We should be talking about Finnish egg butter

an eggier take on egg salad

Up until recently, I worked for a Finnish company, which gave me the chance to travel to Finland often over the course of five years. I come from a Nordic-affine family: my mother gave me a Swedish name, my brother moved to Stockholm when he was 19 and now speaks better Swedish than German (to the point where new friends of his are confused as to why I don’t speak Swedish when I meet them, assuming that I too must be a Swede) and I’ve had a soft spot for Denmark since my 20s (I’m actually in Copenhagen as of right now!).

Finland, however, was completely new to me. On my very first trip in August 2020, my then-colleague-now-friend Hansu took me to the distillery’s visitor’s house, which was stocked with all the essentials. That included coffee (Finns consume the most coffee per capita, and that shit is like jet fuel — I only ever drank half a cups worth because it’s oh-so-very-strong and I’m a wimp), Karelian pies, and the ingredients for egg butter. Namely, egg and butter. I don’t know what kind of alchemy happens when you simply mash eggs with butter but good lord, I’d been doing eggs on toast wrong my entire life. From what I’ve seen in Finland, they prefer using hard-boiled eggs for egg butter (in Finnish: Munavoi) but I enjoy boiling a jammy egg, which imho adds a creaminess that a hard-boiled could never. I’ve never had eggs taste more egg-y or butter-y than in egg butter. Often served as the condiment for hot Karelian pies (rice porridge baked in a thin rye crust — sounds odd, tastes delightful, is also v. difficult to make), egg butter has become my go-to weekend breakfast. It doesn’t require heaps of butter to truly taste buttery and there’s just something so satisfying about piling mounds of egg butter high on a good slab of sourdough toast.

one of my favorite hotel breakfasts from The Folks Hotel in Helsinki, featuring a Karelian pie and egg butter on the upper right of the plate.

Depending on how rough you mash (wow what a sentence) the eggs into the butter, this can be gently reminiscent of a Japanese konbini egg salad sandwich. Because it’s just. so. eggy. But really: eggs are a perfect food, a powerhouse of nutrients, and if I’m eating egg salad I want it to taste as eggy as possible.

When deciding whether to take the job in early 2020, I read up on Finland and saw the egg butter and Karelian pie combo mentioned several times. I’ve always been an egg enjoyer, eater, lover, and ngl the thought of egg butter might have sold me on taking this job more than I’d like to admit. While the job might be done, my time in Finland changed how I enjoy my eggs. Something I did not think possible at this stage in my life.

Munavoi — Finnish Egg Butter

3 jammy-boiled eggs

1-2 teaspoons of butter

salt & pepper

Pierce your eggs with an egg piercer (I find that they’re much less likely to crack when using the piercer), then boil eggs (depending on if they’re coming out of the fridge or not my preference is usually a 7.5 - 8 minute egg), shock in cold water, then peel. Chop into a bowl where you’ve placed your butter, season generously with salt & pepper, and mash with a fork. Serve on top of toast.

*Quick addendum: as I was writing this I came across the Scottish "egg in a cup" which seems to be a very similar concept, perhaps with a little less mashing. That, in turn, reminded me of “Ei im Glas”. Long story short: many cultures have a way of serving boiled eggs in a vessel, with or without a dairy condiment. Praise be for that.

More Bites

It’s not like trio needs much introduction, most people reading this will know Otto’s smaller sibling who continuously kills it. I went for my birthday dinner last month (Leo season 4ever you can’t tell me it’s over) and enjoyed the Zwiebelbraten with homemade pommes, fending off my tablemates for the crispy bits of fried shallots and fries swiped through the incredibly deep, rich Bratensoße (gravy). 10/10, no notes.

For now, I’m bopping around Copenhagen drinking coffee (that’s not Finnish strength!), eating ice cream, and hella spenny pastries but we’re on a budget so the treat is a pastry, not a meal at Manfreds (RIP since they’re no longer open anyways).