Balyk (from Turkic balïq) is the salted and dried soft parts of

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

, usually coming from large valuable species: ''

acipenseridae Sturgeon (from Old English ultimately from Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European *''str̥(Hx)yón''-) is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the ...

'' (e.g.,

sturgeon Sturgeon (from Old English ultimately from Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European *''str̥(Hx)yón''-) is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the ...

) or ''

salmonidae Salmonidae (, ) is a family (biology), family of ray-finned fish, the only extant member of the suborder Salmonoidei, consisting of 11 extant genera and over 200 species collectively known as "salmonids" or "salmonoids". The family includes salmo ...

'' (

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

). The word means "fish" in

Turkic languages The Turkic languages are a language family of more than 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and West Asia. The Turkic langua ...

(written '' balık'' in Turkish).

History

Over time, the term was applied to

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 o ...

of this kind, and one may see, e.g., " cold smoked

hucho ''Hucho'' is a genus of large piscivorous salmonid fish known as taimens (from Finnish , 'trout', through ), and is closely related to Pacific trout and lenoks (all belonging to the same tribe in the subfamily Salmoninae). Native to the cold ri ...

balyk." As a curiosity, a number of cold smoked

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...

products branded "balyk" appeared in the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, remaining popular in the post-Soviet republics. Traditionally,

balyk has been considered the most fine and tender one, sought and praised by

gourmet Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by their high level of refined and elaborate food preparation techniques and displays of balanced meals that have ...

s. At the same time, the tender flesh of sturgeon is more susceptible to growth of ''

Clostridium botulinum ''Clostridium botulinum'' is a Gram-positive bacteria, gram-positive, Bacillus (shape), rod-shaped, Anaerobic organism, anaerobic, endospore, spore-forming, Motility, motile bacterium with the ability to produce botulinum toxin, which is a neurot ...

'' bacteria.

References

Balyk
Dried fish Soviet cuisine Russian cuisine {{fish-stub

History

See also

References