A 400 gold ruble salmon

The Russian Empress Anna Ioannovna (1693-1740, reigned 1730-1740) was a great lover of salmon from the Arkhangelsk region. She particularly relished the “malosolny”—“lightly-salted”—variety.  The empress was also very proud of the banquets she hosted and was deeply involved in each meal’s cooking; she loved to take credit for each masterful creation. So it is that a bit of lore surrounds one variety of marinated salmon.

It seems that salmon fillets were marinating in a special spicy sauce in the palace’s cool cellars. One day, a drunken servant responsible for lowering the pans of salmon down into the cellar forgot about one pan and it was left lying alongside an oaken barrel of cognac. This very barrel was the source of the servant’s drunkenness, and it seems the tap had not been completely shut off. So cognac drip-drip-dripped into the open pan of marinating salmon. 

The next evening, the empress hosted a dinner. She treated her guests to her famous malosolny salmon, garnished with vegetables and lemon. The unique cognac flavor took everyone by surprise—not least of whom Anna Ioannovna—and the guests applauded the empress on her new creation. 

Now we all know tsars and tsarinas are none too fond of surprises. So when Anna Ioannovna uncovered the source of her new culinary “novelty,” she ordered the drunken servant flogged. And, like a good autocrat, while she punished with the left hand, she rewarded the hapless servant with the right—he was paid 400 gold rubles for his “discovery,” known today as “Drunken Salmon.” It makes for a superb appetizer and needless to say, an incomparable companion to vodka pulled from the freezer.

Drunken Salmon

2 lb. center-cut salmon fillet

1/2 cup salt

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. freshly ground white pepper

A large handful of fresh dill, coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons brandy

Mix the salt, sugar, white pepper and dill in a bowl.  Place the salmon fillet in a roasting pan and rub the mixture into it.  Pour the brandy over the salmon.

Cover with plastic wrap and marinate the salmon for 12 hours at room temperature and another 12 hours in the refrigerator.

To serve, slice the salmon cross-wise very thinly and arrange it on a plate.  Garnish with lemon, parsley, cucumber, and tomato.

Recipe courtesy 

Sudar Restaurant, Moscow

(095-249-6965)