Kirjolohikeitto – Rainbow Trout Soup

Kirjolohikeitto

Tämä keitto on legenda suomalaisesta keittiöstä. Sillä on kunnollinen maku, jota ei voi sekoittaa muihin. Monet turistit internetissä kysyvät yleensä juuri tätä, koska he ovat yllättyneitä maistaessaan sitä Suomessa vieraillessaan. Olen varma, että jokaisella on oma reseptinsä. Kirjolohileitto on kuin saunassa: jos on kaksi suomalaista, siitä on kolme mielipidettä. Tänään aion jakaa tapani tehdä se.


Rainbow Trout Soup

This soup is a legend of the Finnish kitchen. It has a decent taste that you can’t mistake with others. Many tourists on the internet usually ask exactly about this because they are surprised to taste it when visiting Finland. I am sure that every person has their recipe. Kirjolohileitto is like with sauna: if there are two Finns, there are three opinions about it. Today, I will share my way of doing it.

Preparing broth

A long-cooking broth is the key to the success of any soup. If you want to rush somewhere, it’s better not to rush with the soup and postpone it for later. Usually, I use a pot much larger than the desired volume of broth. For example, I use a 10-liter pot for 5-6 litres of broth.

Ingredients: rainbow trout parts used for broth cooking (heads, bones, etc.), onions, carrots, black grain pepper, parsnip, salt, pepper.

Process:

  1. Load everything into the pot, fill it up with water so the pot is almost full, and with maximum heat, bring to a boil.
  2. As soon as you catch the boiling moment, lower the temperature of oven to minimum, and simmer it.
  3. You must find a perfect balance: the pot must be closed or half-closed with the lid so it won’t evaporate too much, but you also must prevent too active boiling. In this state, I simmer it from 6 to 12 hours, if not even longer.
  4. Check it sometimes and keep your eye on it. If there is not enough water, add more in the cooking process.

Making soup

Now, when you have already spent the whole world’s time, let’s move to soup cooking.

Ingredients: potatoes, carrots, filet of rainbow trout or salmon (fresh or frozen ready cubes), salt and pepper, fresh dill, regular food cream, and food cream with cheese.

Process:

  1. Filter out all the broth from your pot, and get rid of everything you had in your first step. Probably after hours of cooking, there is nothing to do with previous ingredients.
  2. Place your broth in a pot, taste it, and adjust the consistency according to your preferences. If you feel that it is too concentrated, add a little water, but don’t add too much.
  3. Load cleaned and cut potatoes, carrots, and dill, as well as your cut fish or fish cubes and cook it until all ingredients are ready.
  4. If you haven’t yet added your two types of cream in the previous step, you can do it now.
  5. Please carefully mix your soup, let it stay a bit, and make sure it is ready. Add more spices if you wish: salt and pepper.

Art Merikotka