When people talk about fermentation, or fermentation, they usually mean fermenting sugar using yeast and turning it into alcohol. Everyone knows this process - this is how both wine and yogurt are made. True, other types of microorganisms are used to make yogurt. However, if you dig deeper, it turns out that with the help of fermentation, various traditional cuisines of the world prepare a wide variety of products and get the most varied results - dishes outlandish and not so. But all these works have one thing in common - the smell - from dubious to unbearable.
Sauerkraut
For us this is the most ordinary thing. A national dish of many countries, including Germany, Poland, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Russia, and some North American countries, a food product obtained from cabbage during its lactic fermentation. Sauerkraut is widely used in salads and side dishes; it is good for health, helps normalize intestinal microflora and, therefore, promote proper digestion. By normalizing the intestinal microflora, it helps provide the body with biotin. Lactic acid bacteria, always present on the surface of fresh cabbage, ferment sugars from cabbage juice and form lactic acid, which prevents the development of mold fungi. Actually, because of the desire to preserve the product fit for consumption and not allow it, for example, to become moldy, humanity came up with the idea of fermenting products.
The smell of sauerkraut that is familiar to us, you will agree, can hardly be called very pleasant. As well as the aromas of pickled apples, watermelons, cucumbers and other fruits. But this, as they say, is just the beginning.
Baikal omul
The peoples living around Lake Baikal, whose religion is defined by theologians as various variants of shamanism, consider the bear to be their totem animal. It is exactly like a clubfoot that they act with the omul, which is still found in abundance in the Sacred Lake. This dish is also sometimes called bear-style omul. Having caught an omul, a bear does not eat it immediately, but dumps it in a hole, covers it with dead wood and waits, and begins to eat only when the fish smells strongly. This specific smell - by the standards of ordinary Russians, most of all reminiscent of just rotten meat - is the very scent that turns omul into a delicacy sought after by lovers of strong gastronomic experiences.
There are many tales that old-timers specially feed gullible tourists with stinking omul as a form of mockery. And there are stories about how tourists throw omul into the trash, considering it rotten, and old-timers rush to get the fish back and teach fools how to eat real gourmet dishes.
However, there is also an anecdote that a family living somewhere in the European part of the country, having received a parcel with salted fish and red caviar from relatives from Kamchatka, wrote a letter of gratitude: “We received your parcel, thank you. The fish is very tasty, but during the trip the berries picked up salt from it and disappeared, so we threw them away.”
It must be said that pickled fish in one form or another is found in the cuisines of many countries around the world. Often, fish along with salt are buried in frozen ground or placed in barrels, clay jugs, stone tanks, or any other container - and wait. They wait a long time: the fermentation process takes in other cases several months, or even several years. The result is a strange product (sometimes it is the fish itself, and sometimes it is fish sauce) with a disgusting smell and a delicious taste.
Hakarl
This most disgusting dish is prepared in Iceland. The shark is caught, gutted and placed in barrels of gravel. After two months, the pieces are taken out and hung on metal hooks to dry a little more. During this time, a dried crust forms on the fish - this is the most delicious thing. The crust is cut off and eaten. In addition to the fact that the Greenland shark is pickled and dried, it also has one more “fragrant” feature - living creatures do not have a urinary system, so urea, uric acid and other “delights” are excreted through the skin. That is, eating a Greenland shark immediately after catching it is not only not tasty, but also dangerous - you can get poisoned. Apparently, during the fermentation process, meat loses its toxic properties.
Narezushi
It turns out that making sushi (or sushi - the sound between “s” and “sh”) from fresh fish began only in the 19th century. The Japanese character for "sushi" means "sour", "fermented". According to culinary historians, the prototype of sushi was a dish of fermented salted freshwater fish, most often carp, aged under pressure. Moreover, the fish was suitable for consumption for a whole year, and rice was supposedly used in cooking, but was then thrown away and not eaten. This, however, seems doubtful (about throwing away rice), given that in Southeast Asia people often lived leaner. In Japan, such sushi was called “narezushi”, and now it is also an extreme entertainment for tourists, the specialty of only a few restaurants in Tokyo.
Orgyz
In northeastern Russia, orgyz was prepared from salmon fish. To do this, trenches were dug along the river banks (remember about the bear?), fish were dumped there in the summer, covered with hay, and taken out in late autumn and winter. Even on the northeastern coasts, in Chukotka, walrus or seal (in variations - walrus fin) are prepared in a similar way. The future delicacy is kept in drops for 6-9 months and taken out for a big holiday or the arrival of dear guests.
And much, much more...
The Eskimos catch terns and puffins at bird markets, beat them and put them in leather bags, layer them with seal fat and leave this mixture to turn into a homogeneous gray mass, broken up here and there by inclusions of bones and feathers. This dish is called “kibyakku”, and you can imagine its smell.
The next delicacy is a deer that has rotted in a swamp, which was placed there by a Nenets, Chukchi, or Eskimo hunter. More precisely, I didn’t get it right away. A healthy and well-fed deer (usually the leader of the herd) is separated from the herd and given nothing to eat for a couple of days to completely cleanse the intestines. After this, a rawhide lasso is thrown around his neck and pulled into the nearest swamp, with this noose they crush him and leave him in the swamp. The deer must completely hide in the swamp; this place is filled with peat or sphagnum moss, and covered with branches and stones on top. Moreover, they crush the deer so that its skin is not damaged anywhere; its carcass must be absolutely intact. The peat bog masks odors well, and therefore cases of digging up kopalchem - as the locals call this food - by a predatory animal are practically excluded. Near the kopalchem, on the nearest hummock, a stake is driven in from rotting larch; the stake is decorated with bunches of grass and reindeer moss, and often with a bright rag.
Black or imperial eggs take several months to prepare, they are marinated in a hellish mixture of lime, salt water, tealeaves and other ingredients. The eggs are placed in a large container, covered with lime and buried in the ground, in the absence of sunlight and air, and wait until they reach the desired consistency. After the expiration date, the eggs are specially processed before being served on the table.
BAIKAL OMUL WITH SPARKL
Well, what if I don’t bother you? - he asked with calm fury.
I hated him too, but I looked and just realized that if he hit me, there would be nothing left of me: it wasn’t my arms sticking out from under the blue T-shirt, but solid knots of muscles.
He was dark, iron-haired, with a buzz cut, looking like a boxer. The crowd at the turns fell on me, I fell on him, and he calmly held everyone back, only the knots on his hands were slightly inflated.
What will I do? I'm being pushed.
What about snot? - he repeated his question, looking straight at him and moving his nodules.
The bus to the Irkutsk hydroelectric power station is a whole epic. Ragged, with broken doors, with windows boarded up with plywood, more than filled to capacity, it flew as if a barrel of herring was rolling down a mountain, jumped, rumbled, and gathered dust. You can’t see anything, sweat fills your eyes... The bus flew past the stops for a hundred meters, dropped off one or two passengers, and while the front of those waiting ran to the back door, this miracle of transport barked, joyfully doused them with smoke and left them to swear and spit to their heart’s content in the clouds dust.
Pay! Is there an exit at the crossing?.. No?.. Driver, don’t open the door!
After another attack, when I was pressed against my enemy in a blue T-shirt so that I almost flattened my nose on his stone chest, the neighbor hissed and carefully moved his foot. And only then did I realize with horror that I had been standing with my heel on his toes for a quarter of an hour.
Sorry... sorry, I didn't know!
Instead of answering, he brought a huge fist, smelling of iron, to my nose, and immediately turned to another neighbor:
Well, doesn't it fit? Naive, he pulled out the outfits. Come here.
A stunned boy of about sixteen, wearing only a jacket on his naked body, silently freed his hand and held out a pack of crumpled pink sheets. My enemy in the T-shirt calmly took them and put them in his bosom. I did not get anything.
Kuzmikha! Is there a way out?.. No?
Oh, let me go! Oh, little people!
Why were you silent? Stop the car! Hey, hey, knock!
Let grandma in! Let go of her bag!
Yes, wait! Oh my gosh!
Go. Driver, let's go!
What a trip! My heart was pounding, I couldn’t breathe. On a sharp turn, everyone fell on their side for the last time, and the conductor announced: “First village! We’ve arrived,” but I couldn’t straighten out, I walked out, staggering, onto the asphalt, and goosebumps ran down my body.
The construction site was just around the corner, far up the Angara. There was a pleasant breeze. A clean, unusual town, paved streets, lawns, cheerful pink and blue two-story houses under two-color checkerboard slates. Unusual street names: named after Borodin, Mukhina, Yakobi, Teatralnaya, Primorskaya, Stroika!
Here it is, the famous Siberian construction site! Tower cranes stick out in the distance, conveyors hum - a village is being built... A fire truck stands in the middle of the street, and firefighters in helmets and with hatchets are busily washing garbage into ditches and watering lawns. A piebald cow wanders along the asphalt. There is an announcement on the billboard: “Today in the club of the first village - “Dreams on the Roads.”
I hadn’t eaten in the morning yet, so when I saw the “Canteen” sign, I decided: I’ll have breakfast and head to the construction site.
The dining room was noisy, hot, there was a purely “dining room” smell of fried meat and dirty dishes, palm trees stuck out pitifully at the windows. There were five, ten glasses of beer on each table, so there was nowhere to put the plates. Talking, cackling, smoke. Queue at the cash register.
I was already at the very window when someone tugged at my sleeve. I turn around: my “enemy” in a blue T-shirt thrusts a ten:
Take for me what you take for yourself.
Yes... I don't know yet...
Cabbage soup with pork, Baikal omul and compote. Omul with flavor, wow! Do you take it?
At the table, he smiled good-naturedly and extended a wide stone palm:
Leonid. You really annoyed me. Right down the neck! My fingers hurt: a brick fell on my foot... Apparently, it’s not from here?
From Moscow.
Uh-oh... And I'm Siberian. Indigenous... Work for us?
No, look. I'm going to the Bratsk hydroelectric power station.
As if there's nothing to do here? Stop! So you haven’t eaten omul yet? Hey! Now try it! And I’ve been here since the first day... Oh, you traveler!..
The latter did not apply to me. Our neighbor on the bus, a boy in a jacket, sat lounging at the next table. He demanded from the waitress two glasses of hot water, took a tiny onion from his pocket, cut it, thickly salted it, took bread from the vase, spread it with mustard and began to devour such a strange breakfast, washing it down with empty boiling water.
While we were waiting for the coupons to be taken from us, Leonid suddenly jumped up, handed money to someone at the cash register again, caught the waitress - otherwise we would have probably waited a whole hour - and on the table there were three plates of cabbage soup with pork, omul and three compote.
Come on, traveler, move to us!
The boy smiled, willingly picked up his onion, bread with mustard and sat down at the table.
Here's yours. Gobble it up.
Gobble, gobble! What, didn't work today?
They pulled me out.
Yes Yes. A lot of?
Fifteen thousand.
Wow! Where's your shirt?
I did this on purpose.
The boy leaned over to us and whispered, making scary eyes:
I am working. You see, I work in the authorities, in the criminal investigation department. Disguise, understand? Brother, I have a task... um... - He ate at the same time, choking, burning himself, spilling cabbage soup on the table. - Found one gang; The head of the criminal investigation department says: if you open it, ten thousand for a barrel! I’m watching... um... And they grabbed me, but in the cold...
Who? Gang?
No! Police! There are idiots here in Irkutsk. I've been on the freight train lane for two days. And they say: what orphanage did he run away from? I can’t lose track here... I’m hitting the table with my fist!
Don't rush, don't rush, you'll choke.
I'll call the boss and tell him - dust will fly from them! He will ask them! I called in the morning, he was not there, he left on a mission. Do you have any work at the construction site here? Well, I have now arrived. Only sha! We will catch them, rest assured!
Hmmm, said Leonid, scratching the back of his head. His eyes looked thoughtfully and seriously. - Ugh, you monsters, again an omul without a scent! Oh, for you!..
I tried. It was ordinary fresh fish.
I wanted to show you! When it smells a little - oh, this is delicious!
Nothing, but the pork is flavorful,” I noted.
Well? - our boy perked up. - Well? Ugliness! Stop! We will not leave this matter like this. Let's write it down. Waitress! What is the dining room number? Chef's last name? Don't want to answer? Let's write it down...
He grabbed a pack of tattered pieces of paper, a yellow colored pencil and began to draw: “Dining room No. 5... lunch... disgrace... omul without flavor, pork with flavor...”
I burst into tears and almost choked. Leonid winked:
Well, do you have documents, criminal investigation department?
Everything is. The officer on duty at the department took it away. Well, I can do without them. All I have to do is call my boss - they’ll give me everything like a sweetheart. Wow, and it will fly in!
The dining room was noisy and hot.
What kind of papers are these?
Yes so...
- “A house for sale in Kuzmikha with a cow, contact: Sadovaya Street, No. 16...” What is this? “Only on the occasion of departure. For sale is a six year old goat, with a kid, milking, medical milk. Call me on the phone...” Are you starting a household, or what?
Not really! Well, just like that. It’s hanging, well, I think I’ll grab it and read it.
Did he rip it off on the pillars?
And this...well, literate people, you won’t understand anything... “Who rubbed the parasonka month. 1, 5–2, please come and pick it up.” So what, did you take the pig?
Haven't gone yet...
Listen, this is smart, brother! A? You see, Tolya, he follows such an advertisement, sells a goat, a house, a cow, he picks up something along the way, he looks out for everything...
Well, yes! This is all for the criminal investigation department! Only sha!
But, brother, you don’t look like a buyer or owner of a pig. The wind is whistling under my jacket.
And I’m not on my own behalf. My aunt sent me. She's sick and greedy.
Ho-ho-ho! Strong guy, head! Okay, but do you have somewhere to spend the night?
I'm anywhere...
It's cold at night. It will rain or they will take you for a swindler again. Take a pencil... Yellow. It was when I bought the house that I got hooked on it, right? Well, write: “Village 5, barracks nine, room five.” Ask me, Leonida. Come spend the night, let's talk, have dinner. Maybe we can get you a job. I’ll tell you this: if you work in my brigade, you’ll eat cabbage soup and pork every day, and with this “threat” of yours... In general, come and have dinner!
Thank you…
Come in easily. What's your name?
Come in, Sanya. I also have a shirt.
The boy jumped out from the table and, pulling his head into his shoulders, rushed to the door. Leonid tapped his spoon thoughtfully:
Here's some scoundrel-drunkard's family. The little guy ran out of the house and went through his pockets. And he has a good head...
Do you think he will come?
Come on! How many times have I met their brother? Just stroke him, show him affection. He hasn't seen her for ages...
Surströmming is a Swedish canned fish made from fermented herring, to put it mildly. But, by all indicators - smell, taste, appearance, this is just rotten fish. Nowadays surströmming is being heavily advertised all over the world. In Sweden, a Surströmming Academy and a Surströmming University have been created, which intensively promote, as they say, the culture of Surströmming.
And the result is already there - people from all over the world are bringing home jars of rotten herring as souvenirs from Sweden. The Internet is full of videos and descriptions of eating this dish.
If you ignore the smell (or rather the stench), pickled herring, and this is how surströmming is translated, is a rather mediocre food. Like many dishes, it arose out of necessity, according to the principle “don’t throw it away.”
In the same way, the dish “omul with flavor” used to be popular in the vicinity of Lake Baikal. Salted omul in the summer during transportation and storage acquired a specific taste and smell. Of course, it’s not as sharp as Swedish rotten herring, but among people who are not used to it, it evokes a completely unambiguous opinion that the fish has gone bad. But the locals not only ate the fragrant omul with pleasure, but also prepared it specially, keeping it warm for several days, if they suddenly came across normally salted fish.
But with the development of modern methods of storing omul with flavor, it became less and less. And naturally, there were fewer fans who specially prepared this dish. Although, in reality, flavored omul is much tastier than pickled herring. It is not so smelly, and almost not decomposed. And it could well act as a regional brand, just like surströmming.
All you need to do, just as in S. Mikhalkov’s poem “How an Old Man Sold a Cow,” is to pass off disadvantages as advantages.
Does it smell? - So this is such a special ambassador!
- Do you think it’s spoiled? - What do you mean, this is a proven ancient method of preparing omul!
- Is the fish meat soft? - That’s how it should be tender!
- Doesn't it taste very good? - Well, it’s your undeveloped taste that you can’t recognize a delicacy!
This will be cheap, in terms of cost, but effective PR. This is what happens with many, mostly European, dishes - they use what they have and praise it as if it is the best delicacy in the world.
And we have a bunch of such dishes. Which, if served properly, can become world masterpieces, especially since they are, in general, really tastier and healthier.
Omul - the treasure of Siberia
Siberia... Mysterious Siberia, sung by many poets and bards, a region known for its harsh climate and unique nature. Everything here is unusual and new for residents of the European part of Russia and for foreigners, and this is what gives Siberia a touch of mystery and unknown.
The unique nature of Siberia does not need to be proven. You just need to take Baikal, a lake known throughout the world. It was Baikal that became a kind of cradle for many treasures of Siberia, for example, omul. is a small-sized fish of the whitefish family. Many people think that it is found only in Baikal, but this opinion is wrong. Omul can be found in most Siberian rivers, as well as in the coastal zone of the northern seas. However, it is the Baikal omul that is known to gourmets all over the world. It is quite possible that this is due to the extraordinary purity of Baikal water, and the omul really values clean water. So the Baikal omul is something you won’t find anywhere else. It is not surprising that omul dishes have become the hallmark of this region.
Omul was, is and will be one of the main sources of income for local residents. Salted omul, as well as smoked omul and dried omul - all these products today can be found at any railway station, in any, even the smallest village, not to mention large cities. And yet this is only in Siberia. Meanwhile, not everyone can afford a trip to Baikal in order to try local delicacies (which, by the way, are not limited to just omul). Of course, not only gastronomic pleasures attract, but also nature, forests, mountains, rivers, Baikal... But still, even this is not enough.
And omul, mainly cold smoked omul, is considered a delicacy and is very highly valued not only in our country, but also abroad. And it’s not surprising, because the harder it is to get a particular product, the more valuable it is. Of course, there's more to it than that. has a very special taste. Its meat is very fatty and tender, like that of many fish living in cold water. In addition, when properly prepared, it acquires an unusual taste, for which it is valued. Native Siberians call this omul “omul with a scent.” To some, this smell resembles the smell of slightly rotten fish, but this is not the case. During cooking, chemical reactions occur in omul meat, due to which it acquires its flavor. Most people who have tried omul believe that they have never eaten anything tastier. Of course, there are those who did not like omul, but there are only a few of them.
In addition to its amazing taste, omul meat has a number of useful qualities. Even in the old days, there was a belief among Siberians that he could cure a fisherman of any, even the most serious, ailment, just by passing the tail of a freshly caught fish across his lips.
And the longevity for which Siberians are famous also once again proves the beneficial qualities of many Siberian products in general and omul in particular. The beneficial properties of omul meat have been proven by doctors, so these are not just beliefs and speculation. Of course, in order for them to be present, you need to eat omul no less often than residents of the Baikal regions eat, and this is not always possible.
A special pleasure is fishing on Lake Baikal. Omul is a rather capricious fish and not every fisherman manages to outwit it. Omul can be caught in winter and summer and, according to Siberians, freshly caught and freshly cooked omul is something divine.
And yet today it is absolutely not necessary to go to Baikal to finally try smoked or salted omul. Now this amazing fish can be eaten in any part of Russia. Modern freezing technologies and vacuum packaging make it possible to preserve the taste and beneficial qualities of omul for a long time. This means that it can be delivered to any point in Russia without fear that the carcass will spoil. Salted omul and smoked omul, as well as balyki, can be eaten without any additional processing. But freshly frozen omul carcasses can be prepared in any way, including original Siberian cooking options. For example, it is quite possible to cook omul on a rod in nature, and chop it using a regular freezer. There would be a desire.
On our website we have posted for you the most interesting and useful information about omul. You will learn what types of omul exist in nature, where and how you can catch it, and also find recipes for preparing this fish at home. Here you can find everything from real Siberian stroganina to stuffed omul.
Methods for preparing omul
In what form is omul most valued?
In Siberia, salted omul, flogged and unflogged, of cultural salting is most valued. True lovers and experts believe that flogged salted omul<с душком>- a unique piquant smell and very tender meat in consistency - preferable to all other types of preparation. To an unaccustomed person, such omul seems somewhat rotten (however, this only seems so, this is the specific smell of delicious fish. Not everyone likes, for example, cheese<Рокфор>, however, lovers will not exchange it for any other). Freshly frozen omul, prepared in the form of chopped and sliced meat, is highly valued. In the summer, they prefer omul on the rod.
Splitting
Heavily frozen fish are beaten with a hard object in order to remove the skin. After beating, the skin is easily removed, and the raw fish is seasoned with spices and onion-vinegar seasoning. Served as a snack.
Stroganina
A favorite dish of Siberian fishermen and hunters in winter. To prepare it, heavily frozen fish is used, which is sliced with a knife into thin slices, like shavings (hence - planed). Consumed raw with spices, onions and vinegar.
Baikal omul
Baikal omul (Coregonus autumnalis migratorius) feeds in the vast expanses of Lake Baikal, where its food is mainly small crustaceans - epishuras. It has been established that omul feeds on epishura if its concentration is not lower than 30-35 thousand crustaceans per cubic meter of water. When there is a lack of basic food, it switches to feeding on pelagic amphipods and juveniles of the wonderful Baikal fish - golomyanka. Omul is a large whitefish, weighing over 7 kg.
In September, the Baikal omul enters the rivers, preparing for spawning. There are three races of omul:
1) Angara (spawning in the upper Angara, Kicher, Barguzin), the most early-ripening and slow-growing, maturing at the age of 5-6 years;
2) Selenga (spawning in the Selenga, Bolshaya and other rivers of the eastern coast), fast-growing and maturing in 7-8 years;
3) Chivyrkuiskaya (Bolshoi and Maly Chivyrkui rivers).
This race starts spawning later than everyone else (from mid-October) and, like the Selenga race, grows quickly. The omul finishes spawning already during freeze-up, when slush floats across the spawning grounds. After spawning, it migrates to Baikal, where it winters at great depths (300 m or more).
Intensive fishing for this fish has significantly reduced its reserves, so now artificial breeding is resorted to to maintain the herd. Omul inhabiting the river. Penzhina, which flows into the Sea of Okhotsk, is distinguished as a special species - the Penzhina omul (Coregonus subautumnalis). Almost nothing is known about its lifestyle; apparently, it is some kind of evasive form of the common omul.
Omul (Coregonus autumnalis) the hero of songs, glorified by gastronomes, in our minds is associated with Baikal. This is not entirely true: only its subspecies lives in Baikal. The omul itself is a migratory fish. It feeds in the coastal parts of the Arctic Ocean and goes to spawn in rivers from the Velta (west of Pechora) to the rivers of Alaska and Northern Canada. Like the tugun, the omul has a terminal mouth, but more (up to 51) gill rakers. This large (up to 64 cm in length and 3 kg in weight) fish is fished in all Siberian rivers, with the exception of the Ob, which for some reason does not enter, although it is present in the Ob Bay. There are summer (June - July) and autumn runs of the omul. The fish that enter the river mature late and spawn the following year.
Fishermen are good at distinguishing sea omul from those that have lingered in the river. Sea omul is much fattier, its insides are literally filled with fat, and its intestines are completely empty. The omul feeds in the sea on large crustaceans - amphipods, mysids; juvenile gobies, whitefish fry, smelt, polar cod. Finding itself in places with a high concentration of plankton, the omul switches to feeding on planktonic crustaceans. Like other whitefish, it spawns in the fall. Its natural crosses with other types of whitefish - muksun and pyzhyan - are not uncommon.
I myself have an indirect relationship with Baikal and this unique fish. So, I stood nearby for a little while - my dad was from Chita and lived in Angarsk from the age of 7 until he left at the age of 22 to build the Novosibirsk Academy Town, my grandfather and grandmother lived like that in Angarsk all their lives. Of course, I visited them several times - you can’t travel much from Novosibirsk, although under the USSR it was much easier and cheaper to travel, but it’s still a bit far.
But my father’s Angarsk friends often visited us - on business trips, passing through. It was they who brought Baikal gifts. There was an omul in a special row. Both fresh frozen and flavored. So, I was accustomed to this unusual product.
In the early 90s, in the wake of perestroika and other bullshit, my friends and I organized an office that was engaged in the implementation of research in the field of processing rare earth metals, later this office degenerated into an artel of prospectors, but that’s not what we’re talking about.
Our first trip to the mining and processing plant was memorable precisely because of this omul with its “smell.”
We moved from Novosibirsk to Ust-Kamenogorsk with all available and at the same time “command staff”.
Seryoga is the chief engineer, as the only one with education in the field of rare metals,
Oleg is the Director for General Affairs.
And I am the director for specific answers - that’s what I requested to call my position, instead of the usual “chairman of the cooperative,” and wrote a corresponding statement =)
Seryoga comes from Irkutsk, so, of course, he knew very well what omul with “flavor” was and how it was eaten.
And Oleg is a typical product of the then semi-closed Novosibirsk academic town. And it so happened that at joint “production meetings” (that’s what drinking parties were called back then), Oleg, if Irkutsk was discussed, Baikal would certainly begin to suffer - “Oh, I know... Baikal... omul with a scent... so delicious. ..”
Well, finally it happened - his father brought Seryoga omul and put it not in the freezer, but in the regular section of the refrigerator, where he successfully acquired his “sweetheart” in a few days. Even on the platform, Seryoga made Oleg happy - a gift for you - omul with a “flavor”. There was great joy and all sorts of gratitude on Oleg’s face. We loaded into the compartment, buying it for three, so that no one would interfere with drunkenness and a production meeting on the road. The carriage moved, but the platform remained. They began to get supplies and bottles.
Oleg is impatient - come on, hurry up and get the omul.
Seryoga looked at him and said - let's have a first drink first?
Oleg - no, no... come on omul, I promised.
Well, there’s nothing to do, Seryoga took out a bag of omul and began to unwrap it... as he did this, Oleg’s face gradually changed color, even greenish... Grabbing the empty bag, he jumped out of the compartment... what he did there with the bag is unknown, although it was possible to guess.
During this time we managed to drink and eat omul. Then Seryoga brought Oleg a glass, and only after that was he able to return to the compartment, in which the aromas of omul with a “fragrant” reigned...
When, after the third or fourth glass, he regained the ability to speak, he said, “Well, this is rotten fish!!!”...
We, in unison - and you, didn’t you know? He praised me like that all the time...
Oleg - well, they told me a lot about him, but they didn’t tell me what “darling” is.
Olezhka never touched the gift.
