2024-03-01 11:40:00
During the Soviet era, fishing was very well developed. Therefore, on the shelves there was a wide variety of different types of fish – and ones that are not so easy to find now. One of these is the lamprey.
Lampreys (Lampetra fluviatilis) belong to the jawless family of the order Lampreys and are distinguished by a very unusual appearance. They have a long, worm-like body, so they look more like worms than fish. The mouth of lampreys is also unique: from the front they can even be confused with leeches. In length they reach from 10 to 100 centimeters.
Lampreys are a parasitic species. As a rule, they live on the body of other fish, sucking blood from them. They are found in temperate waters throughout the world’s oceans.
Nowadays many would call lampreys disgusting and refuse to even try them, but in the USSR they loved this fish very much.
It was caught in the Caspian Sea basin, in the rivers of the White and Barents Seas, in the Baltic basin and in the Volga River. In the Soviet Union, 4 of the possible genera of fish were caught: Petromyzon, Caspiomyzon, Entosphenus, Lampetra, which were represented in the country by nine species.
Lamprey meat is almost entirely edible – this fish does not have a bone skeleton, scales, bile or dense food debris in the intestines. Therefore, it was not gutted before cooking, but only the head was removed (about 5% of its weight), since silt and sand often accumulate in the gills. The meat of this fish is very tender and has a rich rich taste.
Nevertheless, in the USSR it was, as a rule, not sold fresh, since the mucus that abundantly covers the body of lampreys is sometimes poisonous. Therefore, it appeared on the shelves of Soviet stores mainly in fried, smoked or canned form.
How lamprey was usually served is described in detail in the Soviet book “A Brief Encyclopedia of Household Economy”:
“Lamprey goes on sale mainly fried in jelly. Before serving, the head of the fried lamprey is cut off, cut crosswise into pieces and thin rings of sweet onion are placed on top; Mustard sauce or grated horseradish with vinegar is served separately. Fried lamprey is also available for sale, drenched in a spicy vinegar marinade instead of jelly; This kind of lamprey is served only with onions.”
In stores, lampreys were not cheap. A kilogram of smoked fish cost 4 rubles. Despite the fact that herring cost 1.3 rubles, and mackerel – 60 kopecks. Nevertheless, on the holiday everyone could afford to enjoy an unusual delicacy.
However, unfortunately, over time, lampreys gradually began to disappear from the shelves. After the collapse of the country, they still went on mass sale for some time, but now you can’t find this fish so easily in a store. You need to either order it on the Internet or buy it in specialized fish stores, and even then, mostly now it is sold in bulk.
At retail, on average, pickled lamprey costs 800 rubles per liter jar, fried – from 1000 rubles per kilogram, and smoked – from 550 rubles per 200 grams.
As you can see, prices for fish remained the same “biting”, but demand has dropped noticeably. Most likely due to the appearance of the fish, which many consider disgusting.
More about fish in the USSR:
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