Galina Tserenova, About Fishing and Fish Dishes

Abstract

Galina talks about fish varieties that people from her native village caught and about fish dishes. She says that in her village many people were fishermen, including her family members. Her grandfather caught fish with a net by leaving it in the water in the evening and collected it the next morning. People consumed fish in different ways. Some salted or dried, others boiled, fried or made fish pies. In winter fish was stored in dugouts filled with ice which was transported on sledges from the river. People also made holes in the ice to catch fish. Galina gives a recipe of ukha soup: Scale and clean the fish. Wash it three times, cut into small pieces and put it into boiling water. Add potatoes, salt, fennel and bay leaf. The soup is delicious when it is made from several varieties of fish. The fisherman from Galina’s village made ukha soup differently. First, they fried onion with carrots, then poured water into the pot, added the fish, more onion and spices. Galina’s father made a dish from pike’s caviar. Caviar was rolled in flour and fried. People also ate pike’s intestines fried in butter with onion and spices. Dumplings were made from fish with fewer bones such as the pikeperch, catfish, roach or carp. People in the village also caught perch and bream. Apart from fishing, the villagers had vegetable plots where they grew cucumbers, tomatoes and pumpkins.