Category: Foods

Christmas Eve Food in Lithuania

10/13/2017

Christmas Season is unarguably the biggest among all public holidays in Lithuania - much like in most Western countries. What may surprise you, however, that not Christmas itself, but rather Christmas Eve ("Kūčios") is more anticipated and has more traditions, both cultural and culinary, attached to it.

Authentic Christmas Eve celebrations encompass a variety of ceremonies and rituals, some of which date as far as Lithuania's pagan times before the end of the 14th century. Today, Christmas Eve is mostly regarded as an annual occasion to gather family and friends around the dinner table.

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Time for Cepelinai!

1/12/2016

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As it is cold outside, it may be time for a filling, heavy and incredibly delicious winter meal. I am talking, of course, about the national dish of Lithuania - potato zeppelins ("cepelinai").

Zeppelins are large dumplings made of potato dough, stuffed with (usually) meat and generously drowned in rich creamy bacon gravy. Yes, millions of calories per serving - but who counts when it is sooo good!

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Video: Baking the Tree Cake

11/20/2013

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A couple of months ago I did a post about a very exciting Lithuanian pastry - the tree cake (šakotis). And just recently I received an email from Carl Pendle, a UK-based freelance lifestyle photographer & filmmaker, who shared a fascinating video he created about the process of baking this cake.

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Cookbook: The Best of Lithuanian Cooking

11/9/2013

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My collection of the most loved Lithuanian recipes

I have previously mentioned that I was working on a Lithuanian food cookbook. I'm so happy to announce that it has been completed and is now available on Amazon Kindle store!

The book includes a brief intro to Lithuanian cuisine, its ingredients and kitchen tools. A bunch of popular traditional recipes follow, arranged into breakfast food, soups & snacks, main courses and desserts sections.

The preview of the first pages (including the table of contents) is available Amazon. com or Amazon.co.uk.

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Heavenly Creation: Glazed Sweet Curd Cheese

10/6/2013

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For the lack of a better term you may call this food a cheese cake in chocolate. Its original name, "glaistytas vaškės sūrelis", literally translates "little cheese of curd cheese in chocolate" (OK, not so much literal, but I told you - cheese is big in our kitchen, and we even have cheese made of cheese - a curd cheese cheese!)

In Lithuania, it is popular as a dessert, a breakfast item or a snack to have with tea.

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Tree Cake

8/4/2013

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Tree cake (šakotis) is a unique-looking hollow cake with spikes, with flagrant flavor and the taste to die for . Served usually for large events and parties (such as weddings), tree cake is ordered from specialized bakeries, which are equipped to bake it. It is baked by pouring egg & butter-rich batter in layers on a rotating pole, one side of which is exposed to fire. Sounds complicated? It is.

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Yes, We Eat That: Beef Tongue

6/28/2013

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This blog was dormant for a while, as my family and I have been travelling in South East Asia (yes, it was awesome - and so was the food!).
As we were gagging at a local delicacy in Manila - a cooked unhatched chicken embryo - it occurred to me that almost every country has some foods that make foreigners' wave their hands and swear to never try it. As Europeans, we found many such foods in Asia (from chicken feet, fermented soy beans, to aforementioned, ahm, embryos). But there are quite a few in Europe as well. Take Scottish haggis (which I love!) - sheep stomach stuffed with offal. Yum.

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Lithuanian Nachos: Garlic Bread

5/30/2013

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Our own nachos - dig in!

Recently I had dinner with an American friend in a cosy Lithuanian restaurant in Vilnius. Looking at the appetizer menu, he ordered "Duona su česnaku", which was translated as "Garlic Bread" in the English menu version.

Wow, a bold choice for a foreigner, I thought. It did not occur to me at that time that he was expecting to get this:

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Lithuanian Beer Treasury

4/29/2013

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Award-winning Švyturys Ekstra

Beer (in Lithuanian: alus) is easily the most popular alcoholic beverage in Lithuania, copiously consumed for various occasions and sporting events (think basketball!).

There several large Lithuanian breweries, which export their beers worldwide and have won numerous international awards for their brews. For instance, Švyturys (pronounced shwee-too-reese; it means "Lighthouse") brewery beer was awarded a Gold medal at the World Beer Cup competition in May 2012 as the best beer in the world of Dortmunder lager style.

Those who prefer different types of brews can also be spoilt for choice.

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Place to Visit: Beer Trail

4/22/2013

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This year's "The 46 Places to Go in 2013" article in the New York Times called Lithuania "an overlooked beer destination in the Baltics" (by the way, it is number 24 in the list of places to visit).

And overlooked it is. Lithuania has centuries-long beer brewing and drinking traditions across the country.

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Welcome

If you are interested in Lithuanian kitchen, culinary traditions, Baltic food or are simply passionate about cooking, you've come to the right place.
Enjoy & hope to see you often!
Milda Brighton

Christmas Eve Food in Lithuania

Time for Cepelinai!

Video: Baking the Tree Cake

Cookbook: The Best of Lithuanian Cooking

Heavenly Creation: Glazed Sweet Curd Cheese

Tree Cake

Yes, We Eat That: Beef Tongue

Lithuanian Nachos: Garlic Bread

Lithuanian Beer Treasury

Place to Visit: Beer Trail

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