Lithuanian Cuisine - Main Courses

Main Courses

• Aspics (šaltiena or košeliena) - many savory foodstuffs are presented in gelatin molds, especially herring; horseradish is often served as a condiment.
• Balandėliai ("little doves") - cabbage leaves stuffed with meat and braised.
• Bigos - a long-simmered hunter's stew, featuring the catch of the day, sausages, and vegetables.
• Blynai - although blynai is often translated as pancakes, they are usually more similar to crepes. They are either wafer-thin, as crepes are, or made from a yeast-risen batter, often mixed with grated apple or potato.

• Kėdainių blynai - boiled potato pancakes, similar to latkes.
• Žemaičių blynai - similar to Žemaičių blynai, made from grated raw potatoes and filled with chopped cooked meat
• Lietiniai or Nalesnikai - large, usually square blintzes made from thin crepes filled with minced meat, cheese with cinnamon, or minced sauteed mushrooms.
• Buckwheat pancakes - traditional dish in Dzūkija

• Dešra - sausages are made in many different ways: they may be smoked or fresh, and include pork, beef, potatoes, or barley; in rural areas, blood may be added.

• Didžkukuliai or Cepelinai (zeppelins) - potato dumplings stuffed with meat, mushrooms, or cheese, often garnished with spirgai, fried minced onion and/or sour cream.
• Kastinys - sour cream "butter"; sour cream is kneaded and washed until it forms a soft spread.
• Kibinai - pastry with mutton and onions, a Karaite dish.
• Kukuliai - Potato dumplings similar to gnocchi.
• Koldūnai, Virtiniai, Auselės - these are various kinds of dumplings, filled with minced meat, sausage, cottage cheese, or mushrooms, usually garnished with crumbled fried bacon. They are similar to Polish pierogi or kołduny, but are usually smaller.
• Kotletai - soft minced meat patties, often served with potatoes and a sauce.

• Kugelis (also bulvių plokštainis, the lexically correct non-foreign name, literally "flat potato dish" or banda - this usage predominates in the Dzūkija region) - potato pudding made with grated potatoes and eggs. It is usually served with sour cream and/or spirgai.
• Šaltnosiukai ("cold little noses") - dumplings filled with lingonberries, not found anywhere outside Lithuania.
• Šašlykai - cubes of pork are marinated, skewered, and grilled, preferably over birch wood; native to the Middle Eastern cuisine, a kind of Kebab.
• Skilandis or Kindziukas - pig stomach stuffed with meat and garlic and cold-smoked.
• Suktiniai - ("beef birds") - beef or pork is pounded until very thin, filled and rolled up, and braised. An example of this is zrazai, which are Lithuanian or East European beef rolls. See image at right.
• Švilpikai - an oven-baked potato snaps.
• Troškinti rauginti kopūstai - a stew made with sauerkraut and the cook's choice of meats and vegetables.
• Vėdarai - a sausage, made of a potato stuffed large intestine of a domestic pig.