Once, during our trip to Vaigach, we met Nenets reindeer herders, who treated us to fresh raw reindeer meat and lightly fried liver, which had to be dipped in blood to make them a little more salty. It was very tasty.

And before leaving, when they were skinning another deer, they casually told us about an interesting dish that they would like to treat us to - half-digested contents of the deer stomach. Quite clearly, they wanted to shock us with this, as they understood that people from the “mainland” would treat such a dish, to put it mildly, with caution. Surely they would be fun to watch people cringe when they are offered such food.

Later, on the Internet, I came across many stories that the northern peoples eat all sorts of indecency. And even someone wrote that reindeer herders eat almost reindeer feces. I then thought that people confuse feces with the contents of a deer stomach, but no. I even found a quote to support this:

“Note that the reindeer Chukchi shepherds could, in extreme cases, eat semi-liquid green deer droppings (Bogoraz 1991: 128). Human feces were not used for food.

True, I do not think that this was a common situation and at least somehow practiced until now. But something else interesting is being eaten even now. About such exotic dishes Northern peoples I want to write.

deer

Among deer, representatives of small nations generally eat everything that is possible - young antlers (antlers), bone marrow, raw and processed (including sour) meat, blood, liver, lungs and kidneys, heart, eyes and even ear glands. Unless they eat the skin, although it is also used in business.

“The time when a deer is beaten is a holiday in the Ostyak family and excites special pleasure in all members. Here, in fact, a bloody feast opens. Around the deer, slaughtered so that all its blood remains in its insides, skinned and opened, the whole family, old and small, crowds; with knives in their hands, everyone greedily butchers and eats warm meat, usually dipping it in steaming blood or drinking it down.

Moreover, one must be surprised at the incomprehensible skill with which they cut off with a knife near their very mouth, up to the nose, pieces of meat grasped by their teeth; and so quickly and deftly that from the side it seems that he will certainly touch the nose. They swallow the meat in pieces, almost without chewing, and it is difficult to imagine how much each of them can eat it.

You might think that people eat so fast because of greed. But it's not really about her.

If you eat venison raw, then you really need to eat it right away - "steam". The expression "fresh meat", adopted in Russian, is very appropriate in this case, since it means that from meat is coming steam, it is still warm and fresh. At this moment, it has a very special delicate texture and taste, has many useful properties.

All the peoples of the North know that the meat and still warm blood of a freshly slaughtered deer not only quickly saturate, but also restore strength after illness, long hunger strikes and fatigue. The Komi-Zyrians are convinced that fresh blood can heal even a person suffering from tuberculosis. They drink it in large sips, dip in it pieces of meat and liver - liver and kidneys. Reindeer herders - Khanty, Nenets, Evenki - sometimes drank hot blood directly from the neck vein of a deer or mixed blood with reindeer milk.

Cooling down, venison loses its delicate texture and taste almost instantly. That is why children and adults gather around the carcass, immediately cut and eat the meat. Khanty and Mansi eat raw first of all slices of meat from thighs, liver, lungs and kidneys, heart, eyes and even ear glands of a deer, dipping them in fresh blood.

Kanyga with berries

This exotic northern dish is considered a delicacy by many indigenous peoples. small peoples north. It is especially popular among the Chukchi, Koryaks, Indians, Eskimos. As you know, domestic and wild reindeer feed mainly on various lichens, shrub foliage, green and winter-green grasses, mushrooms, if any. These feeds serve as the main source of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, macro- and microelements for deer.

Kanyga is the semi-digested contents of the stomach of a reindeer. They eat this mass with spoons, mixing with berries - blueberries, shiksha, lingonberries in an arbitrary proportion.

For a Russian, perhaps this food will not receive a proper assessment either by smell or taste. However, in aborigine, the smell of canyga causes delight and appetite. given food promotes better digestion and absorption of fat meat food. At the same time, the aboriginal organism is additionally enriched with vitamins, macro- and microelements.

Deer antlers (mora)

Growing reindeer antlers are called antlers. In June, during the corral work, some deer in the hustle and bustle break their unossified antlers. Reindeer herders bandage the horn below the fracture with a ribbon or twine, and cut off the broken part or cut it off with a hacksaw. The collected antlers are covered with a dense short delicate hair. Before starting the meal, the panty is burned on a fire or in the stove, the burnt hair is scraped off with a knife.

They eat (raw) the skin that covers the horn from the base to the crown, and its apical part in the form of soft cartilage. This food, having good taste, has a beneficial effect on the body: it improves metabolism, increases the vital activity of organs, and raises the overall tone of the body.

Deer bone marrow

When butchering deer legs, they remove and immediately eat the joint fat and bone marrow from the legs, breaking the hollow bones with an ax butt or a stone.

“An unusual dish of those that can only be cooked in the forest, only when hunting for deer, and only ... with a successful hunt. If the latter condition is met, then in the process of butchering the red deer carcass, the bones of the lower leg are isolated (after the skin is removed). The bones freed from skins and hooves are placed on the heat of a fire slightly shifted to the side.

While the skinning work continues, the bones or, as the hunters say, “dragel” are turned over several times and continue to fry on a fire until they are evenly lightly charred. And now, when the main work with the game is over, a bone bursting with heat is taken (this must be done in good mittens), placed on a fallen tree and evenly tapped with the butt of a hunting knife along its entire length. Then, with two or three sharp blows, the bone splits lengthwise, more often into two halves, one of which contains boiling, transparent-amber, with an incredible aroma, bone marrow. It remains only to sprinkle it with salt (preferably coarse) and eat, slowly savoring and eating bread.

I don’t presume to judge the intricacies of the chemical composition of this product, but having “treated” even one bone in this way, you then run all day with extraordinary ease, and even heavy luggage with game caught does not seem so heavy. And what is interesting, if you try to cook “dragel” 2-3 hours or more after shooting the deer, then you already get an ordinary fried bone marrow, without the characteristic color, aroma, texture that when preparing dragels.

Cooled meat can no longer be eaten raw. It begins the process of decay. Therefore, it is boiled or fried. Another thing is if parts of the butchered carcass immediately, immediately, freeze on severe frost. Then all beneficial features fresh meat are preserved. Such meat is eaten with sliced ​​meat, not allowing it to thaw.

But what is interesting, in the decomposition of meat, reindeer herders also found their advantages and began to use in writing in the "sour form". Here are some examples of such strange dishes:

Kopalchen

Kopalkhen - (kopalkhem, kopalkhyn, kopalgyn, kopalha, igunak) - delicacy dish Nganasan, Chukchi and Eskimos.

Made from fresh meat press fermentation. Due to the formation of cadaveric poison during the preparation, it is deadly for representatives of most other nationalities.

Kopalkhen is prepared from walrus, seal, deer (Nenets, Chukchi, Evenk version), duck (Greenland version), whale (Eskimo version).

To prepare reindeer kopalchen, you need a large, fat and healthy deer. Do not feed him for several days (to cleanse the intestines), then suffocate him without damaging the skins. After that, the corpse is immersed in a swamp and covered with peat, covered with branches and stones, and left for several months. At the end of the term, the corpse is removed and eaten.

A more common version is made from a walrus or seal: the animal is killed, cooled in water, placed in a skin, from which air is then released, and buried under a gravel press on the surf line. After a few months, the corpse is removed and eaten. Usually walrus hunting is carried out in the summer, and the finished igunak is dug up in December.

Also, this is what they write about sour walrus meat: when skinning, the walrus is separated big chunks meat with subcutaneous fat and skin (plates measuring almost a meter per meter, weighing up to 70-80 kg). Then each piece is sprinkled on the inside with a mixture of herbs and lichens, rolled up, connecting the edges. The prepared pieces are put into special pits, the walls of which are lined with stones. The pits are made in permafrost, so the temperature in them is low, but still not so cold that the meat becomes frozen. It does not rot, but some microorganisms are formed in it, which gradually change its composition, enrich it with vitamins. Ripe meat acquires a specific taste and smell.

Ice cream kopalchen is cut into thin slices, which are rolled into tubes. The tubes are dipped in salt and eaten with the raw lungs of a freshly slaughtered deer.

Consequences for an unprepared person:

When using kopalchen, any person, unless he has been eating it since childhood, gets severe poisoning, which, in the absence of timely medical care, can be fatal. Rotten meat contains a fairly large amount of cadaveric poison - cadaverine, putrescine and neurin.

They, among other substances formed during decomposition, are responsible for the unpleasant smell of the product, and are also toxic, especially neurin. The effect of neurin on the body is comparable to the effect of muscarine and organophosphorus substances, that is, there is profuse salivation, bronchorrhea, vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions, and in most cases death from severe poisoning.

Kiviak

Kiviak (kiviak) - holiday dish: about 400 guillemots (not gutted) are placed in the skin of the seal, air is released from the skin, sealed with lard and placed in the ground under a press (stone) for 3-18 months. This period is enough for the birds to decompose inside and their enzymes have time to process the seal intestines.

The fermented bird is taken out, the feathers are removed (sometimes with the skin) and the meat is eaten raw. Dug out kiwiak is recommended to be consumed outdoors, as the dish has a strong specific smell. The taste of kiwiak is reminiscent of a sharp, overaged cheese.

Sour-salted fish of Pechora salting

Fresh, freshly caught fish is slightly salted, put into barrels and left in warm weather in the sun. If salting is done in the cold season, then barrels of fish are brought into a warm hut. The fish stays in the hut until it turns sour and acquires a specific smell. With this method of salting, the fish becomes very soft and its meat is easily separated from the bones. If you sour for a short time, the fish retains its shape. With long fermentation, a gelatinous sour mass is obtained, which is eaten with spoons like porridge. It is used as a seasoning for cereals and potatoes, bread is dipped into it. A similar method of salting fish is also known to the Karelians. Like any fermented product, fish cooked in this way smells so strong and pungent that only a few, with the exception of local residents who consider this dish a delicacy, are able to eat it.

Goose with a scent

Dolgans are cooked with staleness and poultry, in particular geese. They put the cooked carcass of a goose in a bag made of eiderdown skin, sew it up tightly and lower it into a cellar pit dug in the permafrost. In a natural refrigerator, geese remain for 2-3 months. During this period, goose meat acquires not only a specific smell, but also becomes softer, more tender. Soup is cooked from it, roast is cooked.

And here are other unusual dishes that are made not only from meat or fish:

Akutaq

Akutak "Eskimo ice cream" is an Eskimo cuisine dish, whipped fat with berries and (optionally) fish and sugar. The word "akutak" in Yup'ik means "[something] mixed".

All the many varieties of akutaka contain berries, meat, leaves, roots, mixed with oil or fat. From berries they usually take cloudberries, magnificent raspberries, cranberries, crowberry, from meat - salmon and venison. Fat - reindeer fat, walrus fat, seal fat. Sometimes water or sugar is added to akutak.

Maktak

Maktak (Inuit Maktak, there is also a variant of "muktuk"; Chuk. Itgilgyn) is a traditional dish of Eskimo and Chukchi cuisines, frozen whale skin and lard. In some dialects, in particular Inuinnaqtun, the word "maktak" means only edible skin.

Most often, maktak is prepared from the bowhead whale, although sometimes the skin and fat of the beluga whale or narwhal are also used. Usually maktak is eaten raw, although it can be sliced ​​into thin strips, breaded, fried in oil and served with soy sauce. In addition, maktak is marinated.

Hypodermic gadfly larvae

All northerners know the reindeer, but not everyone knows his worst enemy - the hypodermic gadfly. They appear near deer in late June - early July. The number of gadfly increases and reaches a maximum by the beginning of August, and from the second half of August it decreases significantly. The females of the subcutaneous gadfly lay their eggs on the hair of a deer that grows after molting.

Each female lays several hundred eggs. They are firmly glued to the hair of a deer. After 3-4 days, worm-like larvae 0.7 mm long emerge from the eggs, slide to the base of the hair, penetrate the skin and slowly move along the subcutaneous connective tissue.

After 3-4 months, the larvae are located under the skin in the back and lower back, where holes are made - fistulas. A connective capsule is formed around each larva. Here the larvae stay for about seven months, passing through two molts during this time. In May-June, mature larvae fall to the ground through fistulous openings, burrow in the surface layer of soil and pupate. After 20-60 days, sexually mature individuals appear from the pupae, which mate after a few hours, and the fertilized females go in search of deer. The cycle starts anew.

Deer infestation with subcutaneous gadfly is very high. On individual animals, there were up to a thousand or more larvae. The deer were so exhausted that they died.

Mature larvae of the subcutaneous gadfly reach a length of 30 mm and a thickness of 13-15 mm. This is three hundred thousand times more than the volume they had when they left the egg. They are characterized by a very high content of protein and fat.

Some indigenous peoples of the north eat the mature larvae of the hypodermic gadfly raw. North American and Canadian Indians, Chukchi fry them and consider this food to be a delicacy. In this form, they are much tastier and healthier than dried Chinese grasshoppers.

Exotic Nordic Cuisine

Mukhachev Anatoly Dmitrievich

royal dish

I studied at the All-Union Agricultural Institute of Correspondence Education. In my sixth year, I was offered a topic thesis: "Nutrition of sable in nature and in cell breeding". I did my internship at the largest fur farm in Russia - "Pushkinsky" under the guidance of a well-known specialist in the field of fur farming, Doctor of Agricultural Sciences, Professor Mikhail Kapitonovich Pavlov. The farm had the only farm in Russia where sables were bred. My work at the fur farm was coming to an end. One day, the livestock specialist of the farm, Yura Dokukin, approached me (we had known each other for a long time) and said:

Today we have festive dinner. Be sure to come.

At the appointed hour, I sat at the table next to Yura. The stew was served with potatoes. Yura watched me eat meat with great appetite and asked:

What meat do we eat?

I replied without hesitation:

A rabbit.

I used to breed rabbits and I knew the taste of their meat. Imagine my surprise when Yura said that it was sable meat. It turned out that the first day of sable slaughter on the farm is always solemnly celebrated by the workers of the fur farm and the management of the fur farm in this way - sable in its own juice. Flavored with spices, with potatoes - it was great! I appreciated it as a royal dish.

While working in Evenkia, where the main sable population of Russia lives, I ate the meat of these royal animals more than once. Once, our hunting day with Konstantin Ermolaevich Chapogir turned out to be too long, we got a few sables, lasted until dark and were forced to spend the night in the taiga. They spread a node, pulled up an awning, chopped spruce branches. We had a kettle, tea leaves, sugar, salt and some other grub with us. Yermolaich built a small fire near the node, butchered the sables, put the carcasses on the horns, salted them and instructed me to fry, while he himself began to boil tea.

Either we were exhausted during the day, or we were very hungry, but the tea was somehow especially fragrant, and the sable fried on the goat turned out to be unusually tasty and gave us vigor and strength.

Fox on the table

I worked in Yamal in the early sixties of the last century as the chief livestock specialist of the Nydinsky state farm. The state farm fur farm contained 320 Arctic foxes of the main herd. When the slaughter of animals began, we left the carcasses of arctic foxes in a cold utility room at the animal kitchen, so that later they could be used as food for animals left for reproduction. I noticed that after finishing the work, the Nenets-peelers took with them several of the most well-fed fox carcasses, and I asked Arkani Nerkagy:

Will you feed the dogs?

Why dogs, I myself will eat a little. treat tuberculosis. The meat is delicious.

Delicious?

Come home, eat. The wife, while the foxes are being slaughtered, cooks them every day. We keep a stock of fox carcasses for guests.

One Sunday evening I tasted this exotic dish for me and I really liked it. I asked the hostess how she cooks it.

First, we keep the carcass a little in the cold.

Little is how much?

About a week. Then I cut it into pieces, soak it for 8-10 hours, during which time I change the water two or three times. Then I put the meat in a cauldron, pour some water, salt and put it on slow fire. Simmers for about an hour. I put a handful of dry onions, 2 bay leaves, everything is stewed for another half an hour and the dish is ready.

Getting acquainted with the Nganasans in Taimyr, studying their economic activities, culture, an integral part of which is the kitchen, I learned that this people also eat fox for food. In the cold season, they make stroganina from fox carcasses, as well as boil and stew them. If the arctic fox is lean, then the meat is dipped in deer, goose or fish oil during meals.

Squirrel in the face

While in Evenkia, we were with a young reindeer herder Valera Kombair in free time hunted in the Yambukan river valley. Once, it was in the second half of October, we rode reindeer around the taiga all day long. We managed to get a couple of capercaillie and a dozen squirrels. It was already getting dark when we decided to make a halt and drink tea.

Valera asked me:

Have you ever eaten squirrels, Dmitritch?

No, I replied.

You should definitely try what kind of taiga you are, if you haven’t eaten any living creatures of the taiga. Now we will eat them with a seagull.

Valera quickly made a fire, took out everything necessary for tea drinking from the stream (a bag transported on reindeer), peeled off four squirrels, gutted them and planted two on goats, slightly salted. And I filled the kettle with snow and hung it over the fire.

As soon as there are coals in the fire, we will fry the protein. Their meat is soft, tender, they fry quickly, - said Valera.

Thanks to Valera's experience, we soon had everything ready.

I ate exotic food with great appetite and thought: “You won’t taste such food in any restaurant - a restaurant cannot replace the charm of the taiga.”

To us, in Evenkia, a scientist came from Moscow, maybe you know him? Surname Tugolukov. He said that all the northern peoples who live in the taiga eat squirrels. Protein is boiled, stewed. And they fry on the goat when you need a quick bite to eat, - concluded my friend and guide.

overseas animal

I spent more than two months with Boris Stepanovich Lobov on Lake Turuchedo. This lake is famous from an ethnic point of view: the last military clash between the Nenets and Enets of Taimyr took place on its shores. Once Bob - Lobov had such a well-known nickname - got a very large muskrat, quickly and professionally skinned the animal, saying at the same time:

When you remove the skin from the muskrat, the main thing is not to damage the anal glands.

Then he dismembered the carcass into pieces at the joints, put them in a bucket and filled it with water. After that, he lay down comfortably and began to smoke with pleasure ...

We change the water for five times three times, and then put it on to boil.

Delicious this overseas animal?

What is overseas? They probably brought them from America, but a long time ago, so now this animal is purely ours, Russian. And as for the taste, I'll tell you frankly: I ate more than a hundred of them. And ready to eat every day. I would never trade a well-fed muskrat for a hare.

In the evening we ate exotic soup with great appetite. The vermicelli and spices added by Bob to the muskrat soup gave it a special taste and aroma.

Aibat (nayabat)

It is necessary to eat fresh meat, otherwise there is no strength, the muscles hurt. Soon there will be a lot of work, - said the foreman, pointing to the coat tied to the sled.

It was a young female, who did not have a calf for the second spring, that is, she was barren. The brigadier was right - we have to do a lot of work: in a few days corral work will begin, we need to count the deer, brand them, vaccinate the animals against anthrax.

While I was making notes, preparing the current documentation, the reindeer herders butchered the reindeer. Approaching the shepherds, I saw a carcass lying on the skin. One half of the ribs was removed, in the chest cavity there were cut ribs, pieces of the liver, kidneys, and all this was covered with blood. The brigadier sprinkled salt on the blood, stirred it with a knife and gave the command to start the meal. The celebration began with eating meat from the ribs. The reindeer herders dipped them in blood, grabbed the meat with their teeth and cut it with a knife right next to the lips and the tip of the nose. The foreman recommended that I eat kidneys and liver. There were only shepherds around the carcass. Pretty soon the ribs were done. Then everything went in a row, including fat. A delicacy among reindeer herders is recognized as the brain of tubular bones (kheva). It was divided equally among all. A mug was brought from the tent and the reindeer herders washed down the meat meal with blood. The brigadier scooped up a full mug of blood and handed it to me with the words:

There are many vitamins.

I didn't feel excited. The shepherds lowered their knives and stared at me. On all faces there was one expression: "Do you respect us?". I respected them and I drank. I will not write about my impressions. But immediately rushed exclamations of approval:

Savo, ulisavo.

The shepherds were pleased with the feast, pacified. Everyone's faces were covered in blood. And I didn't look any better either.

After the reindeer herders moved away from the carcass and began to wash themselves at the nearest stream, the carcass was surrounded by the rest of the inhabitants of the camp: women, old people, children. Regardless of age, they all demonstrated virtuosity with knives. When everyone had eaten, the women divided the rest of the meat equally into two tents. Soon smoke poured out of the chimneys: the meat was being cooked. The reindeer dogs also got fresh.

And, indeed, there was more strength, because fresh venison is rich in vitamins and microelements, in the tundra - this is their main source.

Venison with blood

I was in a reindeer herding brigade led by the Nenets Seika Vala. The barren hutch was full. All the inhabitants of the camp, including me, ate fresh meat, lard, liver and other delicacies with appetite. The wife of Seiki Ari lingered the longest near the carcass. She brought a deer's stomach into the chum. I asked why she brought the stomach into the chum.

I cleaned it a little, poured blood into it and threw pieces of meat. I tied up my stomach and put it under the moss so that it was a little cold, ”Ari answered.

What will you do with the meat?

The blood is a little salty, the stomach will smell. Lie down a little, we'll eat.

You say - lie down a little? How much is this?

Two or three days, - stated Ari.

Indeed, two days later she took out the deer's stomach and emptied its contents into a large bowl. The meat, cut into small cubes (3-4 cm), was saturated with blood, the smell of the stomach and turned out to be very tasty.

So I got acquainted with one of the dishes of the Nenets cuisine. This dish is highly valued among the natives of the North and belongs to the category of delicacy dishes.

Baked meat

Once I read to Evenk Konstantin Ermolaevich Chapogir a line from V. K. Arseniev’s story “Dersu Uzala”: “In the evening, Dersu roasted goat meat in a special way. He dug a hole in the ground 40 cm in size on the sides of the cube and spread big fire. When the walls of the pit had warmed up sufficiently, the heat was removed from the pit. After that, the gold took a piece of meat, wrapped it in white leaves and lowered it into the pit. From above, he covered it with a flat stone, on which he again made a big fire for an hour and a half. The meat prepared in this way was surprisingly tasty. Not one first-class restaurant could not roast it so well. Outside, the goat meat was covered with a reddish-brown film, but inside it was juicy. Since then, at every opportunity, we have roasted meat in this way.”

Well, what do you say to this Ermolaevich? I asked.

Correctly they say that the meat is delicious. What do you think, this is how meat is made only in the Ussuri taiga? No. Evenks can do this too. Here we come to the brigade of Mikhail Oegir, I will take a good piece of meat from him and fry it in the same way.

Indeed, at the camp of the Oegir brigade, Konstantin Ermolaevich fried a good piece of meat using the gold method. The meat was cooked well and was excellent. I assume that the taste of venison is superior to that of goat meat.

Bear cutlets

At the end of September, I arrived on deer to the biological station, which we built in Evenkia, 35 kilometers from the village. Surinda on the banks of the Yunari River. Yuri Makushev, a senior researcher at the Research Institute of Agriculture of the Far North, and Mikhail Sukhotsky, a senior laboratory assistant, were at the hospital. Yura immediately shared important news:

Brigadier Pyotr Mikhailovich Gayulsky came. He killed a bear near the hospital and gave the whole carcass to us.

Well, how's the bear? I asked.

We fry. The taste is specific, - Yura commented. - Today, on the occasion of your arrival, we decided to make cutlets from bear meat.

Never ate. You have, I see, solid exotic dishes on the menu, - I said.

Closer to dinner, we started cooking exotic meatballs. Yura brought two pieces of bear meat, Misha began to scroll through it in a meat grinder. I peeled two heads of onions, which also went into a meat grinder. Yura added salt and black ground pepper, thoroughly mixed and formed cutlets, laying them on plywood sprinkled with flour.

Will we fry cutlets in vegetable oil or bear fat? Yura asked.

Once exotic, so exotic. Of course, on bear fat, - I said affirmatively.

Soon cutlets were fried in a frying pan in boiling bear fat. Cooked pasta as a side dish. Cutlets turned out with a taste of pine nuts.

Capercaillie cutlets

In my absence, Yura and Misha successfully hunted capercaillie on the sandy spit in September. At first, they cooked soup from capercaillie, then they began to eat it stewed, but they decided to treat me with capercaillie cutlets. I have never met such an approach to this royal bird and have not seen similar cutlets even in restaurant menus.

No sooner said than done. Yura brought two capercaillie into the house, butchered them according to northern technology: he removed the skin from the birds along with feathers, gutted them, washed them, and cut off the flesh from the chest and other parts. Leftovers were taken to storage. Misha passed the pulp and peeled head of onion through a meat grinder. Minced meat was prepared in the usual way - thoroughly mixed with salt and pepper. Cutlets were fried in a frying pan with vegetable oil. The smell was wonderful, it had the aroma of game and taiga. The garnish was boiled pasta. Butter was added to them for "skus".

Hare cutlets

When I arrived at the base, located on the shores of Lake Turuchedo, I was invariably met by the "commandant" - Boris Stepanovich Lobov. Fisherman, hunter, driver of any equipment, he was also a great cook. Of the most conventional products could cook a rare dish.

In October, during my next stay at Turuchedo, Boris Stepanovich got a couple of hares. With practiced movements, he removed the skins from them, gutted them, put the pulp cut from the carcasses to soak in cold water, and took the rest to the pantry with the words: “Then we’ll cook something.” The pulp was soaked for 5-6 hours. During this time, Boris Stepanovich changed the water several times. Then he passed the cooked hare and two heads of onions through a meat grinder, added a piece of soaked in water to the minced meat. white bread, salt and ground black pepper, mix thoroughly.

From the minced meat he formed cutlets, put a piece of butter inside each. He melted the fat in a heated frying pan and fried cutlets on it on both sides. As a side dish, Boris Stepanovich fried coarsely chopped potatoes (such fried potatoes my mother for some reason called "grouse"). The hare cutlets gave me great pleasure, which I expressed to their author.

Moose lips

I was in a reindeer herding brigade headed by Seika Vala, a Nenets I knew well. Each meeting with this wonderful reindeer herder remained in my memory for a long time, and even forever, as he always told, showed, organized something interesting. I camped in his tent, and after breakfast he said:

Now let's go with you for meat. I killed a big moose two days ago. He brought the liver and heart, and left everything else at the place of extraction. Covered with skin. The moose was healthy. I have never seen anything like this in our area before. I spent almost the whole day to skin him and divide the carcass into parts.

How far to go? I asked.

No, fifteen kilometers.

The assembly took about two hours. Finally, we went for the elk. Our argish consisted of two passenger and four cargo sleds. Arriving at the place, began loading. The elk, indeed, turned out to be of impressive size: the head completely occupied the area of ​​one cargo sled; the forelimb with the scapula was my height in height.

The frozen parts of the carcass were loaded onto cargo sleds, and Seika tied the skin to his sled. The way back seemed longer to me.

When our argish stopped at the camp, Seika said:

Let's put the moose's head in the chum. Tomorrow, Ari will cook the food you haven't eaten yet.

So they did. The next day, Ari, Seiki's first wife, removed the skin from the head of the elk, separated the upper and lower lips, singeed and scraped them for a long time until they became completely smooth, without a single hair. Then I washed it, put it in a cauldron, salted it, poured it with water and boiled it for more than two hours. 10-15 minutes before the end of cooking, I threw 3-4 bay leaves into the cauldron.

It was interesting for me to observe the actions of the mistress of the hearth. She slightly cooled the boiled lips, cut them into oblong pieces and fried them in reindeer fat in a pan with high edges until golden brown. While she finished preparing the dish, Seika's second wife, Lena, set the table, laid out bread, sugar, and arranged cups for tea. Seiko and I sat down at the table in our seats. Ari put the pan of food on the table. The food turned out to be excellent, with a specific taste.

First time eating this exotic dish. Very delicious. Thanks to the hunter and the mistress of the hearth, - I stated.

Lips may or may not be fried. We mostly only boil and eat hot or cold,” said Seika.

bear paws

Roman Yalogir is my old friend. I met him when he worked as a shepherd in a reindeer herding brigade, where Mikhail Oegir was the foreman. Once, at the end of winter, an accident occurred in the brigade: a drunken shepherd stabbed Roman and Semyon with a knife. Semyon died, and Roman was ill for a long time, but remained alive. He did not return to the brigade, but began to work as a professional hunter. He organized his base on the Taimur River, the left tributary of the Lower Tunguska.

Being on a business trip in the Evenk Autonomous Okrug, I got out to the place of Roman's fishing, he was glad to meet us. They arranged a strong feast with a taiga snack. Roman's wife, the daughter of my guide, Lyuba Chapogir, was bustling around the iron stove and table. The owner was interested in my life, clarified where I had been in Evenkia. I was interested in the life of a taiga dweller, his observations on the behavior of animals, birds of the taiga. Before going to bed, Roman said:

Here you are constantly asking me about the bear, about his habits, cases with him. Did I treat you to bear meat, but did I eat bear paws?

Of course, I didn’t eat, and I’ll even say more - I didn’t greet the bears, that is, I didn’t hold them by the paw.

That's good. Tomorrow I'll treat you to bear paws, - Roman concluded with a smug look.

Indeed, the next day the owner brought two bear paws from the storehouse. They were skinless, but with claws. Roman removed his claws, singeed and cleaned his paws for a long time, then divided into two halves and handed them over to his wife. She washed them for a long time with a brush, salted parts of the paws, put a large frying pan with high sides on the stove, melted deer fat on it and put the cooked parts of the bear paws there. Fry them for a long time, periodically turning over. Lyuba put the fried pieces in a large bowl and served them on the table.

Some hunters eat bear paws with sauce. There is no shop in the taiga, so we will eat without sauce.

I armed myself with a knife. He cut off a piece from the paw and ate it. Roman and Lyuba looked at me, waiting for my reaction.

Delicious, I said.

After eating a few more pieces, he confirmed:

Delicious.

At the end of the meal, everyone was happy.

Partridge with juniper berries

2-3 partridges are taken. The feather is removed along with the skin, the birds are gutted. Separate the liver, heart, stomach. The latter is cut and cleaned. The carcasses are washed and soaked in cold water for 3-4 hours, changing the water every hour. Prepared internal organs are washed. After the completed actions, the partridge breasts are stuffed with pieces of unsalted lard, rubbed with salt mixed with crushed black pepper and juniper berries. Partridge carcasses are divided into 4 parts, placed in a goose. Salted liver, heart, stomachs, 3 bay leaves, 3 tablespoons of melted pork fat are also added to it. Add water and sour cream sauce. The latter is prepared as follows: the flour is fried without oil, cooled, mixed with butter and put into boiling sour cream, stirred, salted and peppered. Boil for 3 minutes, filter, add granulated sugar and lemon juice to taste, mix everything.

The goose is placed in a preheated oven and stewed until tender - 1.0-1.5 hours. Garnish is spaghetti with butter and herbs.

Partridge breast with mushrooms

Take 3-4 partridges. The breasts are separated, soaked in cold water for 3-4 hours, changing the water every hour, stuffed with small pieces of unsalted lard, rubbed with salt and ground black pepper. Fresh mushrooms (porcini, champignons) are cleaned, washed, cut into small pieces, put in a container and salted. Three tablespoons of melted butter are placed in the goose-pot, the breasts are folded, mushrooms, finely chopped onions (one head), and three bay leaves are spread on them. The content of the goose is poured sour cream sauce, add water. The goose is placed in a preheated oven. Stew until tender for 1.0-1.5 hours. If necessary, you can offer fried potatoes as a side dish.

original animal

I was in Tyva on official business and met the hunter Nergyrge Kon-ool. On the first day we met, he said:

You, I understand, have visited many places in Russia, traveled abroad. You are interested not only in reindeer breeding, but also in the peoples of the North and their culture. So you talked about the cuisine of the Nenets, Chukchi, Evenks. This is interesting to me. Our national cuisine also has original dishes. You said you ate sable, muskrat, squirrel. Did you eat groundhog?

It didn't happen.

Well, today we will eat a groundhog with you for dinner.

I had no particular desire to eat the marmot, but I had to keep the brand of the northerner and I approved the hunter's proposal:

It will be great. How do you get marmots?

There are several ways, but we also have our own, original. The hunter puts on clothes of light colors, on his head - a skin from the head of a fox, takes a small-caliber rifle in one hand, and a small stick in the other, at the end of which a white tail is tied (usually a yak tail). In such equipment, crouching to the ground, the hunter, dancing, moves around the marmot colony. Tarbagan at the sight of such a spectacle, although indignant, and even screaming, remains in place, a sort of bewitched column, and the hunter strikes him at close range. This kind of hunting is very rewarding. Just keep in mind that the tarbagan is strong on the wound, so you need to shoot it only in the head.

In the evening, the owner and I ate marmot with homemade noodles. Tarbagan meat turned out to be tender, juicy and fatty. Very tasty. The hostess shared the recipe for its preparation:

I soak the carcass first. I change water 2-3 times. Then I cut it into pieces, put it in a cauldron, fill it with water, put salt, Bay leaf, black peppercorns. I cook for about an hour. Then I put the noodles and cook until cooked. We Tuvans love this dish.

Andrey Lomachinsky "Curiosities of military medicine and expertise (collection of stories)"

Kopalhem and cadaveric poisons

But there is another kind of increased tolerance to poisons - the so-called acquired tolerance. In the same way that regular exercise can build muscle, regular intake of small doses of poison can develop enzyme systems that can neutralize this poison. True, one should not specifically deal with such a thing, and far from all poisons such resistance is possible. Most often, the results of such "exercises" will be chronic intoxication, and with poisons of accumulative, that is, cumulative action, even with a fatal outcome.

This story is about other poisons - about cadaveric. The name of this group is self-explanatory - cadaveric poisons are formed during the decay of corpses. The most famous trinity of the so-called ptoamines - neurin, pudrescine and cadaverine. These are strong poisons. It is believed that a person has no protection from them. Another thing is jackals, hyenas, vultures - this poison does not take them at all. It is understandable - they are scavengers, cadaveric poisons are simply an integral "spice" to their food. We seem to eat clean food, we don’t need enzyme systems that can neutralize ptoamines. But do not rush to conclusions - human evolution is full of secrets and mysteries, and there is still a very big question, how clean was the food of our distant and not so distant ancestors. It turned out that a person still has a biological mechanism for such protection. But very idiosyncratic.

The very beginning of that period that is now commonly called the Brezhnev stagnation. A special topographic group under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Duzin flew over the area between Lake Kokora and Lake Labaz. It is at the very base of the Taimyr Peninsula. They flew in an MI-8 helicopter, which is called a friendly crowd - two flyers, three topographers and one local - a certain Savely Peresol, a Nenets by nationality. The military took him with them simply as a connoisseur of the area, showing swamps, indicating local landmarks and their names.

And then a serious breakdown occurred in the air - something happened to the hydraulics, which transmits the movements from the pilot's handle to the propeller shaft. The handle went berserk, began to beat the pilot on the legs, there was no control, the helicopter was falling. Luckily, the height was small - what is called a hard landing happened. The helicopter fell on its side, the propeller crashed into the ground with a screech, and, scattering the stunted vegetation, broke off on the permafrost. The blow was strong, but no one was especially hurt. With bruises and abrasions, with broken noses and dizzy from a slight concussion, the people stared at each other in a dazed way.

The pilot was the first to come to his senses - the helicopter smelled unbearably of burnt wiring, and the familiar smell of aviation kerosene was suddenly added to this. And then smoke poured into the gut. "Everybody out of the car!!!" he yelled, opening the door. Everyone immediately assessed the situation and rushed outside. A blockage of bodies formed in the door for a second, but after another moment a human ball flew out of the helicopter like a cork from a bottle. And just in time - something softly cracked inside, and flames appeared in the cabin, which in seconds enveloped the entire helicopter. The people, opening their mouths, silently watched this spectacle with unblinking eyes. At first, even with joy - after all, everyone is alive, then with confusion - what to do ?. After all, there is not a soul around for hundreds of kilometers, the radio burned down, there is no food, no warm clothes, no weapons, nothing! But September is "in the yard" - it's still lucky that there is no snow, although it's time. At night, it has long been a noticeable frost, and it is not hot during the day. All hope for the search group, in theory, in just a few hours should be missed. True, the search area is large ...

We spent the first night near the helicopter - according to the assumptions, such a landmark from the air is the easiest to detect by rescuers. But no one arrived. No one flew on the second day, and the third day was foggy - it looks like no one flew. On the fourth day, a helicopter chirp was heard somewhere in the distance, and weakened people ran there, but it is difficult to notice a military uniform against the background of marsh bumps from the air, especially if it is so far away. The hope for a small fire that was constantly burned at the accident site did not help either - the Taimyr bush could not provide significant fire, and attempts to make smoke ended in nothing - the north wind dispersed it across the tundra already ten meters from the fire.

For all the time they managed to kill a dozen lemmings and a dozen mice, in the charred remains of a helicopter they found pieces that replaced a frying pan and a saucepan. They constantly boiled a decoction of lingonberries and cloudberries, but mushrooms helped the most. Here is a miracle - there are practically no tree species, but even among dwarf tudra vegetation there are Forest mushrooms. And what burly giants! Probably still in August - now it’s already around zero during the day. You see, therefore, there is not a single worm in the fungi, all are strong, as if for selection. However, such happiness cannot last long - it will sprinkle with the first snow, and death will come. Not even from hunger - from the cold. After all, Peresalt alone is more or less dressed - the Nenets do not take off their kukhlyanka either in winter or in summer. Duzin himself also jumped out in a padded jacket, the pilot had a fur boots, the rest had overalls and a field Pe-Sha. Outerwear burned in the helicopter. Although they let you warm up, offering in turn a padded jacket and a kukhlyanka, but this does not help much - there is practically no sleep at night, strength is running out.

The next morning, with the first glance at the graying cold sky, hopelessness froze in the eyes of everyone - this is perhaps the snow. And judging by the barely noticeable drifting snow that flowed between the marsh bumps and sang in a thin voice in the thin branches of the polar willows, then it will not just be a snowfall - it will be a blizzard. The semblance of a shelter, which was made from the leftover helicopter skin, could hardly accommodate everyone, and even then sitting. This will not save you from the blizzard. The officers silently joined hands - they seemed to be in trouble together, let's friends, together and meet the inevitable. Peresol alone did not share the general mood:

“Oh, how stupid we are all! It would be better to act according to the precepts of the old people ... Why were we sitting?! Who were we waiting for?! Today the wind will freeze the swamp - it will be difficult to find kopalhem! We would have found a long time ago, we would have eaten a lot, we would have taken a lot with us! Every day we would have walked, we would have worn a kukhlyanka and a padded jacket in turn, we would have eaten kopalhem, we would have reached Heta by now! I would look a little along the coast, and then I would lead you are much closer - north to Zhdanikha or south to Khatanga. And then they would send a helicopter for us from your Crosses, where there is a lot of condensed milk, stew and vodka. A lot of it! We would be saved and have fun. And so we will die! "

The officers regarded the plan of the local reindeer breeder as a complete gamble - he proposed a route of more than one hundred kilometers. And this is walking on the tundra without food and clothes? Stupidity! Even if they went out on the first day, they still wouldn't have made it halfway by this point. Though so, though otherwise - still die. Even most likely, if they had gone to Heta, they would already have been corpses - such a path would have exhausted their strength in any way, and much faster. However, what kind of kopalhem was the Nenets talking about? What kind of animal is this?

"Ah, kopalhem is delicious, kopalchem ​​is fat, warmth is from kopalchem, strength is from kopalchem, life is from kopalchem! Spirits of kopalchem ​​are protected, because in that swamp where the kopalchem ​​lies, the Spirit of the Big Deer lives. And he is the most important who helps to a man in the tundra! Other gods, if they help badly, can be whipped with a whip, and generally thrown into a fire, but the Spirit of the Big Deer is impossible! we must go for kopalhem, otherwise we will all die!"

Such an explanation of the essence of the mythical copalhem did not reveal. Something tasty and fat, which is associated with some kind of Spirit of the Big Deer and at the same time for some reason lives in a swamp, where a normal deer cannot be driven into forever. As for other gods, it is clear - the Nenets carve their figurines from birch and store them in the camps, like talisman gods. If the talisman "does not work well", in the sense of happiness does not bring, then this is brought up by the carrot and stick method. At first, they cajole with deer blood, and if he has not "corrected", then they can be flogged. If even after this luck has not increased, then they can poke their heads in their hearts into a diaper full of shit made of birch bark, which replaces diapers and diapers for tightly swaddled Nenets children. And even if this did not help, then such a worthless god has only one road - to the fire. Then why such a reverent attitude towards the Spirit of the Big Deer?

After numerous additional questions, a more or less materialistic picture finally emerged. We will leave the spirit itself to the Nenets - this is one of the key figures in the pantheon of local shamanism. But the accompanying ceremony dedicated to this spirit turned out to be very interesting. Periodically in a deer herd it is necessary to change the leader. According to some local esoteric signs, they calculate when this should be done in a special way - the old vazhak must be sacrificed to the Spirit of the Big Deer. Such a deer is beaten off from the herd and for a couple of days they are not given anything to eat to completely cleanse the intestines. Further, the ritual of making such a sacrifice is simple - the overthrown leader (at the same time, it is imperative that he be fat and in full health) is thrown around his neck with a rawhide lasso and pulled to the nearest swamp. There, they crush him with this noose and leave him in a swamp. But they leave it cunningly - the deer must hide there completely, then this place is still filled with peat or sphagnum moss, and they are covered with branches and stones on top. They crush the deer with great care - it is impossible for its skin to be damaged at least somewhere, its carcass must be absolutely intact. The peat bog itself masks odors well, and therefore cases of desecration of copalhem by a predatory animal are relatively rare. Near the kopalkhem, on the nearest hummock, a stake is driven in, always from larch, so as not to rot. The stake is decorated with bunches of grass and reindeer moss, and often with some other bright cloth. IN Soviet time For example, pioneer ties or pennants to the "Best Reindeer Breeder" were especially popular.

So, this deer carcass can lie like this for centuries. In fact, from the standpoint of thanatology, a section of forensic medicine that studies cadaveric changes, there is nothing special here. After all, even in middle lane In Russia, the bodies of innocently murdered merchants from the Middle Ages were found in peat bogs. Moreover, at the same time, the police were called - sort of like a recent murder, the body and the chopped wound on the head were so well preserved! And in the swamps of Ireland, even people of the Stone Age were found. In the tundra, conditions are both worse and better. Because of the permafrost, the water there is always cold - a definite plus. In the same time cold water does not allow the rapid development of marsh vegetation. It also does not allow those meager plant remains to rot, which actually create peat. Therefore, the water there is poor in humic acids, organic compounds of the type widely known succinic acid, which are a tanning agent and a preservative that is detrimental to bacteria. Relatively clean water is the main disadvantage. There is still cadaveric decay going on. Slowly, decades, but goes. It stops only in one case - if the swamp is swallowed up by permafrost.

It turns out that the Nenets attitude towards these "mummies of deer pharaohs" is by no means sacred. However, as with all their gods. These shrines can be easily eaten! Right in a rotten-raw form with a smell. Even complete rotten meat does not lose its calorie content. They eat this not only in need or due to force majeure, but simply as a kind of delicacy. But they always make up for what they have taken - they wanted kopalhem, death to the leader, the Spirit of the Big Deer should not be offended either. Thousands of years of life in the tundra have taught us this - after all, these are excellent canned food for a rainy day, not to mention life-saving help to those who are lost in the tundra. After all, their main value is that they are, as it were, no one's, forgotten and scattered across the northern land, the gifts of their ancestors. It was such a carcass that Savely Peresol undertook to find.

The officers really liked the idea of ​​getting hold of meat - they didn’t even want to think about the fact that it was rotten meat. If you're dying, then you'll eat something like that, but what's the smell ... a peculiar one ... So you can pinch your nose with your fingers! In short, Peresol, put on your kukhlyanka, grab a knife and run for canned national Nenets cuisine. Anyway, you can’t go anywhere from here - you have to wait. But on a full stomach, the chances of waiting are much greater! So, comrade reindeer herder, our lives depend on you - don't let us down.

And he did not disappoint. By the evening, when doubts had already begun to creep in, whether Peresol would return, whether he had pulled on Heta alone, his stocky figure slowly appeared from behind a hill against the background of a bright orange sky in a black silhouette. The officers happily ran to meet him. Here he is walking laden, smiling - a healthy deer leg hangs behind his back. Saveliy cut the reindeer skin straps and hooked the meat onto his back like a backpack. Wow! Today we feast.

The meat, as such, is already faintly distinguishable - instead of it there is some kind of grayish and foul-smelling mass. And here fat anything - is looked through. Dirty gray and soapy to the touch, in the mouth it stuck to the palate, somewhat reminiscent of soft paraffin, only cold. The dirty gray layer immediately under the skin also peeled off easily. You can’t chew such pulp from fresh venison, but here it’s nothing - soft, like a waxy crust from cheese. The taste of kopalhem most of all resembled terribly rancid unsalted lard. When they tried to fry kopalhem on a fire, or at least warm it up in a frying pan, it turned out even worse - the stench went so that it was definitely impossible to take a piece in your mouth. It dripped viscous fat that burned with a dark, stinking flame like rubber. Yes, such a "delicacy" is best swallowed cold, although according to the Nenets, the most delicious kopalkhem is generally frozen, then it is cut into thin slices that roll under the knife into gray tubes. The resulting stroganina is dipped in salt and eaten along with the steamed raw lungs of a freshly slaughtered deer.

Those who served in the north often had to deal with the local tradition of a raw food diet. From reindeer offal - the national Nenets delicacy - the most courageous of the officers sometimes tried raw liver, but they liked to lightly fry the meat in a pan. Inside, it remained almost damp, only a little white on the outside. Cut into small cubes, this was called "pasteurized venison". Almost everyone has tried it. Therefore, the smelly copalhem was treated with confidence. They cut it into pieces and washed it down with lingonberry broth, without chewing, swallowed it to the bone.

By nightfall, bad weather broke out. The first snow came with gusts of wind. Now he will lie until the end of May. However, surprisingly, the night with snow was not so cold. The clouds acted like a blanket, keeping the last warmth of the earth. The people crammed into the shelter, and an impromptu "potbelly stove" was set on fire there. And by morning everything was quiet, the air became transparent, the sky was clear. The whitened tundra seemed to put on a wedding dress. Or a shroud ... A veil to along with scattered across the sky northern lights. Wow, how it spins! Green flashes stretched out like a stratospheric rain. Here is where they turned pink, turned around like a raised curtain of the divine theater. The luminous folds turned into a purple tint, under them again a green fringe ... A decent frost hit. It's cold, of course, but on a full stomach this can be tolerated. Not fatal.

It turned out to be fatal. Not from the cold - from kopalhema. Some started to have pains in the area of ​​the liver, some vomited, in the end they all had hallucinations, and by morning they lost consciousness. However, Savely Peresol remained in perfect health, he did not have any symptoms, even though he ate the most! All night he tried to somehow help the officers, but to no avail. Already when it was in full bloom, the pilot’s breath stopped, and now the body of the elder released the Duzinsky soul to the land of their ancestors. By noon the mechanic had died. Two topographers were still alive, but in a severe coma.

Savely did not understand why. Having long forgotten the intricacies of the beliefs of his own people, he suddenly remembered what his grandmother told him as a child, and what his grandfather whispered with fear in his voice during the polar nights. It is quiet in the plague, only firewood crackles under the kettle, and grandfather still does not go to bed - the first snow, after all, we must remember the Spirit of the Big Deer. The same night as now. Did Saveliy offend the tundra in some way? Oh damn vodka! It would be better if he listened to his grandfather, but taught spells properly ... Pulling a footcloth over their saucepan, Peresol began to beat it like a tambourine, trying to speak from the death of those remaining. Then he jumped around the helicopter and with all his strength shouted in Nenets those fragments of magical phrases that surfaced in his memory. He tried to wake up the spirits, called on his grandfather to come, and, as in childhood, to avert trouble.

And apparently woke up! At a low altitude, from the side of the swamp, where he himself went out last night, a giant green dragonfly with red stars on its sides suddenly jumped out from behind a hill. From a height, against the snow-white background of the tundra, the sooty skeleton of the helicopter stood out especially clearly. In front of the faces of the astonished pilots, a funny booth flashed, from which smoke was coming, three lifeless bodies in front of it and a dancing figure of some local with an incomprehensible round "drum". Chattering with a screw, the helicopter laid a steep turn, turned around, hovered for a minute over its burned-out counterpart, and then jumped to the side and drove the snow in all directions, began to descend. That's it, the Spirit of the Big Deer proved that he is the main one in the tundra - he drove the same helicopter! And all it took was finding a copalhem...

The evacuation was carried out directly to the north, to Zhdanikha. All the same, there would not be enough fuel to get to the Crosses or even to Khatanga. But in Zhdanikha there was only a paramedic, a civilian, it's true, but what's the difference. The doctor is already in the Crosses. Until the helicopter is refueled, then how many more hours of flight ... We decided not to risk it - we contacted him by radio. "Remote" diagnoses are difficult and dangerous, but what to do? In addition, it is absolutely not clear why the local, without any deviations, is not frostbite and does not even cough, and two military men are unconscious. Thanks, the same local explained - it was very little to eat, from hunger they got drunk on reindeer rotten meat. Then the recommendations are simple - intravenously drip more liquid, force diuresis with medication, give glucose and vitamins to protect the liver, if necessary, inject drugs that support breathing and heart activity. It is clear that all this is in milligrams, milliliters, percentages ...

One of the topographers died during the night. The state of the last military man, senior lieutenant, remained "stable-critical". This means that at any moment it can die, but only something does not die for a long time. A day later, the crisis seemed to have passed. Breathing became deeper, normal pressure returned. The coma slipped into sleep. And here comes the awakening. It was the surviving senior lieutenant who told everyone about the taste of copalhem. The next day, they flew with him to Kresty, where the search headquarters was located, and where the commission to investigate the incident arrived. And with her as many as two investigators - one civilian, the other an officer of military justice. And as you understand, these investigators opened a criminal case against citizen Savely Peresol for the murder of four servicemen by poisoning. In the course of the investigation, the article for murder was changed to "unintentional murder", then "for accidental killing by negligence."

And what else can be careful when ingesting a local food surrogate, called in Nenets "kopalhem"? At that time, not a single professor-toxicologist knew about such caution. Frozen pieces of copalhem were delivered to Moscow, to the Central Laboratory of Forensic Examination of the Moscow Region. Nenets Peresol was also dragged around military institutions - he was at the Institute of Military Medicine on Rzhevka, and went to various other toxicological laboratories. The military was only interested in one thing - how is the system of counteraction and neutralization of ptoamines in his body? It is very interesting, and maybe the Nenets have such resistance to other poisons? It turned out not. Only they are not sensitive to cadaveric poisons. But nothing but increased activity of a special protein called cytochrome Pe-450 was found in him. By the way, for the sake of science, poor Peresol even voluntarily agreed to a liver biopsy. This is when a thick hollow needle with sharp edges cuts out a lifeless column of tissue from the liver.

Maybe because of such a scientific value, Savely was condemned only conditionally. The case when, due to the principle of the inevitability of punishment, the letter of the law outweighs its spirit - in theory, there is no corpus delicti in this case, as in the previous one, "methanol". There, at least, they were trampled with stolen socialist, which means public property. What about here? Ancestral gifts. Although it is also the common property of the Nenets people, but it’s not theft!

The Russian Chukchi have an analogue to the Nenets kopalhem - they preserved walrus meat in a similar way. Before the arrival of the white man with his table salt, the Far Eastern peoples did not salt red fish before - they smoked it a little, dried it a little, but in general they kept it in the "bear method" and ate it completely rotten. American Eskimos seasonally climb coastal cliffs, the so-called bird colonies, where they catch seabirds with large nets. They especially prefer small terns and puffins - dark birds with wide bright orange beaks. They don’t even gut these ones - they stuff leather bags with them, put them in layers of seal fat and sometimes leave them like that for years. They eat it only when the contents "ferment" into a monotonous gray mass. It is clear that the bones and feathers do not count - it remains, so you still have to spit. According to the FDA, the calorie content of such food is higher than that of bacon! By the way, the trade in this "food" is strictly prohibited throughout the United States, including Alaska, and the production is strictly limited to the reservations of the northern "Native Americans". The funniest thing about this law is who, apart from the Eskimos themselves, will buy this? Even more wonderful is the "canned food" of the "native Canadians" - the Canadian Inuit. These manage to "rot" a whole whale!

However, the individual history of such a tolerance for cadaveric poisons in each representative of the northern peoples is easily tracked. And it starts from the very birth. So that the newborn does not cry, he is given a piece to suck instead of a pacifier raw meat on a thread. They will tie it so that it does not swallow it in the mouth. And they change this "pacifier" when the meat, how to say it ... starts to smell. Then, instead of porridge, deer blood will be given to drink. Then they will pamper you with a slice of copalhem. Gradually, tolerance to ptoamines develops.

Well, the last thing known to any forensic scientist who worked with the exhumed remains. If the burial was carried out in dense clay soil and in a relatively airtight coffin, then without access to oxygen, the corpse does not rot, but goes into a state called fat wax. I saw this, but I didn’t have copalchem, but it seems to me that the biochemical transformations there are very similar. Although it is very difficult to attribute this process to cooking ...