300px, Prepared ''stroganina'' on a table Stroganina whittling

''Stroganina'' ( Russian строганина, literally "shavings") is a dish of the northern Russians and

indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

of northern

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar regions of Earth, polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenla ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...

consisting of raw, thin, long-sliced frozen fish. Around

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal (, russian: Oзеро Байкал, Ozero Baykal ); mn, Байгал нуур, Baigal nuur) is a rift lake in Russia. It is situated in southern Siberia, between the federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the ...

, the dish is referred to as ''raskolotka''. Traditional ''stroganina'' is made with

freshwater whitefish The freshwater whitefish are fishes of the subfamily Coregoninae, which contains whitefishes (both freshwater and anadromous) and ciscoes, and is one of three subfamilies in the salmon family Salmonidae. Apart from the subfamily Coregoninae, th ...

salmonids Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish that constitutes the only currently extant family in the order Salmoniformes . It includes salmon (both Atlantic and Pacific species), trout (both ocean-going and landlocked), chars, freshwater whit ...

found in the Siberian Arctic waters such as

nelma ''Stenodus nelma'', known alternatively as the nelma, sheefish, siifish, inconnu or connie, is a commercial species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae. It is widespread in the Arctic rivers from the Kola Peninsula (White Sea basin) ...

muksun The muksun ''(Coregonus muksun)'' is a type of whitefish widespread in the Siberian Arctic waters. It is mostly found in the freshened areas of the Kara and Laptev Seas and up the major rivers, as well as in Lake Taymyr. Like all whitefishes, ...

, chir, and omul. Rarely, it is made with

sturgeon Sturgeon is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the Late Cretaceous, and are descended from other, earlier acipenseriform fish, which date back to the Early ...

. This dish is popular with native Siberians, and is present in

Yakutian cuisine Sakha cuisine ( sah, Саха аһа, r=Saqa aha, p=) encompasses the customary and traditional cooking techniques and culinary arts of Sakha. It is influenced by the area's northern climate and the traditional pastoral lifestyle of the Sakha peop ...

Eskimo Eskimo () is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: the Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the Canadian Inuit) and the Yupik (or Yuit) of eastern Siberia and Alaska. A related ...

cuisine, Komi cuisine and

Yamal cuisine Traditional Yamal cuisine is an important part of national culture of Nenets, Khanty and Komi. Yamal is a hunting and fishing land so many dishes include meat, fowl and fish. Berries and mushrooms are also abundant; this accounts for the w ...

. It is often paired with vodka.

Ingredients and preparation

Frozen fish is used for the preparation of ''stroganina''. The fish for ''stroganina'' is usually caught by

ice fishing Ice fishing is the practice of catching fish with lines and fish hooks or spears through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water. Ice fishers may fish in the open or in heated enclosures, some with bunks and amenities. Shelters Long ...

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. The geometry of the

Yakutian knife The Yakutian knife (Sakha: ''Sakha byhagha''; Russian: ), sometimes called the Yakut knife, is a traditional knife of Yakuts (an ethnic group from the Sakha Republic (or Yakutia), region of Siberia), used for working with wood, hides, skins, fish ...

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 with salt and black pepper powder. It is usually eaten with the hands while still frozen. ''Stroganina'', like caviar, is often consumed with

vodka Vodka ( pl, wódka , russian: водка , sv, vodka ) is a clear distilled alcoholic beverage. Different varieties originated in Poland, Russia, and Sweden. Vodka is composed mainly of water and ethanol but sometimes with traces of impuriti ...

Variations

A variation of the dish is ''molochnaya stroganina'', which is prepared using ''stroganina'' and frozen fresh milk. The name is also applied to ''stroganina'' from

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subs ...

meat.

In popular culture

The restaurant "Stroganina Bar" in Moscow, Russia, specializes in ''stroganina''. The city of

Yakutsk Yakutsk (russian: Якутск, p=jɪˈkutsk; sah, Дьокуускай, translit=Djokuuskay, ) is the capital city of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one ...

holds festivals celebrating the local delicacy.

Notes

References

External links