It must be tender and juicy and melt on the tongue. Whether cooked on a charcoal grill, baked in the oven or smoked, every fan of fish has a preferred cooking method for salmon. But for the Finns, it’s absolutely no question: They all swear on flambeed salmon.
The fish, halved longways, are rubbed only with honey and salt before being stretched out into metal grating and placed in a rounded oven. The salmon halves are hung upright in the oven, which has a door. “That way, the flames touch both sides of the fish, and the fat can simply run out,” says Tanya Huutonen about the special preparation.
Huutonen’s task is to show the world the best that Finnish cuisine has to offer. Besides fish, berries also play a huge role in the Finnish kitchen. The forests there are practically overflowing with them.
“When Finns collect berries, they don’t leave the woods until they have three huge buckets full. And then for days, the whole bounty is either frozen or turned into juices, chutneys, sauces or baked goods,” says Michaela Fuchs, who blogs about Nordic food.
Fuchs uses young spruce and pine tips at the beginning of spring to conjure up some one-of-a-kind flavours. “You can tell the new growths by their light-green colour. They can simply be pinched off with the fingers,” she explains.
The tips are used to make a jelly by simply being cooked in water: Once the essential oils are out, the pure stock just needs some preserving sugar stirred in, and then it’s ready: Your own taste of Finland, handily preserved in a portable jar. – dpa
