Lihakeitto – Finnish meat soup

My grandmother was an excellent cook. She didn’t cook fancy foods but those simple and honest home-cooked, traditional Finnish dishes. One of my favorites was her bone soup or meat soup. Pot-au-feu type of soup. Meat boiled in homemade meat stock so long that it starts to fall apart . Then, meat is removed from the stock, and vegetables are added. When veggies are ready, cube your meat and add it in. Little parsley on top and on the plate. Served with rye bread. Delicious!

I do this soup the old-fashioned way, and it takes time, but the taste is worth it. This is a recipe from my grandmother’s cookbook from 1948. The recipe for the stock is from her mother’s cookbook from 1909. I made some changes to both recipes like adding amounts and removing or replacing, adding some ingredients but the idea is still same.

First, I made the stock. Of course, you can use meat stock cubes or bouillon capsules, but believe me, once you have done this with homemade stock, you will not want to make it any other way! You can use stock in other foods, too. I always make bigger patches of the stock and freeze it in portions for later use. If you don’t want to make your stock, skip this part and go directly to the meat soup recipe.

I roasted all vegetables, bones, and meat for the stock in the oven at 230c until they had taken some color. Also, the meat that was meant to be used in the soup. I boiled the meat meant for the soup same time while I made the stock.This is not mentioned in my granny’s cookbook, but roasting gives vegetables and meat extra flavor and a nice color for the stock.

When veggies and meat were ready, I used a Crockpot to boil the meat at a low temperature. Easy way… When cooking in Crockpot, the meat cooks in its own juices, and you do not need to constantly check what’s going on. But of course, you can use a regular pot or let the stock simmer slowly in the oven. Whatever is most convenient for you.

This is the recipe for the stock:

5 liters of water
some garlic
2 kg beef shanks
2 carrots
600 g mushrooms
2 onions
200 g celeriac
100 g parsnip
1 leek
2 bay leaves
8 corns of allspice
2 tbsp salt
4 sprigs of parsley

For clarification: 2 egg whites will also need cheesecloth or sieve for straining the broth.

Measure cold water into a cooking pot and add the beef shanks. Boil the meat, skimming off any foam that forms. Let the broth simmer gently for 4 hours.
Add the vegetables, spices, and other ingredients when the meat has boiled for the first hour. Wash, peel, and slice the vegetables into thin slices. Leave the onion skins on. Roast the vegetables on the stove until they turn dark brown. Add the vegetables and the remaining ingredients, and simmer gently for another 3 hours. Remove all vegetables and bones/meat. Allow the broth to settle, then strain it through cheesecloth. Cool the broth.

Clarifying the broth: Pour the remaining broth into a steel pot. Whisk 2 egg whites lightly. Add the egg white foam to the broth, and heat the broth gently so the egg white cooks slowly and collects impurities from the broth. When the broth boils, cover the pot with a lid and let the broth settle in a warm place for at least half an hour. Gently remove the risen egg white cake with a slotted spoon, strain the broth through a moistened cheesecloth or use a fine sieve, and let the broth cool.

So now you have the basis of your soup. I have added some more root vegetables to the soup that we like. Here’s the rest of the recipe:

Meat Soup (serves 6)

2kg Boneless Beef Stew Meat
10 potatoes
piece of root celery
3 carrots
1 onion
0.5 leek
1 handful of chopped fresh parsley
2-3 liters of your fantastic meat stock or water (if you use water, then you will need to add meat bouillon cubes for the taste)
2 teaspoons salt
1 parsnip
piece swede (rutabaga)
6 kernels of allspice
6 kernels of white pepper
2-3 bay leafs

Take the meat out of the refrigerator 1/2 hour before cooking. (If you made the stock naturally, you have your meat ready)
Peel and chop the onion and carrot.
Brown the meat on all sides in a pan. Transfer the meat to a pot and add approximately 1.5 liters of water, finely chopped onion, salt, and whole allspice berries.
Simmer over low heat with the lid on for 3-4 hours until the meat is tender. Skim off any foam that rises to the surface with a ladle.
Peel and dice the celery root, potatoes, carrots, parsnip, rutabaga and leek.
Let the broth cool briefly, remove the meat from the broth, and dice it. Strain the broth, return it to the pot, and add all vegetables. Let it simmer for about 30 minutes. Add the diced meat and let it simmer for an additional 5 minutes. Finally, garnish with fresh parsley.