DOUGH
3 oz butter
1 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
3 cup wheat flour
1 oz yeast cake (or 1 package of dried y, east)
FILLING
1 large yellow onion
1 lb meat, ground (mixed beef and pork)
1 cup cream
1 1/4 cup rice, cooked (left-over rice is fin, e)
1 egg
1 salt and pepper
Directions
MAKE THE DOUGH: melt the butter and add milk. Heat the mixture to
100 degrees F. Crumble the yeast into a bowl. Add the
butter-and-milk mixture and whip it until the yeast as dissolved. Add
sugar, salt and flour and stir until it becomes a dough. Cover the
bowl and let rise in a warm place for about 40 minutes.
While the dough rises, chop the onion into very small pieces and put
in a large frying pan. Add the ground meat immediately and saute for
10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the cooked rice and saute this
mixture another 5 minutes. Add the cream, season to taste with salt
and pepper, and turn off the heat. Let the frying pan stand on the
stove, covered, until the dough is ready. Preheat the oven to 450
degrees F.
Roll out the dough so it fits in a 12x16 inch baking dish. Put the
dough into the dish so that the dough covers the whole dish (this is
the most difficult part; don't be discouraged if you have to roll out
the dough again).
Add the filling on top of the dough. Whip the egg and spread it over
the filling. Bake it on the bottom rack in the oven for about 20
minutes.
When the pie has cooled off a bit; cut it into pieces that are about
1 1/4 inches by 6 inches (the traditional size of lihapiirakka in
Finland). Serve.
NOTES:
* Finnish meat pie -- This is an excellent-tasting stomach filler.
My dear mother gave me this recipe when I moved away from home. She
probably thought that it would give me that feeling of home. It does.
I have tried it on my friends and it is always a hit. My mother is
from Finland. Yield: Serves 4-6.
* While eating lihapiirakka, you can try the hard work of
pronouncing its name. Liha means meat and piirakka is just piirakka.
The filling can of course be varied. Other traditional Finnish
fillings for other piirakkas are blueberries (with some potato flour
on top) and cottage cheese.
: Difficulty: moderate.
: Time: 30 minutes preparation, 30 minutes cooking and cooling.
: Precision: measure the crust ingredients carefully.
: Krister Valtonen
: Dept. of CS, University of Linkoping, Sweden.
: {seismo,mcvax}!enea!liuida!obelix!valtonen
: Copyright (C) 1986 USENET Community Trust
Servings: 4 servings
Lihapiirakka Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Beverage; Cake; Dessert; Grain; Meat
The History of Recipes
Recipes as an idea can be traced way back into distant history, at least as far as the Egypt of the Pharoahs, and possibly even further than that. Interesting though that is, sadly, these old cookbooks were just very simple hieroglyphic recipes for food preparation.
In an interesting twist, the oldest recipe found, according to historians are a few clay tablets in Sumerian describing the baking of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as making those who drank it feel exhilarated and blissful. During the time of the Romans a roman called Apicius assembled a number of documents describing recipes enjoyed by the Romans. He recounts how the meals of wealthy Romans were separated into appetizers, main meal and desserts, something that is very familiar to us today. This early Roman chef tells us how the early Romans used a good variety of aromatic flavors, including a few you will know such as basil, rue and dill. Moving our culinary historical trip onwards, there were two interesting books published in the 14th Century ; one book published under the title `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary titled `Curye on Inglish`. Don`t be fooled by the titles though, these are not about the indian curry that is served today, but rather recipes for the types of food prepared by the chefs of the nobility of the period. Later, in the fifteenth century, the Crusaders brought back many foods and spices from the East, including rosemary and coriander. These new culinary innovations prompted a torrent in books on cookery, the majority of which are now in private collections. By the advent of the 20th century, recipe books are in high demand, as a result of increased literacy, people having more spare time and being a little richer. |
We hope you enjoy this Lihapiirakka recipe.
