Suomalainen kotikeittiö

Texyla

Finnish Cooking Without Vegetable Oil

Quiet food from the land of lakes and long winters. We cook the Finnish table the way it was cooked before seed oils existed: with butter, with sour rye, with fish from cold water and berries from the forest floor.

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A rustic Nordic table by a window, with a dark loaf of bread and tea being poured
How we cook

Three words guide every pan in this kitchen

Voi

Butter first

Every recipe on this site begins with real butter, ghee, tallow or lard. Nothing here is fried, baked or finished with vegetable oil, and nothing needs to be. Finnish cooking never asked for it.

Ruis

Rye and patience

Rye is the backbone of the Finnish table: sour, dark and dense. We treat long fermentation and slow ovens as ingredients in their own right, because in this cuisine time does half the cooking.

Metsä

The forest pantry

Bilberries, lingonberries, wild mushrooms and game. The forest fills the Finnish larder for free, and its flavors, sharp, dark and clean, run through nearly every dish we publish.

The recipes

Six Finnish classics, cooked with traditional fats

Each dish below is made exactly as a Finnish home cook would recognize it. Butter where butter belongs, cream where cream belongs, and not a drop of vegetable oil anywhere.

Karelian pastries with rye crusts and rice filling on a white plate

Karjalanpiirakka

Karelian pastries with rice filling

Thin rye crusts crimped by hand around creamy rice porridge, brushed with melted butter and topped with munavoi, the classic egg butter.

1 h 45 min Makes 16 Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 2 cups (240 g) dark rye flour
  • 1/2 cup (60 g) fine wheat flour
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt, divided
  • 1 cup (240 ml) cold water
  • 1/2 cup (100 g) short grain rice
  • 2 1/2 cups (600 ml) whole milk
  • 3 tbsp butter, plus extra melted for brushing
  • 2 hard boiled eggs
  • 4 tbsp soft butter, for the egg butter
  • Pinch of white pepper

Method

  1. Simmer the rice in a splash of water for 5 minutes, then add the milk and cook on low heat, stirring often, until you have a thick porridge, about 40 minutes. Season with half the salt, stir in 3 tbsp butter and let it cool.
  2. Mix the rye flour, wheat flour, remaining salt and cold water into a firm, smooth dough. Rest it under a towel for 15 minutes.
  3. Divide the dough into 16 pieces and roll each into a very thin oval on a rye floured surface.
  4. Spread a spoonful of porridge down the center of each oval, then fold and crimp the edges with your fingers into the traditional ridged boat shape.
  5. Bake at 475 F (245 C) for 12 to 15 minutes, until the ridges darken.
  6. Brush the hot pastries generously with melted butter and cover with a towel to soften.
  7. Mash the boiled eggs with the soft butter and white pepper, and serve this munavoi on the warm pastries.
A bowl of creamy salmon soup topped with fresh dill and a spoon of sour cream

Lohikeitto

Creamy salmon soup

The most beloved soup in Finland: cubes of salmon, waxy potatoes and leek in a gentle cream broth, finished with a handful of fresh dill.

40 min Serves 4 Easy

Ingredients

  • 1 lb (500 g) skinless salmon fillet, cubed
  • 4 cups (1 liter) fish stock
  • 3 medium waxy potatoes, cubed
  • 1 leek, white part only, sliced
  • 1 carrot, sliced into thin rounds
  • 1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream
  • 3 tbsp butter, divided
  • 5 whole allspice berries
  • A generous handful of fresh dill, chopped
  • Sea salt and white pepper to taste

Method

  1. Melt 2 tbsp butter in a soup pot and sweat the leek gently for 4 minutes without letting it color.
  2. Add the stock, potatoes, carrot and allspice berries. Simmer for about 12 minutes, until the potatoes are nearly tender.
  3. Lower the heat, add the salmon cubes and poach them gently for 5 minutes. Do not let the soup boil.
  4. Pour in the cream and warm through for 2 to 3 minutes, then season with salt and white pepper.
  5. Take the pot off the heat, stir in the last spoon of butter and most of the dill.
  6. Ladle into deep bowls, scatter the remaining dill on top and serve with dark rye bread.
Slices of dense dark rye bread arranged in a row

Ruisleipä

Finnish sour rye bread

Dense, dark and honestly sour, this is the bread Finns miss most when they live abroad. A true overnight sour gives it that unmistakable depth.

About 24 h 2 loaves Advanced

Ingredients

  • 100 g active rye sourdough starter
  • 400 ml warm water, for the overnight sour
  • 250 g wholegrain rye flour, for the overnight sour
  • 300 g wholegrain rye flour, for the dough
  • 100 ml warm water, for the dough
  • 2 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1 tsp caraway seeds, optional
  • Soft butter, for the tins
  • Extra rye flour, for dusting

Method

  1. The evening before, stir the starter, 400 ml warm water and 250 g rye flour together in a large bowl. Cover and leave at room temperature for 12 to 16 hours, until bubbly and clearly sour.
  2. Mix in the remaining flour, water, salt and caraway. The dough will be thick, sticky and heavy; that is exactly right.
  3. Rest the dough, covered, for 2 hours.
  4. With wet hands, shape it into two rounds and place them in buttered tins. Dust the tops with rye flour and proof for 1 to 2 hours, until small cracks appear.
  5. Prick the loaves all over with a fork, then bake at 425 F (220 C) for 15 minutes. Lower to 350 F (175 C) and bake 45 minutes more.
  6. Wrap the hot loaves in a clean towel and let them rest until the next day before slicing. Serve with plenty of cold butter.
Slices of seared game meat plated with dark berry sauce and lingonberries

Poronkäristys

Sautéed reindeer

Lapland on a plate: shavings of reindeer browned in butter and simmered until tender, served over buttery mash with sharp lingonberries.

50 min Serves 4 Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 lb (600 g) reindeer meat, sliced paper thin (venison works too)
  • 4 tbsp butter, divided
  • 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
  • 1 cup (240 ml) water or game stock
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp coarsely crushed black pepper
  • 2 lb (900 g) floury potatoes
  • 3/4 cup (180 ml) warm whole milk
  • 3 tbsp butter, for the mash
  • Lingonberries, fresh or preserved, to serve

Method

  1. Heat 2 tbsp butter in a heavy pan until it stops foaming, then brown the reindeer slices in batches over high heat so they sear instead of stewing.
  2. Lower the heat, add the remaining 2 tbsp butter and the onion, and cook until soft and translucent.
  3. Return all the meat, season with salt and pepper, pour in the water or stock and simmer gently, covered, for about 30 minutes, until tender.
  4. Meanwhile boil the potatoes in salted water, drain well, and mash them with the warm milk and 3 tbsp butter until smooth.
  5. Taste the käristys and adjust the seasoning; the sauce should be short and glossy, not soupy.
  6. Serve the meat over the mash with a generous spoonful of lingonberries on the side.
A plate of meatballs with boiled potatoes, pickled cucumber and vegetables on a floral tablecloth

Lihapullat

Finnish meatballs in cream gravy

Soft, allspice scented meatballs browned in butter and simmered in a pan gravy of stock and cream. Sunday food in its purest Finnish form.

50 min Serves 4 Easy

Ingredients

  • 14 oz (400 g) ground beef
  • 7 oz (200 g) ground pork
  • 1/2 cup (50 g) fine breadcrumbs
  • 2/3 cup (150 ml) heavy cream, for soaking
  • 1 small onion, finely grated
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 tsp ground allspice
  • Sea salt and white pepper
  • 3 tbsp butter, for frying
  • 2 tbsp wheat flour, 1 cup (240 ml) beef stock and 2/3 cup (150 ml) cream, for the gravy

Method

  1. Soak the breadcrumbs in the cream for 10 minutes until fully swollen.
  2. Mix the meats with the soaked crumbs, grated onion, egg, allspice, salt and pepper until just combined. Rest the mixture for 10 minutes.
  3. Roll into balls the size of a walnut with damp hands.
  4. Brown the meatballs in butter over medium heat, turning until deeply colored on all sides, then lift them out.
  5. Stir the flour into the buttery drippings, then whisk in the stock and cream to make a smooth gravy.
  6. Return the meatballs and simmer gently for 8 to 10 minutes.
  7. Serve with boiled or mashed potatoes and lingonberries.
A slice of blueberry pie on a plate with fresh blueberries and a glass of milk

Mustikkapiirakka

Finnish blueberry pie

A soft, cardamom scented butter crust holding a layer of dark berries under a gently set sour cream custard. Always served with cold milk.

1 h 10 min Serves 8 Easy

Ingredients

  • 2/3 cup (150 g) soft butter
  • 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar, plus 3 tbsp for the filling
  • 2 eggs, divided
  • 2 cups (250 g) wheat flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
  • 3 cups (400 g) bilberries or blueberries
  • 3/4 cup (200 ml) sour cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla sugar
  • Butter for the pie tin

Method

  1. Cream the soft butter with 1/2 cup sugar until pale, then beat in one egg.
  2. Fold in the flour, baking powder and cardamom to make a soft dough.
  3. Press the dough evenly into a buttered pie tin, building a low raised edge, and chill for 15 minutes.
  4. Scatter the berries over the base in a thick, even layer.
  5. Whisk the sour cream with the remaining egg, 3 tbsp sugar and vanilla sugar, and pour it over the berries.
  6. Bake at 390 F (200 C) for 30 to 35 minutes, until the custard is set and the edge is golden.
  7. Cool until just warm and serve the Finnish way, with a glass of cold milk.
Our Kitchen

Why this table has no vegetable oil on it

Texyla is an editorial kitchen devoted to one idea: Finnish food, cooked the way it was cooked for generations, needs nothing from a refinery. Butter, ghee, lard and tallow carried this cuisine through centuries of hard winters, and they carry every recipe we publish today.

We write each recipe in plain language, test it in an ordinary home kitchen, and change nothing about the tradition except what never belonged to it in the first place.

Hyvää ruokahalua. Enjoy your meal.