Traditional Yamal cuisine is an important part of national culture of Nenets,

Khanty The Khanty ( Khanty: ханти, ''hanti''), also known in older literature as Ostyaks (russian: остяки) are a Ugric indigenous people, living in Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug, a region historically known as "Yugra" in Russia, togethe ...

and Komi. Yamal is a

hunting Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...

land so many dishes include meat,

fowl Fowl are birds belonging to one of two biological orders, namely the gamefowl or landfowl (Galliformes) and the waterfowl (Anseriformes). Anatomical and molecular similarities suggest these two groups are close evolutionary relatives; together ...

and

fish Fish are Aquatic animal, aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack Limb (anatomy), limbs with Digit (anatomy), digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous and bony fish as we ...

Berries A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit, although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples are strawberries, ras ...

and

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...

s are also abundant; this accounts for the wealth of "gifts of the forests" on the Yamal table. Presently, Yamal cuisine is renowned for diverse delicacies of

Russian cuisine Russian cuisine is a collection of the different dishes and cooking traditions of the Russian people as well as a list of culinary products popular in Russia, with most names being known since pre-Soviet times, coming from all kinds of social ...

. Yamal hosts enjoy treating their guests with traditional Yamal cuisine and have hot tea which came to Yamal cuisine from Russia. Tea has become the national Yamal

beverage A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoo ...

, drunk to warm and soothe. Yamal is in northern Russia with frigid winters, so its cuisine should be nourishing to give the people energy to survive during the long winter time. The essential component of Yamal cuisine is warm and hot dishes. Fresh

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

s and

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the edible flower, flowers, ...

s are rarely used as they must be imported, as they are not grown in the

tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mou ...

. The Yamal cuisine is associated with malosol and stroganina. Yamal cuisine has absorbed techniques from other regions. Yamal cuisine is based on

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 and fish of the Yamal rivers, enriched with mushrooms and

bread Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...

. The most known dishes of Yamal cuisine are: Fish Soup made from

burbot The burbot (''Lota lota'') is the only gadiform (cod-like) freshwater fish. It is also known as bubbot, mariah, loche, cusk, freshwater cod, freshwater ling, freshwater cusk, the lawyer, coney-fish, lingcod, and eelpout. The species is closely ...

), Malosol, Bread on the Selkup, Stroganina (Sliced Fish), Chopsy Shomoh, Warka, Sliced meat, Preserves of vendace, Kulebyaka (

pie A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit (as in an apple pie), nuts (pecan pie), brown sugar ( sugar pie), sweete ...

with fish), Aibat-nyarhul (raw fish).

Uha (fish soup)

Fish soup Fish soup is a food made by combining fish or seafood with vegetables and stock, juice, water, or another liquid. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, form ...

mostly is served as the first course at dinner. Fish is cut up and cut into pieces and immersed in cold water. When boiling, the

cauldron A cauldron (or caldron) is a large pot ( kettle) for cooking or boiling over an open fire, with a lid and frequently with an arc-shaped hanger and/or integral handles or feet. There is a rich history of cauldron lore in religion, mythology, and ...

is moved aside to slow fire and skimmed when necessary. It should be brewed to a bluish-gray color and served at once. Usually it is drunk with a mug.

Malosol

Malosol comes from

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, ...

. The key secret to this dish is cutting the fish into very delicate slices very fast in order that the fish remains slightly frozen. It is prepared from just caught muksun. Fish are gutted and cleaned, and liberally sprinkled with salt then held for 3-4 hours.

Bread of Selkup

"Bread is head for everything" is a saying of Russians and Selkups. It symbolizes hospitality of the house. Bread of Selkup is mentioned from the 8th-9th centuries. The bread is baked not in an oven as Russians do although the initial stages are the same.

Flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cul ...

is mixed with water and

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...

. Soda is used instead of

yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constit ...

to raise the dough and it is baked in very hot sand on the fire.

Hot smoked fish

Yamal cuisine has four principal types of fish dishes: “as it is”, boiled, baked and smoked.

Smoked fish Smoked fish is fish that has been cured by smoking. Foods have been smoked by humans throughout history. Originally this was done as a preservative. In more recent times fish is readily preserved by refrigeration and freezing and the smoking of ...

is very popular on the table nowadays. Hot smoked fish is prepared in the towns and villages, although it is not the national dish. Camp cooking uses an aluminum saucepan filled with smoldering sawdust, topped with a wire grid. A low heat is all that is needed to give the fish a golden hue, indicating doneness.

Stroganina (sliced fish)

Stroganina have always been a pride of Yamal. It is a delicacy and a simple food which is prepared from frozen white

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Onco ...

. 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. With sostragivaetsya, the fish is in thin slices or layers, depending on whether male or female fish are used.

References

* Dialectics of Yamal cuisine by Nikolai Dudnikov and Nikolai Samburov. S-pb. 2008

External links

Yamal Culture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yamal Cuisine Khanty Komi peoples Nenets people Indigenous cuisine Russian cuisine Cuisine by ethnicity Siberian cuisine