Lithuanian cuisine
Ineta Nacytė 12a
Lithuanian cuisine features the products
suited to its cool and moist northern
climate: barley,potatoes, rye, beets,
greens, berries and mushrooms are
locally grown, and dairy products are
one of its specialities.
Bread
Traditionally, the centerpiece of Lithuanian
cuisine is dark rye bread which is used
substantially more often than light wheat
breads. Rye bread is often eaten buttered or
spread with cheese. It is sometimes flavored
with caraway, or with some onion. Émigrés
from Lithuania will often mention their native
rye bread as the food that they miss the most.
Vegetables and spices
The most commonly used vegetable in Lithuanian
recipes is the potato; in its simplest forms, it is
boiled, baked, or sauteed, often garnished with dill,
but a tremendous variety of potato recipes exist.
Cucumbers, dill, pickles, radishes and greens are also
quite popular.
Lithuanian herbs and seasonings
include dill, caraway seed, garlic, bay
leaf, juniper berries, and fruit essences.
Fruits
Apples, plums, and pears, which grow well in
Lithuania, are the most commonly used fruit.
Because they cannot tolerate frost, tropical fruit
such as citrus, bananas, and pineapples must be
imported, and hence were used less often; During
the autumn harvest, fruit are often simmered and
spiced to create fruit stews. Gooseberries
and currants are widely cultivated; they are
sweetened, made into jams and baked goods, and
provide a piquant touch to desserts.
Meat
The most frequently used meat is pork, followed
by beef,
lamb, chicken, rabbit, duck and goose; for
immediate consumption it is often grilled, or
dusted with breadcrumbs and sauteed, in a dish
similar to schnitzel. For bigger gatherings, big
lumps of meat are cooked in the oven.
Dairy products
Dairy products play an important role in Lithuanian
cuisine; cottage cheese may be sweet, sour, seasoned
with caraway, fresh, or cured until semi-soft. The
most popular way of eating Lithuanian non-fermented
white cheese is with fresh honey; it can also be
cooked with spices and enjoyed with tea. Lithuanian
butters and cream are unusually rich. Sour cream is so
prominent in Lithuanian cuisine, that it is eaten with
everything - meat, fish, pancakes, soups, desserts,
salads and so on.
Soups
• Barščiai - hot borscht (beet soup); it is served uncreamed or
blended with sour crem or buttermilk
• Cucumber soup - broth is pureed with cucumbers and sweet or
sour cream, often garnished with dill.
• Juka - blood soup from the southern region of Lithuania.
• Lapienė - greens such as sorrel or spinach are braised and added
to a creamy broth.
• Šaltibarščiai - cold borscht is a summer soup based on beets and
soured milk, colored a shocking pink. It is made with cooked or
pickled shredded beets and various other chopped vegetables,
such as cucumber, dill, or green onions. Hot boiled potatoes,
cold sour cream, and diced hard-boiled eggs are often served
alongside to add color, texture, and thermal contrast.
• Vištos sultinys - chicken broth is always popular, especially for
the elderly and ill.
Main courses
• Aspics - many savory foodstuffs are presented in gelatin molds, especially herring.
• Balandėliai ("little doves") - cabbage leaves stuffed with meat and braised.
• Sausages - sausages are made in many different ways: they may be smoked or
fresh, and include pork, beef, potatoes, or barley; in rural areas, blood may be
added.
• Zeppelins - potato dumplings stuffed with meat, mushrooms, or cheese, often
garnished with cracklings, fried minced onion and/or sour cream.
• Kibinai - pastry with mutton and onions.
• Koldūnai, Virtiniai - these are various kinds of dumplings, filled with minced meat,
sausage, cottage cheese, or mushrooms, usually garnished with crumbled fried
bacon.
• Cutlets - soft minced meat patties, often served with potatoes and a sauce.
• Kugelis - potato pudding made with grated potatoes and eggs. It is usually served
with sour cream and/or cracklings.
• Šašlykai - cubes of pork are marinated, skewered, and grilled, preferably over birch
wood.
• Skilandis - pig stomach stuffed with meat and garlic and cold-smoked.
• Vėdarai - a sausage, made of a potato stuffed larges intestine of a domestic pig.
Desserts
Lithuanian-style cakes are often baked in a rectangular pan and
sometimes have apple, plum or other fruit baked in.
For special occasions, cake may be prepared; they often consist
of 10 to 20 layers, filled with jam and vanilla, chocolate or
rum buttercreams; they are lavishly decorated.
• Kūčiukai - very small rolls are baked and served
with poppyseed milk; this is a traditional Christmas Eve dish.
• Spurgos - a Lithuanian variant of doughnuts, often filled with
preserves.
• Šakotis (also called raguotis) - a Lithuanian variant of
German baumkuchen, with a very distinctive branching form;
it is essentially a poundcake grilled layer by layer.
• Žagarėliai - twisted, thin deep-fried pastries dusted with
powdered sugar.
