Sunday, December 23, 2012

How to use the Finnish word 'laatikko'

Here's a post about laatikko, an awesome 3-in-1 word!  If you are having a traditional Finnish Christmas dinner, you just cannot avoid it. Or them. These are the three most common meanings for laatikko:

laatikko = a box


  • Mitä tuossa laatikossa on? - What's in that box?
  • Voitko viedä tuon pahvilaatikon kellariin? - Can you take that cardboard box to the basement?


laatikko = a drawer



laatikko = a casserole, a hot dish baked in the oven


  • Oletko tehnyt tämän laatikon itse? - Did you make this casserole yourself?
  • Kaikkia laatikoita pitää maistaa. - One has to taste all casseroles. (Not true.)
  • Tykkäätkö maksalaatikosta rusinoiden kanssa vai ilman? - Do you like the liver casserole with or without raisins? (This is a weirdly big deal for some people.)


Typical Christmas casseroles:



Other casseroles:


  • liha-makaronilaatikko - casserole with macaroni and ground beef
  • kaalilaatikko - cabbage casserole
  • liha-perunasoselaatikko - a hot dish with leftover mashed potatoes and groud beef

Hyvää ruokahalua! - Bon appétit!



p.s. Here's another post about the names of Finnish containers.


Kiitos, kun luit! Jos pidit postauksesta, voit jakaa sen eteenpäin.
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, feel free to share it. 
– Hanna


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't seem to escape the laatikot here in Tampere!

I think a niin/noniin entry would be really helpful. :)

Laura said...

Liver casserole without raisins is blasphemy. And that is the truth. And I was sooo envious when we were young and your family ate liver casserole with castor sugar and a dollop of butter and we only got sour lingonberries. Great childhood memories...

Hanna said...

Laura is a great example of "some people". :) No niin and niin, what a great idea! I just read an interesting article about 'niin' in Kielikello, so I might have to quote that.

Anonymous said...

Well, the thing is I don't like the raisins either, so I always pick them out. You can't buy the variety that doesn't have them, because that one tastes like liver..

Francisco González said...

This is a very interesting entry!

Finnish words are not easy to remember for me so it's always nice to find 3-in-1 words.

I thought to share a couple of pics of my joulupöytä and laatikko food.

http://s8.postimage.org/gmg075hit/2012_12_24_20_35_45.jpg

http://s14.postimage.org/6p2d4m2fl/2012_12_24_20_35_54.jpg

Hyvää Joulua kaikille! and thank you for the blog, I find it very useful for learning Finnish :)

Ekaterina Trayt said...

Minusta lanttulaatikko on paras! :)

Maksa ja rusina? Kuulostaa oudolta... (olen kasvissyöjä.)

Nick O. said...

Talking about food gets everybody excited :)

I've only trird makaronilaatikko, and I liked it.