Rasols & ASpic
APRIL 2026
Stars of the Cold table
Rasols and galerts, two “stars” of the Latvian cold table, are traditional Latvian dishes that are still prepared and eaten outside Latvia. These two dishes often spark questions and even debates! It turns out that rasols (or rosols) outside Latvia is often a completely different color than it is in Latvia—and sometimes, abroad, the special texture of galerts and its unusual ingredients are misunderstood.
Video in Latvian with English subtitles.
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In Inta Gertners’ family, there is a very unusual rasols recipe that she inherited from her grandmother, Milda Veidis (b. 1901).
Gundega Michele, while living in the USA, developed her own rasols recipe and shares it in this video and also in a PDF. It turns out that the most important thing is what’s not in it!
Maruta shares her “tips and tricks” for making a successful aspic.
Fragment from an interview with Jānis Dzenis (1918–2021) about life in the Palma collective farm in Brazil in the first half of the 20th century.
Selga and Edgars share their family’s rasols recipes. Edgars also talks about the aspic and cold buffet at the Latvian Centre in Toronto, as it was during the time he worked there as a catering staff member.
Ilze talks about her mother’s special aspic dish and her memories of the family Christmas table. Although she couldn’t eat aspic as a child, Ilze recently discovered that she now likes it and has decided to try making it next Christmas.
Astrīde Cīrule tells about rasols as an essential addition to her family festive table in the US.
![Recipie from: Best Loved Recipes From The Heart of KD. Vaughn: Kristus Dārzs, [2018].](https://maju-garsa.lv/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Galerts-Kristus-darzs-768x1197.jpeg)
Here is a collection of several aspic recipes from diaspora cookbooks — starting with Dzidra Zeberiņa’s "Ģimenes pavārds" (USA, 1955) recipe for aspic, and ending with Balva and Atis Bredovskis’ recipe for Muzikantu gaļa (Musician's meat) — a recipe they recorded while living in the 'Kristus dārzs' retirement home in Canada.
Aija’s rasols recipe has been passed down from generation to generation. Key ingredients in her version are beets and herring, so that, as she says, it stands apart from potato salad. Her rasols recipe can be found in the cookbook ‘Ņujorkas latviešu ev. Lut. draudzes Ziemeļu novada PAVĀRGRĀMATA’, published in America.
Ingrīda, who sets the tables for Latvian events, talks about people’s attitude toward "meat in jelly" — and where in Melbourne you can find the best cuts of meat to make it.
Elza Auliciema’s rasols recipe, written in Adelaide, Australia, in the second half of the 20th century. This recipe is unusual because it lists tomatoes as an ingredient in rasols.
Dārija talks about her family’s rasols recipe: without herring, without meat, and with beets. Listen to the interview to learn more about her rasols—and about her experience with aspic!