🇫🇮 Finland
LihakeittoFinnish beef and root vegetable soup
A clear Finnish soup of beef simmered on the bone with bay and allspice, served with cubed root vegetables (swede, carrot, celeriac, parsnip), potato and plenty of parsley, with the cooked meat returned to the bowl in pieces.
Origin and history
Eeva Hannukainen, managing director of the meat industry's information service Liha-alan tiedotus, told MTV Uutiset that lihakeitto is probably the oldest Finnish soup, from times when slaughter supplied plenty of ingredients, and that the earliest versions probably used organ meats. She said the 1920s and 1930s were the golden age of soups, eaten at every meal and by all social groups; by 2001 pea soup and sausage soup had overtaken the traditional meat soup, though it remained popular with older people.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 6 servings
- Total time
- 2 h 45 min
- Hands-on
- 35 min
Ingredients
- 1 kg2.2 lb beef for soup (shoulder blade or similar), in one piece, on the bone if possible
- 100 g3.5 oz onion, halved
- 4 bay leaves
- 8 black peppercorns
- 5 whole allspice berries
- 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, stems in the broth, leaves chopped for the end
- 150 g5 oz swede (rutabaga), peeled, cut in 1 to 2 cm / 1/2 in dice
- 150 g5 oz carrot, peeled, small dice
- 150 g5 oz celeriac, peeled, diced
- 150 g5 oz parsnip, peeled, diced
- 700 g1.5 lb potatoes, peeled, diced
- salt, to taste
Method
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1. Put the whole piece of beef in a large pot with plenty of cold water and bring to the boil; skim off the foam.
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2. Add the peppercorns, allspice, bay leaves, halved onion and parsley stems.
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3. Simmer gently, partly covered, for about 2 hours, until the meat is tender; salt towards the end.
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4. Lift out the meat and strain the broth into a clean pot.
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5. Add the swede and carrot to the simmering broth first, since they take longest, then after about 10 minutes the celeriac and parsnip.
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6. Add the potatoes and cook until all the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes more.
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7. Trim membrane and excess fat from the meat, cut it into cubes and return it to the soup to heat through.
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8. Stir in a generous amount of chopped parsley, taste for salt and serve.
Notes
- The meat is cooked whole and added back cubed; the vegetables are cooked in the strained broth so the soup stays clear.
- A simpler weekday version cooks about 400 g of cut-up beef in 2 litres of water with onion, bay and peppercorns for 45 minutes, adds carrots and swede for another 45 minutes, then potatoes for 30; the blogger suggests thin-skinned carrots and potatoes can be cooked unpeeled for flavour. Cooking the meat alone first makes skimming easier.
- Root vegetables vary by household: the MTV recipe uses swede, carrot, celeriac and parsnip, while the everyday version uses only carrot, swede and potato.
- Better the next day; reheat gently.
Adapted from MTV Uutiset, Lihakeitto (Finnish beef soup) and Silkosta rukiiseen, Arkinen lihakeitto.
At the festivals
No festival we list has printed it on a menu yet.