National dish of Lithuanian cuisine. Dishes of Lithuanian cuisine, or what is worth trying in Lithuania! Cold borsch on kefir

The formation of the national Lithuanian cuisine took place under the influence of many factors: wars, seafaring and fishing traditions, peculiarities of the location of the region on the way from Europe to Asia.

Surprisingly, Lithuanian dishes manage to demonstrate similarities with other Eastern European cuisines, historical proximity to the Slavic cuisine tradition, as well as a fairly pronounced influence of Scandinavian and German gastronomic culture. Due to the fact that in the Middle Ages the Grand Dukes invited Karaites to live in the territory of the Principality of Lithuania, Lithuanian cuisine adopted some features characteristic of Jewish, Tatar, Georgian, Hungarian and Romanian cuisine.

Under such influence, two culinary trends were formed in Lithuania. One of them, the old Lithuanian, was developed by the gentry - the nobility of the Lithuanian society. Old Lithuanian cuisine, highly revered in Europe, was characterized by exquisite dishes of meat and game (beef with berry sauce, black grouse and pheasants with juniper fruits, bulls stuffed with bear meat, smoked quails, hares stuffed with thrush, pâtés from waterfowl, Samogitian goose stew, hare liver with beef muzzle galantine).

Due to the collapse of the Commonwealth, the Novolitovsk direction was formed national cuisine based on peasant traditions. At this time, the most important ingredient in Lithuanian dishes is potatoes, which are used to make zrazy, pancakes, zeppelins, dumplings, kugelis, and vedarai. Soups based on cabbage and beets, dumplings, Baltic fish, black pudding are very popular.

Compared to Latvian and Estonian dishes, Lithuanian cuisine is characterized by a very subtle, almost imperceptible, “marine” accent. Rather, it should be called “field”, because game, berries, starchy foods, cereals, honey, and milk are actively used to prepare national Lithuanian dishes.

Traveling to is an occasion to get acquainted with the magnificent dishes of local cuisine. The widest range of delicious culinary masterpieces will not leave anyone indifferent.

First meal

First of all, a feature of the local cuisine is the variety of authentic first courses. It is definitely recommended to taste the classic Lithuanian mushroom borscht with “ears”. The so-called "ears" are prepared from boiled dried mushrooms. It should be noted that the favorite mushrooms for Lithuanians are chanterelles. Slightly less popular mushrooms, boletus and boletus.

Another popular first course is the original sweet soup with prunes, apples, sour cream and cinnamon. Incredibly tasty meat soup on rice broth with stewed tomatoes, various variations Samogitian beer soup (with croutons, cheese, spices, sour cream, bacon), as well as soups with smoked meats (pork ribs, goose, pork cheek).

The famous "shaltibarschiai" is also very popular - cold beetroot cooked on kefir. It is believed that the color of this soup should resemble the bud of a tender June wild rose. One of its key ingredients is hot boiled potatoes with dill, which are served separately. It is customary to “accompany” each spoonful of ice beetroot with a piece of scalding potatoes. Among Lithuanians, it is customary to eat this dish with both hands at the same time.

Main courses

As a second course, Lithuanians prefer potatoes of various preparations. While traveling around, you should definitely try the "main" Lithuanian national dish - zeppelins, which are large potato dumplings with various fillings. You can also opt for other potato dishes popular among Lithuanians: ploksteinis (pudding), švilpikai (baked zrazy), vederai (sausages), Žemaičiu bliny (pancakes), kugelis (casserole).

Among the main meat dishes, you should definitely try the famous grilled sausages, kumpis (pork hams), brawns, sorcerers (dumplings), various meat rolls, skilandis (pork with spices, smoked in a pig's stomach), as well as stewed rabbit with sour cream or redcurrant jelly . Perhaps the most spectacular and delicious meat dish is an example of Old Litovian cuisine - fire hunting sausages.

As for fish, despite the seaside location and the abundance of rivers, Lithuanians consume fish to a limited extent. At the same time, they give preference to magnificent eel, herring, smelt, herring and salmon. Fish, as a rule, is served smoked, salted or baked in dough.

While traveling around, you should definitely try the incredibly tasty Karaite dish kibinai, which has long become a national Lithuanian. We are talking about pies stuffed with minced lamb.

Wonderful Lithuanian dairy products are very popular: young cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream. Lithuania is famous for its dark varieties of spiced rye bread, which retains its palatability for several weeks.

Dessert

A gastronomic journey through will be incomplete without "acquaintance" with the masterpieces of the country's confectionery art - the švyturis cake and the national šakotis (horned) cake.

Beverages

Popular Lithuanian drinks are: very strong natural coffee, caraway water and homemade kvass. It is customary to cook kvass on rye wort with the addition of honey, herbs and dried fruits. Instead of tea, the so-called bubbles with linden, herbs, and berries are popular. Almost every family and catering establishment has a tradition of making homemade berry wine and midus (a strong honey-herbal tincture for alcohol).

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Traditional Lithuanian cuisine is a wide range of original dishes, many of which come from other cultures. The main feature of the national Lithuanian cuisine is a huge variety of dishes made from potatoes. Zeppelins are considered the most famous Lithuanian dish - potato zrazy in the form of an airship stuffed with minced meat or cottage cheese.

Hearty potato salads, pancakes made from raw or boiled potatoes, kugel and vedarai, which is baked pork intestines filled with grated potatoes. These traditional Lithuanian dishes are the hallmark of Lithuanian culinary arts.

The abundance of berries and mushrooms in the vastness of this state allows Lithuanian housewives to diversify their daily diet. Vareniki with mushrooms, berries and cottage cheese are simple, nutritious dishes that Lithuanians love. Lazy crescent-shaped dumplings with blueberry puree are very popular. To your loved ones flour products also includes a variety of yeast pancakes with berry, cottage cheese and meat fillings.

Traditional Lithuanian cold appetizers include pickled or salted herring dishes, cottage cheese with spices and herbs (cumin and marjoram), homemade pickled cheese, hot or cold smoked meat and sausages. Lithuanian cooks and housewives marinate, salt, and dry mushrooms. Then they are used to prepare various cold appetizers and thick sauces.

The first dishes of traditional Lithuanian cuisine are soups prepared on the basis of poultry broths, various kinds meat, game and beer. In the summer season, a cold soup based on kefir with an abundance of greens, young beets and eggs is popular.

Second Lithuanian dishes are often prepared from pork or poultry. Lamb and beef are rarely used. Meat cuts, rolls, roasts, fried geese and ducks are an incomplete list of Lithuanian culinary passions. Fish in Lithuania is steamed, boiled and stewed. The most famous Lithuanian fish dish is smoked eel.

From drinks, Lithuanians prefer kvass, beer, natural herbal teas and strong natural coffee. Cake with walnut kernels (shvyturys) is very popular outside the country, as delicious dessert. The traditional Lithuanian wedding cake is Šakotis. It has an unusual shape and requires special equipment for cooking. Egg dough is poured onto a heated rotating shaft. It is fried not only from the inside, but also from the outside. Traditionally, this cake is cooked on an open fire. The technology of its preparation allows this confectionery stored for six months.

Lithuanian cuisine has peculiar differences across the regions of the country. Sausage in the form of a ball (skilandis) is prepared by the Suvalki people, who are famous for their meat dishes. mushroom dishes is the pride of the dzuks. The most delicious flour products are prepared by Aukštaitija people. The kings of Lithuanian cuisine - potato dishes - are good for Samogitians.

Many Lithuanian dishes are similar in essence to European dishes. Slavic cuisine and German cuisine had a great influence on the cuisine of this country. The products of the Lithuanian cuisine are dominated by the gifts of the forest. In this it differs from the cuisine of Latvia and Estonia, where seafood occupies a large place.

10 Traditional Lithuanian Dishes You Must Try

Let's start with the most famous national dish of Lithuania - zeppelins. These are potato zrazy made from a mixture of raw and boiled potato dough stuffed with minced pork. Traditionally, zeppelins are served with a sauce of sour cream and pieces of fried bacon. Initially, the dish was called didzkukuliai, but at the beginning of the 20th century it was changed to zeppelins due to their resemblance to zeppelin airships.

Zeppelins appeared in Lithuania at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, most likely in Samogitia, where they came from the territory of the modern Kaliningrad region.

Fried bread is Lithuanian dark rye bread fried in sunflower oil, rubbed with garlic and salt. Usually served with cheese sauce. Most often, this dish is eaten as a snack for beer.

Beet soup is a warm soup made from beets, onions, carrots, celery and pork seasoned with salt, pepper and dill. Lithuanian beetroot soup is very similar to Ukrainian borscht.

Cold borscht is usually eaten during the summer season. It is made from kefir, with beets, boiled eggs and boiled potatoes. Cold borscht has a bright pink color and is an indicator that warm weather has arrived in Lithuania.

Don't let the name fool you. Mushrooms are not made from mushrooms, they are simply mushroom-shaped cookies. Mushrooms are delicious little cookies flavored with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and cardamom. They are glazed to create a white "stem" and a black "cap".

Fresh cottage cheese is a popular product in Lithuanian cuisine and is used in many dishes. One of the most popular curd dishes is Cheesecake. In its preparation, cottage cheese is mixed with a small amount of flour, eggs and sugar, and then all this is fried in oil. As a rule, the pie is served with fresh berries and jam.

Potato is the real king in Lithuanian cuisine, and Lithuanians eat potato dishes almost every day. Potato pancakes are a simple dish made with grated potatoes, onions and eggs mixed together and fried in oil. Pancakes are served with dill, onion and sour cream.

Kibinai

Kibinai are delicious handmade pies that are the national dish of the Karaites, an ethnic Turkic group that has lived in Lithuania for centuries. Soft pies stuffed with meat, vegetables, cottage cheese or berries are a favorite snack or addition to soups.

Kugel is a pudding or lasagna made from baked potatoes, sometimes with meat. Served with lingonberry sauce, bacon or sour cream. As with most Lithuanian dishes, kugel recipes vary from person to person, so the dish can vary a lot from place to place, which makes it all the more interesting.

National cuisine is one of the options for self-expression of the people. This is the same branch of culture as dances, costumes, language. In this regard, Lithuanians have their own characteristic features that distinguish their dishes from other European cuisines. If you want to cook something hearty, but simple, familiarity with Lithuanian recipes is a must.

Features of the Lithuanian diet

Lithuanian cuisine is a classic Baltic diet. The dishes here are hearty and fatty, with frequent use of root crops and vegetables. Of the meat products, Lithuanians use the most, replacing them, and sometimes the meat itself. This cuisine is suitable for those who love real, almost rustic, simple food. It is worth noting that it will be difficult for those who are losing weight to find a suitable recipe for themselves here, and for lovers of delicious food it will be easy.

Lithuanian gastronomic traditions are clearly divided into two periods: Old Lithuanian cuisine and peasant cuisine. The first is bright, rich, with fantasy and excesses, it is also called aristocratic. The second is the one that replaced its insatiable predecessor. It is the peasant cuisine that is considered national in Lithuania today. For seekers of new culinary adventures, it is worth getting acquainted with both the first and the second.

Starolitovskaya cuisine - extravaganza for aristocrats

Modern gastronomic tastes of Lithuanians are determined by the history of their homeland. Prior to independence in 1990, Lithuania experienced several sharp turns in its history.

After several Baltic peoples united to resist the crusaders, the first mention of Lithuania as a state appeared. That is, from the very beginning of the formation of the country, its cuisine consisted of different directions, which only made it better due to its diversity.

Since the XIV century, the national cuisine began to "get acquainted" with spices and herbs. This happened thanks to close political ties and international trade Principality of Lithuania with the Ottoman Empire and Crimea. The emergence of new ingredients made it possible to fantasize and experiment. Later, the principality became part of the Commonwealth, which also left its mark on the national cuisine.

After the symbiosis with the Polish state, not only the cuisine has changed, but also the way of life of Lithuanians, at least the rich ones. Wealthy merchants, landlords, and politicians became infected with a passion for feasts and treats that could delight both in appearance and taste. The cooks who worked in the medieval kitchens of the Lithuanian rich did their best. During this period, Lithuanian cuisine becomes very authoritative in the international gastronomic fashion.

In Russia, in 1740, a printed book “Lithuanian dishes” was published, this work described the most delicious dishes that were served at the table of wealthy Lithuanians. Here you could find a recipe for a stuffed bull with spices, and they stuffed it with veal, lamb, pheasant, thrush and several other types of meat. Or, for example, an eel stuffed with "veal fashion".

Medieval chefs did not spare rare and expensive spices. They flavored their culinary delights with malvasia, hot pepper, paprika, berries, etc. Most of all, guests of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were surprised by their love for soups. They were prepared here cold and hot, sweet and fatty. Pureed soups were considered an innovation of that time. The most popular is still the Old Lithuanian borscht, for the preparation of which 34 ingredients are used. Today one of the most simple ways to find out what the Lithuanian boyars ate - to cook Samogitian soup.

Samogitian goose soup

Ingredients:

• whole gutted (can be replaced with);
• 500 g;
• 1 glass;
• 4-6 ;
• 3 (Antonovka or other sour variety);
• 2 onion heads;
• 2 tbsp. l. ;
• root ;
• root ;
• juice of one;
• cumin and.

Soup preparation steps:

1. The bird must be divided into large parts, while removing excess fat. Place the meat in a deep bowl, add peeled carrots, roots, apples to it. Pour everything with water and cook under a lid over medium heat, pour half a teaspoon of cumin 5 minutes before full cooking.
2. Separately from the goose, you need to boil it for barley without, the porridge should be boiled and viscous. Place the oil in the finished cereal and grind everything until smooth, to simplify the task, you can use a blender. Then add sour cream to the pearl barley and beat everything again into foam.
3. Porcini mushrooms and onions are also boiled separately, the ingredients can be cut arbitrarily - into cubes or strips, or into large pieces. For the indicated amount of mushrooms and onions, half a liter of water is required. When everything is cooked, squeeze out the whole and mix.
4. All three decoctions must be combined and boiled again, but do not boil. Serve with chopped dill, you can add sour cream.

Old Litovskaya cuisine adopted many interesting recipes with their neighbors and guests of the principality. So, Lithuania learned how to cook cabbage rolls from the Tatars. Initially, this dish was prepared from leaves, tail fat. The Lithuanians adapted the treat they liked to fit their set of products, and began to use cabbage leaves and.

From Russian cuisine, Lithuanians brought out a very useful and diverse dish for themselves - dumplings. Only here they were prepared not only with meat, but with any other fillings: fried lard, cabbage. It turned out something similar to dumplings, but in the form of a pie. The idea of ​​boiled stuffed dough was very fond of the Lithuanians, and they are still exploiting it.

The Lithuanian contribution to its own cuisine was the widespread use of game with red meat. Hunting was very popular among aristocrats, but inaccessible to peasants, since only the owner of the forest could catch game in the forest. So, the old Lithuanian diet made the fashion for bear, deer, elk, and wild boar meat especially popular. Also, cooking fish is considered distinctive feature Lithuanian gastronomy to this day. It is mostly stewed with sauces, seasoned with sour ingredients, eaten with potatoes and sauerkraut.

In the XVIII century, Lithuania withdrew from the Commonwealth, the way of life began to change. The layer of the aristocracy began to gradually decrease, and those who remained abandoned the costly feasts with stuffed bulls. The sophistication of aristocratic dishes began to be replaced by simple village food. Thus began the era of peasant cuisine, which continues to this day.

Peasant cuisine - a tribute to nature and customs to this day

Peasant cuisine also existed during the period of prosperity of the Old Lithuanian cuisine, but was not so popular. Foreign ambassadors and guests of the country usually ate in palaces, so the impression of the gastronomic culture of Lithuanians was formed based on the capabilities of the rich. The common people ate what the land and labor on it gave. The peasant's daily diet included dairy products, potatoes.

In the summer, the meager list of ingredients expanded. Cooked, cabbage,. The tradition of stocking up food for the winter has been preserved among Lithuanians today. They cooked the same cabbage, slaughtered fattened cattle, smoked meat, made sausage and traditional skilandis. Eggs were considered practically a sign of prosperity, they were eaten mainly only on holidays, and scrambled eggs were served to guests, showing respect and hospitality.

Cheeses were and remain very popular. They are prepared salty and fresh, soft and hard. Cheese is usually eaten with fried bread, as snacks, to . It is very rarely added to dishes. The same applies to the rest of dairy products: sour and fresh,. Sour cream and butter are present in almost every recipe.

Most modern Lithuanian cuisine consists of potatoes. This ingredient acts as a separate dish and is combined with other products, replacing flour dough or fillings. Soups remain the same popular among Lithuanians; they are cooked with milk or broth, cold or hot. A distinctive feature of Lithuanian first courses is their density. This, one might say, echoes of aristocratic cuisine.

Today's traditional dishes include:

1. Vedarai. This is a kind of potato sausage. When preparing it, the pig's intestine is not filled with minced meat, but with a mixture of mashed potatoes and lard. The product is first boiled, then it can be baked or fried until crispy. Salt is used to add flavor, and sometimes cumin. Potatoes in some regions of the country are usually replaced with.
2. Siupinis is a mixed porridge made from barley groats, lard,. It turns out a very satisfying dish, which is difficult to confuse with something. The peculiarity of this porridge is that all its parts are cooked separately from each other, and before serving they are mixed and flavored with sour cream.
3. Zeppelins. A real visiting card of Lithuanian cuisine. These are dumplings made from potato dough with all kinds of fillings: meat, green onions, cabbage. Most often they are boiled, but fried they do not become less tasty.
4. Skilandis is an unusual smoked sausage. For its preparation, not the intestines are used, but the pork stomach. For the filling, pig meat and lard are chopped, seasoned with spices,.
5. Žemaičiu - stuffed pancakes made from dough based on the same potatoes. As a filling, minced meat with fried onions, salted cottage cheese are most often chosen. These pancakes are usually made large, for the whole pan, and then divided into portions. Served with sour cream or cracklings.
6. Shalltybar. An example of a classic Lithuanian cold soup. For its preparation, boiled beets, potatoes, carrots, are used. It looks and tastes like the familiar borscht, but cold.
7. Shakotis. The only dish that tourists most often buy and take away as a souvenir. This dessert belongs to a number of cakes, although it does not look like a cake at all, in translation into Russian it means “branchy”. It is obtained by dousing a hot skewer with egg dough.

If there is a desire to try something Lithuanian, but within the limits of one's own cuisine, recipes are not difficult to find. In order to fully “taste” this culture, it is best to cook syupinis. This second dish, although it consists of the usual ingredients, due to their combination becomes very extravagant. To prepare it, you need to separately boil a glass of peas and half a glass of barley groats. Separately, fry 500 g of pork with onions. Combine the prepared ingredients, flavor butter, fried pork, sour cream and sliced ​​ham.

In addition to delicious and hearty dishes, drinks are also part of the national cuisine. A special place is occupied here, they drink mostly strong black, combinations such as latte or cappuccino are not very popular. You can also try liquor from any berry in restaurants. These alcoholic drinks have been popular in Lithuania since the Middle Ages.

Among drinks, one cannot fail to single out the love of Lithuanians for beer, it is in no way inferior to the love of Czechs or Germans for it. Like coffee, Lithuanian beer is distinguished by its strength; dark types of beer are especially popular here. Such a drink goes well with fatty and hearty meat and potato dishes, cheeses, so the choice of a national drink is not surprising.

The best Lithuanian beer is Svyturys.

It is worth paying attention to Lithuanian cuisine for several reasons. Firstly, it consists of the usual ingredients that are typical for the whole of Europe. You don't have to look for Indian spices or Vietnamese incense to try something new. Secondly, despite the simplicity, and sometimes some rudeness, of the dishes, they will delight you with a real taste. natural products. After all, "everything ingenious is simple."

Traditional Lithuanian cuisine is quite simple and familiar to us. If not by the methods of preparation, then by the products for sure. You will not find any special exotic, which separately pleases people with poor health and mothers who come to Lithuania with small children.

Here they cook from potatoes and other vegetables, eat borscht and soups, like dumplings and dumplings. In honor of people and pork with veal, and fish, and all kinds of greens. So you will definitely not stay hungry in hospitable Lithuania.

But among the dishes of Lithuania there are also unusual ones. At least in name. We have selected for you several national dishes of Lithuania, and we strongly recommend you try it.

Skilandis - raw smoked pork meat in a pig's stomach, a very tasty and satisfying dish that can be found in many restaurants.

Kibinai - pies stuffed with minced meat, a good snack or just an opportunity to have a snack.

Zeppelins or didjkukuliai, huge dumplings made from raw and boiled grated potatoes stuffed with minced meat (cottage cheese and other ingredients). Zeppelins are served with sour cream and lard fried.

Žemaičiu potato pancakes, a traditional dish with meat filling, popular throughout the country, although it originated in Žemaitija.

The original Shakotis cake is also popular in Poland. It is baked from egg dough on an open fire. This dish is considered a wedding dish.

But Lithuanian drinks are not as simple as it might seem. Of course, there is the usual, and very tasty kvass. But alcoholic drinks are also highly respected. For example, Zubrovka tincture is also known outside the country. Delicious honey is brewed here, as well as krupnikas. This is a traditional for Lithuania and other countries of the region strong alcoholic drink reminiscent of liquor. Honey and spices like nutmeg, ginger, cloves and others are added to it.

And, of course, we can't forget the beer. The Biržai area is full of breweries, where many varieties of this wonderful drink are produced.

To plunge into the cultural life and appreciate the food in Lithuania, even a week is not enough for someone, and one weekend is enough for someone. The main thing is to know what to try, which you will not find anywhere else, except in Lithuania, in order to fully appreciate its diversity and originality.

Lithuania. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/keht/

A traveler who comes to Lithuania will first of all note the romantic view of small houses with red roofs, neatly trimmed lawns, clean streets and ... the famous Lithuanian beer.

Beer in Lithuania

Beer Svyturys (Svyturys), Vilnius Alus (Vilniaus alus), Utenos (Utenos) are the most famous.

IN Lately widespread beer tourism. Bars are on every corner, and beer prices are affordable: a couple of dollars for a glass. Even soup is made from beer in Lithuania.

This is the famous Busi trecias (You will be the third) brewery, which is also a restaurant, located in the central region of Vilnius. It even offers guided tours.

Beer restaurant-brewery Busi trecias in Lithuania. Photo: beer-land.ru

Something, but there are a lot of beer restaurants in Lithuania. And you can drink beer and food is sold. Why not Ray? 🙂

Gastronomic history of Lithuania

Undoubtedly, Lithuanian cuisine has undergone great changes since the 14th century. Historically, until the 19th century, there was a cuisine for rich people, for the gentry and nobles - Old Litovskaya cuisine. Starolitovskaya cuisine depended on hunting and beekeeping. Meat (bear meat, elk, venison), honey, fish (pike) are the main components of Lithuanian cuisine. Until now, Lithuanian culinary specialists do not forget such dishes as pike with sour cabbage and pike with horseradish.

From the middle of the 19th century, the history of the Old Litovian cuisine was interrupted. Since the very estate for which this very kitchen was created disappeared along with the state. The so-called peasant cuisine or Novolitovskaya cuisine began to exist, which will develop into national Lithuanian cuisine.

There was a mixture with the traditions of the cuisine of the Crimea, the Ottoman Empire. Preserved salting and smoking of game, the use of honey. But, unfortunately, the peasants could not afford much. Wealthy peasants ate rye bread, potatoes, poultry. Smoking and cooking sausages were common. Various soups, borscht, cottage cheese, maple and birch sap, pancakes. Brewed beer from hops, barley malt. The poor peasants were content with potatoes and milk.

Food in Lithuania

Lithuania is divided into 4 culinary and ethnographic regions: the main dishes of the Samogitians are porridges, the Aukstaitians have cottage cheese and pancakes, the Dzukians have potatoes, mushrooms and buckwheat, the Suvalti people have smoked meat, potato sausage.

But undoubtedly the main product for everyone is potatoes, and the most famous Lithuanian potato dish is zeppelins.

Lithuanian dish - Zeppellins. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zesa/

Zeppelins have meat inside, they are usually poured with sour cream on top. The second name of this dish is didjkukulyai.

Lithuanian borscht

Soups and borsch will feed you every Lithuanian. The recipe for Starolithian borscht, according to the Lithuanians themselves, came to us from those distant times when Starolithian cuisine existed. Usually put several meat products: smoked lard, ham, beef.

Starolitovsky Borsch. Photo: http://abedik.ru

Meat, poultry, fish

Of the meat dishes, kumpis (pork ham) is popular. Kumpis is prepared in a variety of ways: stuffed, boiled.

Lithuanian dish - Kumpis (pork ham). Photo: http://cocinarendez-vous.blogspot.com

And also meat zrazy, which is usually prepared from beef. This dish is originally Polish, but Lithuanians cook it only in a pot, not in a frying pan like the Poles. There is a form of chops or cutlets. Served with sour cream, vegetables and herbs.

Lithuanian symbols. Photo: http://lietuvos-vireja.blogspot.com

The favorite bird of Lithuanians is the goose. The goose is stuffed with a variety of fillings: porridge with mushrooms (kimshta zhasis), apples (jasis su obuolais), sauerkraut (jasis su copustais). The goose usually appears on the table for the holidays, and it is cooked not in its own fat, but on pork.

Lithuanian dish - Roast goose with apples (Zhasis su obuoliais). Photo: gileskromelis.lt

In the past, fish was the main product of the peasants who lived on the seaside. True, the peasants for the most part bred carps as one of the most unpretentious fish. Pike (Lideka) is popular in modern Lithuanian fish cuisine. It is also fried, mainly in lard, stuffed.

Lithuanian ludo - stuffed pike. Photo: supermama.lt

Dairy

Lithuanian dairy products are famous in half of Europe. It is their quality, taste and unthinkable variety that are valued. For example, curd cheese is prepared using several technologies, there is just curd cheese, and there is dried curd cheese. Sweet ingredients or various spices are added to the cheese.

Lithuanian cheese. Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dalyja/

Dessert

Tourists like to take sweets with them as a souvenir. Cakes, cookies, jelly, and, of course, the traditional Lithuanian šakotis cake (also known as bankuhen or rogach), which can be found in any Lithuanian confectionery. To prepare shakotis, flour, eggs and sugar are mixed, and cooked with a stick, rotating it and pouring the resulting mixture on it. In this form, shakotis can be stored for up to six months.

Lithuanian national cake - Shakotis (bankuhen). Photo: http://www.imones.lt

Beverages

Lemonades, kvass, coffee, tea, honey, beer are popular among drinks. They drink caraway water - a decoction of caraway seeds. Kvass is prepared on the basis of rye crackers and malt with various additives (herbs, leaves, honey, raisins). Alcohol is made from natural ingredients: various balms, liqueurs, liqueurs.

Ancient Lithuanian honey liqueur - Krupnikas. Photo: stumbras.eu

Recently, Lithuanians have been drinking more coffee, sitting in coffee shops. And from teas, herbal teas from herbs, berries and lemon are preferred.

Lithuanians are hospitable people. When you come to visit, you will see many dishes of national Lithuanian cuisine: zeppelins, potato pancakes, borscht, sweets, and, of course, beer.

And since the 60s, more and more restaurateurs decorate their premises in the national style. Therefore, having arrived in Lithuania, it is not difficult to immediately plunge into the national flavor of this country.

Bon appetit!