Categories: Fish, Finnish, Usenet 
      Yield: 6 servings 
  
----------------------------------FILLING---------------------------------- 
      2 lb Fish, small 
  1 1/2 lb Pork, sliced into 
           -strips like bacon, 
           -but about 1/4 to 1/2 
           -inch thick 
      3 T  Salt (omit salt if 
           -pork is already salted) 
           Allspice (optional; 
           -traditionalists omit 
           -this) 
 
-----------------------------------DOUGH----------------------------------- 
  2 1/2 c  Water 
  3 1/4 c  Rye flour (sifted) 
  1 3/4 c  Wheat flour, about 
           -(sifted) 
      4 t  Salt 
    1/2 oz Yeast (2 standard 
           -packages) 
  
  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