Title: Lihapiirakka
 Categories: Meats, Finnish, Usenet
      Yield: 4 Servings
 
MMMMM---------------------------DOUGH--------------------------------
      3 oz Butter
      1 c  Milk
    1/3 c  Sugar
      3 c  Wheat flour
      1 oz Yeast cake
           -(or 1 package
           -of dried yeast)

MMMMM--------------------------FILLING-------------------------------
      1 lg Yellow onion
      1 lb Meat, ground
           -(mixed beef and pork)
      1 c  Cream
  1 1/4 c  Rice, cooked
           -(left-over rice is fine)
      1    Egg
           Salt and pepper
 
  MAKE THE DOUGH:  melt the butter and add milk.  Heat the mixture to
  100 degrees F.  Crumble the yeast into a bowl.  Add the
  butter-and-milk mixture and whip it until the yeast as dissolved.
  Add sugar, salt and flour and stir until it becomes a dough. Cover
  the bowl and let rise in a warm place for about 40 minutes.
  
  While the dough rises, chop the onion into very small pieces and put
  in a large frying pan.  Add the ground meat immediately and saute for
  10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the cooked rice and saute this
  mixture another 5 minutes. Add the cream, season to taste with salt
  and pepper, and turn off the heat. Let the frying pan stand on the
  stove, covered, until the dough is ready. Preheat the oven to 450
  degrees F.
  
  Roll out the dough so it fits in a 12x16 inch baking dish.  Put the
  dough into the dish so that the dough covers the whole dish (this is
  the most difficult part; don't be discouraged if you have to roll out
  the dough again).
  
  Add the filling on top of the dough.  Whip the egg and spread it over
  the filling.  Bake it on the bottom rack in the oven for about 20
  minutes.
  
  When the pie has cooled off a bit; cut it into pieces that are about
  1 1/4 inches by 6 inches (the traditional size of lihapiirakka in
  Finland). Serve.
  
  NOTES:
  
  *  Finnish meat pie -- This is an excellent-tasting stomach filler.
  My dear mother gave me this recipe when I moved away from home. She
  probably thought that it would give me that feeling of home. It does.
  I have tried it on my friends and it is always a hit. My mother is
  from Finland. Yield: Serves 4-6.
  
  *  While eating lihapiirakka, you can try the hard work of
  pronouncing its name.  Liha means meat and piirakka is just piirakka.
  The filling can of course be varied.  Other traditional Finnish
  fillings for other piirakkas are blueberries (with some potato flour
  on top) and cottage cheese.
  
  : Difficulty:  moderate.
  : Time:  30 minutes preparation, 30 minutes cooking and cooling.
  : Precision:  measure the crust ingredients carefully.
  
  : Krister Valtonen
  : Dept.  of CS, University of Linkoping, Sweden.
  : {seismo,mcvax}!enea!liuida!obelix!valtonen
  
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