The name of the national Finnish dish Kalakukko literally translates as "Fish Rooster". But do not be afraid - this is not a mutant, but an amazingly delicious rye dough pie with fish filling, originally from the province of Savo. It is baked for a very long time - at least 3 hours at a low temperature. For the filling, by tradition, the whole vendace is used, and for such a long cooking time the fish bones are softened to an edible state. However, we can use absolutely any fish or fish fillet. Lard, onion and cream must be added to the filling. Worth trying!
You will need:
For the test:
400 grams of rye flour (or 200 grams of rye and wheat flour);
1 glass of warm water;
50 grams of butter;
1 teaspoon of salt.
For filling:
800 grams of fish fillets (any);
2 onions;
200 grams of lard;
50 ml heavy cream;
a bunch of dill;
salt and ground pepper (to taste);
yolk of 1 egg for greasing the cake.
Dissolve the salt in water. Add water, softened butter to the flour, knead the dough and put it in the refrigerator for half an hour. Finely chop the fish, onion and bacon, chop the dill. Optionally, you can scroll all these products through a meat grinder. You can fry the fish in lard, but this is not necessary. Pour in the cream, salt and pepper. Mix everything thoroughly.
There are two ways to form a cake:
Method 1: divide the dough into two parts (larger and smaller), roll out a smaller part, transfer to a baking sheet, put the filling on the dough; from the rest of the dough, roll out the second circle of a larger diameter, cover the filling with it and pinch the edges.
Method 2: roll out one large circle from the whole dough, put the filling in the middle, pinch the edges at the top of the pie, put on a baking sheet.
Chop the pie in several places, grease the surface with yolk. Bake over low heat at 150 degrees for at least three hours. In the baking process, grease the top of the pie with butter several times. If the cake starts to burn, you can cover it with foil.
"Fish Rooster" is good both hot and cold. The Finns eat it in an unusual way: they cut off the top of the bread, and then choose the filling with a spoon, gradually breaking off pieces of bread around the edges. Traditions also prescribe to wash down the fish pie with milk or kefir.
