Day 15 - Reindeer meat very nice

In one of our usual conversations about Finnish and Malaysian food comparisons, I mentioned about Finnish people eating reindeer and moose meat and I probably showed some interest in wanting to taste them, which I do. Just like how I wanted to taste kangaroo meat in Australia, but I never had the chance to. I know it's kinda cute and fluffy and all, with Rudolph and stuff, but they've got an abundance of them and they're not endangered, so yea :P While shopping on Saturday, Anu just had the idea of making reindeer stew for Sunday's dinner. I dunno, but I was grinning from ear to ear.

720grams of frozen reindeer meat

How the Finns would normally eat it, is with mashed potatoes and lingonberry jam. Lingonberry jam is staple in Scandinavian countries as it is plentiful in the forests. As far as I know, the Finns eat it with their meals, not so often with bread or toasts; same goes to other types of jam. Jams to them is to go with food like pannukakku (Finnish pancake), porridge, in cakes, reindeer and mashed potatoes, and some more I can't remember. But they don't eat meatballs with lingonberry jam; that's the Swedish style.

Pannukakku; but this was strawberry (mansikka) jam

The meat was actually very nice. I dunno if it's because what I had was sliced thinly with strips of fat in every slice of meat, making it very tender. But the taste is not that bad too. The strong taste of this red meat is not overpowering.

Sautéing reindeer meat

Turns out it wasn't really reindeer stew for dinner after all. It was reindeer sauté, and it's sautéed with beer. You eat it with mashed potatoes, pickles and beetroots. Yes, I ate pickles even though I've said before I hate pickles. I've eaten them in burgers, although really, I'd prefer them not to be in my burgers. I dunno why, but somehow when I'm in another country, I'm not as picky as I am back in KL. I guess maybe it's just cos I know what I can get in my own comfort zone? *shrugs* Like I'm eating lots of cucumber now on its own, when I would not in KL (like in nasi lemak and chicken rice). But that's cos the cucumber here tastes different. They taste like the Japanese cucumber; it's dark green on the outside but a lot longer. Omg, Japanese do have everything small and Europeans big O_0 Anyway....

Mashed potatoe topped with reindeer meat.

The sweetness of the jam actually goes very well with the meat and potatoes. Finnish cuisine is typically mild in taste. Nothing too heavy. The meat was sautéed with beer and some spice which Anu and Jaakko couldn't translate for me. They call it pepper but it's not pepper but it looks like pepper, but no, it's not pepper. The spice was pretty mild too. Finland do not have their own spices, thus resulting in a mild tasting cuisine and traditionally, they used a lot of salt before spices were imported into the country. There is one type of spice that Finland has. I forgot what the name was but it's berries from a certain species of tree. Even that, it's mild. It doesn't smell of anything when you sniff it closely or even crushing it. It did not produce any smell.

With beetroot

I can't wait to taste more traditional Finnish food. There's a pack of Finnish cheese in the fridge waiting for me to tear open. That also, is to be eaten with jam. And the cheese has brown spots everywhere. It looks baked and mouldy at the same time, but it's cold. And then there's liver casserole, blood sausage and meat jerky, which, I don't wish to try. Oh I've tried Finnish licorice though. First taste was weird. Second bite was better, but nope. I'd prefer not to eat it again.