Estonia
Estonian cuisine is a little less diverse than that of its Baltic neighbors, and is closer to that of Finland. Rukkileib, a dense, black rye bread, is a ubiquitous element in the country. Sprats are small, delicately spiced fish in brine, served as kiluvõileib, a buttered slice of bread topped with sprat fillets, hard-boiled egg and chives. Cold buffets - inspired by the Swedish smörgåsbord - are popular. A multitude of salads, cold meats and pickled or smoked fish are served on rye bread.
Examples include marineeritud angerjas (marinated eel), rosolje (salad with herring, beet, potatoes and hard-boiled eggs) or sünnipäevasalat (potato salad, sour cream, mayonnaise with cubes of Estonian lastevorst sausage). Verivorst is the local equivalent of black pudding. Another delicatessen specialty is sült, a calf's head cheese often served at Christmas. Mulgikapsad is a typical peasant dish based on pork, potatoes, sauerkraut and barley, all simmered for a long time. Lihasupp is a kind of beef stew with potatoes, cabbage and carrots.
Latvia
A blend of Polish, Russian and German influences, Latvian cuisine also features sprats and rye bread, known here as rupjmaize. The jāņu siers is a hard cheese with caraway seeds, while the biezpiens is a cottage cheese, a very grainy fresh cheese. Soups based on fish(zivju zupa), sorrel(skābeņu zupa) and mushrooms(sēņu zupa) are popular. There are also sklandrausis, potato, carrot and caraway tarts, or speķa pīrāgi, turnovers with bacon and onions. Bukstiņputra is a nourishing porridge made with barley porridge, potato, milk and smoked ham. Finally, pelēkie zirņi is a dish of gray peas cooked with bacon, usually served at Christmas.
Dishes of Russian origin remain common, and local variants are frequently found: pelmeni (ravioli with meat, potato, sauerkraut or fresh cheese), borščs (red cabbage, beet and beef soup), stroganovs (beef stew with cream), siļķe kažokā (herring salad with beet and potato), šašliks (spicy meat skewers) or rasols (vegetable macedoine with mayonnaise).
Lithuania
From the 13th to the end of the 18th century, the powerful Grand Duchy of Lithuania, stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea, saw the development of a wealthy aristocracy that traded with its neighbors such as the German states, Russia and Poland, and could even afford the services of cooks from France in particular. As a result, Lithuanian gastronomy is slightly more varied and sophisticated than that of its Baltic neighbors.
Tasty products include skilandis PDO, a large dried and smoked sausage molded in a pig's stomach to give it its domed shape, as well as delicious dešros (sausages), often smoked, and lašiniai (fatty bacon). Liliputas is a PGI hard cheese. At the bar, you can enjoy a beer with kepta duona, small sticks of rye bread(juoda duona) grilled with garlic and served with a fresh cheese sauce.
The national dish is undoubtedly cepelinai, a type of steamed mashed potato dumpling filled with meat, cheese or mushrooms and served with cream and sometimes bacon. The tuber is also found in bulviniai blynai, potato pancakes, or kugelis, a gratin of mashed potatoes with onions, bacon, milk and egg. As with its Slavic neighbors, soups are popular. These include šaltibarščiai (cold beet and cucumber soup with cream), barščiai (hot beet, red cabbage and beef soup) oragurkinė sriuba (hot cucumber and vegetable soup, sometimes with meat).
In the restaurant, it's impossible to miss the inratable karbonadas (breaded pork cutlet) served with tomatoes, cucumbers and potatoes, or žirniai su spirgučiais, peas in bacon. Fish are popular, especially silkė (herring) smoked, in brine or dried.
At the beginning of the 15th century, Grand Duke Vytautas the Great integrated Muslim Tatars from Central Asia and Jewish Karaites from the Crimea into his personal guard and army, bringing with them specialties with oriental accents such as koldūnai, ravioli with meat (lamb or beef, more rarely pork) and onions, or kibinai, a turnover filled with mutton or lamb.
Desserts and drinks
Mainly made up of cakes and pastries, local pastries vary from country to country, although some specialties are common to all three Baltic states. These include cinnamon-rolled buns: kaneelirullid (Estonian), kanēļa rullīši (Latvian), cinamoninės bandelės (Lithuanian), or chocolate bars with cream cheese: kohuke (Estonian), biezpiena sieriņš (Latvian) and varškės (Lithuanian). Kiselis is a red fruit porridge cooked in its own juice. In Estonia, you can enjoy kohupiimakook, a kind of cottage cheese cheesecake, or kringel, a brioche crown with cinnamon and dried fruit.
In Latvia, you'll find klingeris, an enormous brioche pretzel with raisins and spices.Aleksandra torte is a shortbread with a raspberry jam filling and pink icing, created in honor of the visit of Tsar Alexander III of Russia to Rīga. The creamy bread soup(maizes zupa) is made from stale black bread cooked in milk, then blended and garnished with dried fruit. The rupjmaizes kārtojums includes layers of crumbled rye bread, blackcurrant or cranberry purée and whipped cream, sprinkled with grated chocolate or cinnamon.
In Lithuania, the term blynai refers to a variety of desserts between pancakes and crepes. The Tatar influence is visible in šimtalapis, a poppy-seed puff pastry. Originally from Central Europe, šakotis, or spit-roasted cake, involves pouring several layers of dough onto a metal roller over embers to create a spectacular trunk-shaped cake. Varškės spurgos, small ball-shaped doughnuts made from cottage cheese and often filled with jam, and žagarėliai, crispy doughnuts similar to Lyon bugnes, are found everywhere. Grybai are mushroom-shaped cookies often topped with a red glaze with white polka dots. Finally, tinginys - literally "lazy" - are chocolate puffs with cookie chips.
While coffee consumption in the Baltic States is not as gigantic as that of its Nordic neighbors, locals are becoming increasingly appreciative of this hot beverage, and in towns, cafés are springing up on every street corner. The strong German presence in the region has popularized its consumption, and while its quality and availability were uncertain during the Soviet era, today there is an abundance of establishments to enjoy excellent coffees. As the three Baltic states were also part of the Russian Empire, tea is a common beverage, as it is ubiquitous in Russia. Lithuania also concocts infusions(arbata) from wild plants such as fireweed(gaurometis) and sea buckthorn (šaltalankis). Birch water, kasemahl (Estonian), bērzu sula (Latvian), beržo sula (Lithuanian), is a refreshing spring drink extracted directly from the tree trunk.
Alcohols
The most popular alcoholic beverage in any country is beer, which has been brewed in the region for thousands of years. Beer consumption has enjoyed a renaissance since the fall of the USSR, particularly in Lithuania, where several breweries have won international awards. In this country, you can't miss the Svyturis, Baltijos, Utenos or Kalnapilis brands. In Latvia, you'll find Valmiermuižas, Piebalgas, Užavas and Tervets, while in Estonia you'll enjoy Saku, A-Le Coq, Sillamaë or Põhjala. The islands of western Estonia also produce koduõlu and taluõlu, craft beers often flavored with juniper berries.
Stronger spirits are also consumed, especially vodka, which is very common in the region. Of particular note is starka, the amber-colored rye-based Lithuanian equivalent of whisky. In Estonia, you can discover Vana Tallinn, a liqueur made with rum, cinnamon and vanilla. Its recipe has been a secret since 1960, and the bottle imitates the shape of a tower in Tallinn's medieval center. And let's not forget bitters or herbal liqueurs such as žalios devynerios, from Lithuania, which contains no less than twenty-seven medicinal herbs. Closely related, Rīga's black balm or Rīgas melnais balzams contains a wide variety of herbs infused in pure vodka. Titrating 45 degrees, it is often mixed with other beverages, alcoholic or non-alcoholic, soda or even coffee or tea. The distillation of fruit spirits (quince, lingonberry, sea buckthorn berries...) is also popular.
Wine is not traditionally common, as the Baltic climate is not suited to viticulture outside a few rare regions in southern Lithuania. However, wine consumption remains high, and wines from Central Europe and the Balkans are particularly popular. Although almost no wine - grape wine - is produced in the region, there are many varieties of fruit wine - made from raspberries, cherries, blackcurrants, rhubarb and other wild berries - as well as cider. There are also sweet alcohols that have been produced for thousands of years, such as mead: miestiņš (Latvian) mõdu (Estonian) midus (Lithuanian), or kvass, a very light (generally less than 2%), sparkling alcoholic beverage made from the fermentation of various cereals: wheat, rye, barley, etc.