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.

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.