INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

Clean the fish, removing fins, large scales and entrails. You may
leave the heads if you dare to eat them.  Mix the flours and salt.  Add
the yeast to the water. When the yeast  is fully dissolved, make a
thick dough by pouring flour mixture into  water and blending well. The
ratio of flour to water depends on the  nature of the flours. This
ratio of 1:2 by volume works well in  Finland with Finnish flours.
Where flours contain more gluten you  should use slightly less water.
Set aside about 4 T of dough to be used later.  Roll out the remaining
dough into a circular shape about 3/4 inch thick.  Assemble the meats
into the dough:  cover the inner half of the dough  circle with half of
the pork (the pork should cover a circle whose  diameter is half the
diameter of the rolled dough). Then put all of  the fish over top of
the pork, and add allspice and extra salt if you  are using them.
Finish with the second half of the pork.  Preheat oven to 500 degrees
F.  Lift the edges of the dough all  around the filling and glue
together with a little water so that you  have the filling surrounded
from all directions with about  3/4-inch-thick dough. Put upside down
(the seam downwards) on a  baking sheet and let it rise about half an
hour at room temperature.  Put the kalakukko in a 500 degree F. oven
for long enough to brown the  dough, which will seal it against
moisture. Then lower the  temperature to about 250 degrees F. and let
it bake for 4 to 7 hours  depending on the size of the fish (bigger
fish need more cooking  time). You can brush some melted butter over
the top of the dough  just after lowering the temperature; this will
give it a prettier  appearance. If it starts to leak while baking, fill
holes with the  dough which was set aside.  Serve hot or cold.  NOTES  
Rye bread pie with fish and pork filling -- This is an ancient
national food prepared and eaten in Savo (eastern Finland).  
Kalakukko was used as travelers' food because it stays edible very
long when unopened.  Also in medieval times salt was the only way to
preserve meat and it was expensive, so with this way you could use  all
the salt in salt pork. The word kala-kukko means fish-cock (the  bird).
You can use any small fish (shorter than about 8 inches). Small  scales
and spikes don't matter because they soften during the  prolonged
cooking. Make sure you use un-smoked pork.  : Difficulty:  moderate
(some skill with dough is required).  : Time:  45 minutes preparation,
30 minutes attended baking, 4-7 hours  unattended baking.  : Precision:
Careful measurement not necessary, but the consistency  of the dough
(which will depend on the nature of your flours) is  important. If the
dough is either too soft or too hard, the kalakukko  will leak.  :
Heikki Putkonen  : University of Oulu, Finland  : putko@tolsun.oulu.fi
: Copyright (C) 1986 USENET Community Trust  From Gemini's MASSIVE
MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini

A Message from our Provider:

“Let Him therefore send and do what He will. By His grace, if we are His, we will face it, bow to it, accept it, and give thanks for it. God’s Providence is always executed in the ‘wisest manner’ possible. We are often unable to see and understand the reasons and causes for specific events in our lives, in the lives of others, or in the history of the world. But our lack of understanding does not prevent us from believing God. #Don Fortner”