Species sheet · The Edible River
Baikal omul
The smoked fish of the Baikal quaysides.
- Hot- or cold-smoked whole
- Raw, salted with onion and oil, sagudai-style
- Oven-roasted with potatoes
- In French
- Omul
- Scientific name
- Coregonus migratorius
- In the water
- A whitefish found only in Lake Baikal, in Siberia, schooling in the cold open water and running up the basin's rivers to spawn in autumn.
- Season & buying
- Commercial fishing has been suspended to rebuild the stocks, and sales remain limited and controlled; ask where it comes from.
- Common length
- ~35 cm
- How to identify it
- Streamlined silver body with a greenish back
Large pale eye and small terminal mouth
Adipose fin and forked tail
On the plate
White, fatty and very tender flesh, mild, which takes smoke beautifully.
Avoid: Eating it raw without freezing it first: the raw dishes of Baikal are made from fish frozen right through.
Raskolotka is made by shattering a frozen omul with a hammer: the shards are eaten raw with salt and pepper.
In Umay recipes
One Umay recipe calls for it.
