In the first chapter I wrote about the cook books of my granny. Above you see two extracts from the book Kotiruoka from 1950, in which they write about fish:
“The right season for different fish species:
perch, from September to March
eel, from August to November
pike, from August to March
flounder, from October to March
zander, from September to March
bream, from September to December
salmon, from March to July
Second page
burbot, from December to February
common whitefish, from March to August
Baltic herring, from September to March
cod, from September to February”
It’s imporant to keep in mind that in this context ‘salmon’ means ‘wild salmon’, in other words “the real salmon”. Personally I never buy salmon that is commonly on sale in the supermarkets, cause it’s often of inferior quality compared to the wild one.
What comes to the recipe, I’m afraid, there is no fish. It’s a dish full of vitamin C. A dish that illuminates a grey day of November for instance.
Sea-buckthorn porridge (sv. havtornsgröt, fi. tyrnipuuro)
1 litre of water
200 g of sea-buckthorn (commonly found as frozen product in the shops)
1,5 dl of sugar
1,5 tablespoons of salt
1,5 dl of semolina flour
Boil the water together with the berries, the sugar and the salt. Add the semolina flour little by little whipping at the same time. Let cook on low heat for about 10 minutes, mixing it once in a while. Serve either warm or tepid.
Potato crepes (sv. potatisplättar, fi. perunaletut)
5-6 potatoes
0,5 l of milk (whole or partially skimmed)
2,5 dl of flour (type 0, the standard in Finland)
2 eggs
salt
Put the potatoes to the pot and add water till it just covers them. Make boil and leave the potatoes to cook for about 20 minutes. Peel and mash the potatoes (NB. in the summer it’s not necessary to peel them). Mix the potatoes together with the milk, the flour and the eggs. Add the salt. Fry in butter and serve warm.
Bon appetit!
– Pekka