Category: Meats

Lihamurekepiiras—Finnish Meat Loaf in Sour Cream Pastry

Many years ago our niece Gina and her husband gave us a little spiral-bound cookbook, Fine Finnish Foods. Compiled by Gerry Kangas of Palo, Minnesota and published in 1988, it is still in print and includes a lot of recipes passed down from mothers to daughters.

Here is a beautiful main dish that tastes as good as it looks. Even better, it is surprisingly easy to make.

INGREDIENTS:

For the dough:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 cup chilled butter or margarine
1 large egg
1/2 cup sour cream

For the filling:
4 T butter
1/4 lb. mushrooms
2 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef, veal or pork
1 medium-small onion (about 2” in diameter)
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 cup grated Cheddar or Swiss cheese
1/3 cup milk
1 egg
2 T milk

PROCEDURE:

Sift the flour and salt together. Cut the butter or margarine into the flour with a fork or pastry blender until the flour looks like coarse cornmeal. Beat the egg into the sour cream, then stir it into the flour mixture. Work the liquid into the dry ingredients until you have a soft ball. Wrap it in waxed paper or plastic film and refrigerate the dough for an hour.

Make the filling while the dough is cooling. Clean and chop the mushrooms into a quarter-inch dice. Melt the butter over medium heat in a large skillet and sauté the mushrooms for about six minutes. Add the meat, onion, salt and pepper and cook them until the meat is done and the juices have evaporated. Lower the heat if necessary, so the meat and onions do not get crisp.

Preheat the oven to 375º and grease a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet.

Remove the skillet from the heat and allow the meat to cool for five or six minutes. Grate the cheese while the meat is cooling, then mix the cheese and milk with the meat.

Divide the dough in half and roll each half into a six by fourteen-inch rectangle. Put one rectangle on the cookie sheet and spoon the meat mixture into a ridge along the center of the dough. Shape the meat into a loaf, leaving about an inch of dough around the meat. Brush the exposed dough with a little milk.

Lay the second rectangle of dough on top of the loaf and trim the dough to make a neat rectangle. Seal the edges with a fork. Beat the egg and milk together and paint the dough. Prick holes on top to let the steam escape.

Bake the loaf for thirty-five to forty-five minutes until it is golden brown. Remove it from the oven, let it cool for a few minutes, then cut thick slices to produce six to eight servings.

Serve with sour cream and lingonberry or cranberry sauce.

NOTES: I have modified Mrs. Kangas’s recipe slightly by including a little salt and pepper and using only two and a half pounds of meat.

OPTIONS: If you like spicier foods, you can add a little more salt and pepper to the meat mixture, but be especially careful with the salt, as some cheeses are quite salty. Some recipes call for three or four tablespoons of finely chopped parsley along with garlic salt and Worcestershire sauce. Try them if you want, but the Finns like to keep things simple.

Alan’s Mom’s Chop Suey

    Maybe it was because my mother wanted to introduce her family to exotic foods, or perhaps the A & P was having a sale on cans of Chinese vegetables. All I know is that she started putting a big bowl of meat and strange vegetables on the table. Some of them looked like white worms. Mom told us they were bean sprouts, but we kids were still suspicious.

    Today I really like bean sprouts, but they were not my favorite until I got to the University of Wisconsin and discovered a neat little Chinese restaurant near Capitol Square. It was an inexpensive place to get a good meal on Sunday nights when the dining halls were closed, and in the 1960’s you and your date could each have a bottle of beer with your dinner.

    Bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, even tofu all rank pretty high on my list of enjoyable foods. Not as high as barbecued burnt ends, Esther’s sour cream raisin pie or nice medium rare steak, but close. I even like a plate of old-fashioned Chop Suey like Mom used to make.

    When our friend Alan mentioned that his mother’s Chop Suey recipe was still his favorite, I was interested in trying it. Alan obliged, I made it and can say that it is a lot like my mother used to make. It’s a recipe that puts a lot of food on the table without draining the food budget, and it introduces kids to some strange vegetables.

    I did make a few changes to the recipe. Alan’s mother specified veal instead of beef. I couldn’t find any and used beef. The only Chinese vegetables I could find were labelled Chop suey vegetables. Both worked fine. After dinner, Jerri and I both thought that the Chop suey was a little saltier than we preferred, so I reduced the salt to a quarter teaspoon and the soy sauce to two tablespoons.

    We were both pleasantly surprised at how tender, juicy and flavorful the meat was. It’s a good dish, and I can understand why Alan still likes it.

    INGREDIENTS:

    3/4 cup sliced onion
    2 T vegetable shortening or oil
    1/2 lb. boneless pork
    1/2 lb. boneless veal or beef
    2 – 3 cups hot water
    1/4 tsp. onion salt
    1 1/2 cups diced celery
    2 T soy sauce
    1/4 tsp. Accent
    1 4 oz. can mushrooms, undrained
    1 #2 1/2 can Chop Suey vegetables, undrained (29 oz., 3 1/2 cups)
    2 T cornstarch
    3 T cold water
    Freshly ground black pepper to taste

    PROCEDURE:

    Slice the meat into thin strips, an eighth to three sixteenths-inch thick and two to three inches long. Clean and chop the celery into half-inch pieces.

    Slice the onion into quarter-inch wide by two-inch long strips. Put two tablespoons shortening or oil in a covered skillet and cook the onions over moderate heat until they begin to turn golden. Remove the onions from the pan and brown the meat in the same pan. The meat should be slightly browned but not crisp. Bring about about three cups of water to a boil.

    After the meat has browned, cover the meat with hot water and stir in the onion salt, cover the skillet loosely and simmer the meat for thirty to forty minutes. Add the celery, soy sauce and Accent and simmer another fifteen minutes. Stir in the mushrooms, chow mein vegetables and browned onion.

    Mix two tablespoons cornstarch with three tablespoons cold water and add the mixture to the skillet along with a grind of black pepper. Bring back to a simmer and cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce is clear and thickened. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

    Pour into a serving bowl and serve with white rice. Offer soy sauce at the table in case somebody would like extra seasoning.

    NOTES: Do not drain the mushrooms or vegetables. Omit the Accent if you wish. Alan’s mother’s directions said to pour the chop suey into a casserole and serve.