components mixed on vodka.