Stroganina

Stroganina (Russian строганина, literally "shavings"[1]) is a dish of the indigenous people of northern Arctic Siberia consisting of raw, thin, long-sliced frozen fish.[1][2][3] Around Lake Baikal, the dish is referred to as raskolotka.[1] Traditional stroganina is made with freshwater whitefish[3] salmonids[4] found in the Siberian Arctic waters such as nelma, muksun, chir, and omul.[5][6] Rarely, it is made with sturgeon. This dish is popular with native Siberians,[7] and is present in Yakutian cuisine,[8] Eskimo cuisine, Komi cuisine and Yamal cuisine. It is often paired with vodka.[2][9]

Prepared stroganina on a table
Whittling off stroganina with a Yakutian knife

Ingredients and preparation

Frozen fish is used for the preparation of stroganina.[1][10] The fish for stroganina is usually caught by ice fishing[lower-alpha 1] during the late fall and fresh frozen in order to avoid the formation of ice crystals in the meat. Frozen fish can be glazed with near-freezing ice water in order to avoid dehydration and better-preserve the fish meat in a frozen state. The fish is typically frozen straight, without bending its body.

Before the preparation of stroganina, strips of skin are cut from the back and abdomen from tail to head. Vertical incisions are made in the flesh. The fish is placed head down on a hard surface and skinned. Thin slices of fish fillet cut along the body using a sharp knife.[12] The geometry of the Yakutian knife is best suited to cut long slices that will form ribbon curls. In order to keep the slices frozen as long as possible, the stroganina is served immediately on non-metallic frozen plates or in ice-cold bowls[13] with salt and black pepper powder.[1][3][10][12] It is usually eaten with the hands while still frozen.

Stroganina, like caviar, is often consumed with vodka.[9]

Variations

A variation of the dish is molochnaya stroganina, which is prepared using stroganina and frozen fresh milk.[14]

The name is also applied to stroganina from reindeer meat.[15]

The restaurant "Stroganina Bar" in Moscow, Russia, specializes in stroganina.[16][17]

The city of Yakutsk holds festivals celebrating the local delicacy.[18]

See also

Notes
  1. "Stroganina? The natives fish through ice, and their catch promptly freezes. In days gone by they simply shattered a fish against a rock and chewed the frozen shards with salt. Today the fish is shaved wafer thin and eaten frozen with salt, ..."[11]

References
  1. Rasputin, Valentin; Winchell, Margaret; Mikkelson, Gerald (28 October 1997). Siberia, Siberia. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press. pp. 322–323. ISBN 978-0-8101-1575-0.
  2. Shuster, Simon. "Stroganina: Frozen Sashimi of the Russian Arctic – Roads & Kingdoms". Roads & Kingdoms. Stroganina, like caviar, is meant to be consumed with good vodka, as its equal.
  3. Headlines, R.B.T. (2014). Russian Winter: Photo album. Russia Beyond The Headlines. p. pt55.
  4. Latreille, Francis; Guigon, Catherine; Malenfer, Frédéric (2007). The Arctic. Abrams Books for Young Readers. New York: Harry N. Abrams. p. 47. ISBN 978-0-8109-1428-5. (subscription required)
  5. Sarasohn, Judy (tester); From Gastronomer Andreas Viestad (14 May 2008). "Stroganina". Washington Post. Recipe Finder. ... a kind of frozen Siberian sashimi
  6. Sumitra (22 January 2014). "Stroganina – Raw Frozen Fish Served as a Delicacy in Northern Russia – Oddity Central – Collecting Oddities". Oddity Central.
  7. Motarjemi, Yasmine; Moy, Gerald; Todd, E. C. D. (2013). Encyclopedia of Food Safety. 1. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, Academic Press. p. 176. ISBN 978-0-12-378613-5.
  8. Bochkarev, Bolot (16 December 2009). "Stroganina, a traditional cold dish in Yakutia". AskYakutia.com.
  9. Stadling, Jonas Jonsson; Guillemard, F.H.H. (1901). Through Siberia. A. Constable & Company, Limited. p. 142.
  10. Ziker, John P. (2002). Peoples of the Tundra: Northern Siberians in the Post-Communist Transition. Waveland Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-4786-1068-7.
  11. "The National Geographic". Volume 152. National Geographic Society. 1977. Retrieved 10 April 2016. (subscription required)
  12. Cochrane, John Dundas (1825). Narrative of a Pedestrian Journey Through Russia and Siberian Tartary (4th ed.). London: C. Knight. pp. 266–267.
  13. "Stroganina – Authentic Russian Cuisine". 28 March 2015. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  14. Goldstein, Darra; Mintz, Sidney (foreword) (2015). The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 585. ISBN 978-0-19-931361-7.
  15. "Stroganina". “Reindeer” company Ltd. lovozero.com. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  16. Muchnik, Andrei (20 February 2016). "Try Cow on a Broomstick at Moscow's Stroganina Bar". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  17. "Stroganina Bar". mydestination.com. Retrieved 11 April 2016. The fishing is done in the wild at – 40C. That's when stroganina making can be totally successful – the fish gets frozen only once on the ice of an arctic river, and it melts only once thereafter – in your mouth after a shot of hard liquor.
  18. "Festival of stroganina to take place in Yakutsk". Pravda. Pravda.Ru. 12 June 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2016.
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