A message on the topic of the Chukchi people's favorite food. Rotten dishes or delicacies with an odor. Pechora salted sour-salted fish

Once, during our trip to Vaygach, 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 saltier. It was very tasty.

And before leaving, when they skinned another deer, they casually told us about an interesting dish that they would like to treat us to - the semi-digested contents of a deer’s stomach. Quite clearly they wanted to shock us with this, since they understood that people from the “mainland” would be wary of such a dish, to put it mildly. Surely it would be fun for them to watch people grimace when they are offered such food.

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

“Note that reindeer Chukchi herders could, in extreme cases, eat semi-liquid green droppings of reindeer (Bogoraz 1991: 128). Human feces were not consumed as food.”

True, I don’t think that this was a common situation and is still practiced to some extent. But they still eat something else interesting now. I want to write about such exotic dishes of the northern peoples.

Deer

Among deer, representatives of small nations generally eat everything they can - young antlers (antlers), bone marrow, raw and processed (including sour) meat, blood, liver, lungs and kidneys, heart, eyes and even ear glands. Except that they don’t eat the skin, although it is also used for business.

“The time when a deer is beaten is a holiday in the Ostyak family and arouses special pleasure in all members. Here, in fact, a bloody feast opens up. Around the deer, slaughtered so that all its blood remains in its entrails, skinned and opened, the whole family, old and young, crowds; with knives in their hands, they all greedily cut out and eat the warm meat, usually dipping it in steaming blood or washing it down.

Moreover, one must be surprised with what incomprehensible skill they cut off with a knife near their mouths up to the nose pieces of meat captured by their teeth; and so quickly and deftly that from the outside it seems that it will certainly hit you on the nose. They swallow the meat in pieces, hardly chewing, and it is difficult to imagine how much each of them can eat."

You might think that people eat so quickly because they are greedy. But the point here is not entirely about her.

If you eat venison raw, then it really needs to be eaten immediately - “steamed”. The expression “fresh meat”, adopted in Russian, is very appropriate in this case, since it means that steam is coming from the meat, so it is still warm and fresh. At this moment, it has a very special delicate texture and taste, and has many beneficial properties.

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

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

Kanyga with berries

This exotic northern dish is considered a delicacy among many indigenous peoples of the north. It is especially popular among the Chukchi, Koryaks, Indians, and Eskimos. As is known, domestic and wild reindeer feed mainly on various lichens, leaves of shrubs, green and winter-green herbs, and mushrooms, if available. 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. This mass is eaten with spoons, mixed with berries - blueberries, shiksha, lingonberries in arbitrary proportions.

A Russian may not appreciate this food either in smell or taste. However, for the aborigine, the smell of canyga evokes delight and appetite. This food promotes better digestion and absorption of fatty meat foods. At the same time, the native’s body is additionally enriched with vitamins, macro- and microelements.

Reindeer antlers (mora)

The growing antlers of reindeer are called antlers. In June, during corral work, some deer break their unossified antlers in the confusion. Reindeer herders tie the horn below the fracture with ribbon or twine, and cut off the broken part or saw it off with a hacksaw. The collected antlers are covered with dense, short, delicate hair. Before starting the meal, the antlers are burned over a fire or in a stove, and the burned hair is scraped off with a knife.

They eat (raw) the skin covering 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: improves metabolism, increases the functioning of organs, and raises the overall tone of the body.

Deer bone marrow

When cutting deer legs, the joint fat and bone marrow from the legs are removed and immediately eaten, breaking the hollow bones with the butt of an ax or a stone.

“An unusual dish, one of those that can only be prepared in the forest, only while hunting red deer, and only... with a successful hunt. If the last condition is met, then in the process of cutting up the red deer carcass, the shin bones are isolated (after removing the camus). The bones, freed from the camus and hooves, are placed on the heat of a fire slightly shifted to the side.

While the skinning work continues, the bones or, as hunters say, “dragels” are turned over several times and continue to fry over the fire until evenly lightly charred. And so, when the main work with the game is completed, a bone blazing with heat is taken (this must be done with good gloves), placed on a dead 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, usually into two halves, one of which contains boiling, transparent amber, bone marrow with an incredible aroma. All that remains is to sprinkle it with salt (preferably coarse) and eat it, slowly savoring it and eating it with bread.

I don’t presume to judge the subtleties of the chemical composition of this product, but having “processed” even one bone in this way, you then run all day with extraordinary ease, and even a heavy load of hunted game does not seem so heavy. And what’s interesting is that if you try to cook “dragels” 2-3 hours or more after shooting the red deer, you end up with ordinary fried bone marrow, without the characteristic color, aroma, and consistency that you get when preparing dragels.”

Cooled meat cannot be eaten raw. The processes of decay begin in it. Therefore, it is boiled or fried. It’s another matter if parts of the cut carcass immediately, immediately freeze in severe frost. Then all the beneficial properties of fresh meat are preserved. Such meat is eaten sliced, without allowing it to thaw.

But what’s interesting is that in the decomposition of meat, reindeer herders also found their advantages and began to use it in food in a “fermented form.” Here are some examples of such strange dishes:

Kopalchen

Kopalkhen - (kopalkhem, kopalkhyn, kopalgyn, kopalkha, igunak) - a delicacy dish of the Nganasans, Chukchi and Eskimos.

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

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

To prepare reindeer copalchen you need a large, fat and healthy deer. Do not feed it for several days (to cleanse the intestines), then smother it without damaging the skin. After this, the corpse is immersed in a swamp and covered with peat, covered with branches and stones, and left for several months. After the expiration of the period, the corpse is removed and eaten.

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

They also write this about pickled walrus meat: when skinning the walrus, large pieces of meat with subcutaneous fat and skin are separated (plates measuring almost a meter by meter, weighing up to 70-80 kg). Then each piece is sprinkled on the inside with a mixture of herbs and lichens, rolled into a roll, connecting the edges. The prepared pieces are placed in 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 low that the meat becomes frozen. It does not rot, but some microorganisms form in it, which gradually change its composition and enrich it with vitamins. Ripened meat acquires a specific taste and smell.

Ice cream copalchen 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 consuming copalchen, any person, unless he has been eating it since childhood, receives severe poisoning, which in the absence of timely medical care can be fatal. Rotten meat contains cadaveric poison in quite large quantities - cadaverine, putrescine and neurin.

They, among other substances formed during decomposition, are responsible for the unpleasant odor 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, profuse salivation, bronchorrhea, vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions and, in most cases, death from severe poisoning.

Kiwiak

Kiviak is a festive dish: about 400 guillemots (not gutted) are placed in a seal skin, the air is released from the skin, it is 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 for their enzymes to process the seal intestines.

The fermented bird is taken out, the feathers (sometimes with the skin) are removed and the meat is eaten raw. Excavated kiwiak is recommended to be consumed in the fresh air, as the dish has a strong specific smell. Kiwiak tastes like sharp, over-aged cheese.

Pechora salted sour-salted fish

Fresh, just caught fish is lightly salted, placed in 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 sits in the hut until it sours and acquires a specific smell. With this method of salting, the fish becomes completely soft and the meat is easily separated from the bones. If you ferment for a short time, the fish retains its shape. With prolonged fermentation, a gelatinous, sour mass is obtained, which is eaten with spoons like porridge. It is used as a seasoning for porridge and potatoes, and bread is dipped into it. A similar method of salting fish is known to the Karelians. Like any fermented product, fish prepared 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 smell

Dolgans are cooked with flavor and poultry, in particular geese. They put the cooked goose carcass in a bag made of eider skin, sew it up tightly and lower it into a cellar hole dug in the permafrost. Geese remain in a natural refrigerator for 2-3 months. During this period, goose meat not only acquires a specific smell, but also becomes softer and more tender. It is used to make soup and roast.

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

Akutak

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

All the many varieties of akutak contain berries, meat, leaves, roots mixed with oil or fat. The berries usually include cloudberries, magnificent raspberries, cranberries, crowberries, and the meats - salmon and venison. Fat - deer fat, walrus fat, seal fat. Sometimes water or sugar is added to Akutak.

Maktak

Maktak (Inuit Maktak, also the variant “muktuk”; Chuk. itgilgyn) is a traditional dish of Eskimo and Chukchi cuisine, frozen whale skin and lard. In some dialects, particularly Inuinnaqtun, the word "maktak" means only edible skin.

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

Subcutaneous gadfly larvae

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

Each female lays several hundred eggs. They stick firmly to the deer hair. 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 they make holes - fistulas. A connecting capsule is formed around each larva. The larvae stay here for about seven months, undergoing 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 emerge from the pupae, which mate within a few hours, and the fertilized females go in search of deer. The cycle begins again.

The prevalence of deer with the subcutaneous botfly is very high. There were up to a thousand or more larvae on individual animals. 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 leaving the egg. They are characterized by a very high protein and fat content.

Some indigenous peoples of the north eat mature larvae of the subcutaneous botfly raw. North American and Canadian Indians and the Chukchi fry them and classify this food as a delicacy. In this form, they are much tastier and healthier than Chinese dried grasshoppers.

Exotic northern cuisine

Mukhachev Anatoly Dmitrievich

Royal dish

I studied at the All-Union Agricultural Institute of Correspondence Education. In my sixth year, I was offered the topic of my thesis: “Nutrition of sable in nature and during 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 was the only farm in Russia where sables were bred. My work at the animal farm was coming to an end. One day, the farm’s livestock specialist, Yura Dokukin (we had known each other for a long time), came up to me and said:

Today we have a festive dinner. Be sure to come.

At the appointed hour I was sitting at the table next to Yura. Stewed meat and potatoes were served. Yura watched me eat meat with great appetite and asked:

Whose meat do we eat?

Without hesitation I answered:

A rabbit.

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

Working in Evenkia, where the main sable population of Russia lives, I ate the meat of these royal animals more than once. One day, our hunting day with Konstantin Ermolaevich Chapogir turned out to be too long, we caught several sables, survived until darkness and were forced to spend the night in the taiga. We set up a knot, pulled up an awning, and chopped spruce branches. We had a kettle, tea leaves, sugar, salt and some other grub with us. Ermolaich built a small fire near Nodya, cut up the sables, put the carcasses on the rods, salted them and instructed me to fry them, while he himself began to boil the tea.

Either we were tired from the day, or we were very hungry, but the tea was somehow especially aromatic, and the sable, fried on the stove, turned out to be incredibly tasty and gave us vigor and strength.

Arctic fox on the table

I worked in Yamal in the early sixties of the last century as the chief livestock specialist of the Nyda state farm. The state farm fur farm housed 320 Arctic foxes from 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 we could later use them as food for the animals left for reproduction. I noticed that after finishing their work, the Nenets skinners took with them several of the most well-fed carcasses of arctic foxes, and I asked Arkani Nerkaga:

Will you feed the dogs?

Why dogs, I’ll eat a little myself. Treat tuberculosis. The meat is delicious.

Is it delicious?

Come home and eat. While the Arctic foxes are being slaughtered, my wife cooks them every day. We keep a supply of arctic fox carcasses for guests.

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

First, keep the carcass a little in the cold.

How much is small?

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 in a little water, salt and put it on low heat. Stews for about an hour. I put a handful of dry onions, 2 bay leaves, everything is stewed for another half hour and the dish is ready.

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

Squirrel on the loose

While in Evenkia, the young reindeer herder Valera Kombair and I hunted in our free time in the valley of the Yambukan River. Once, it was in the second half of October, we spent the whole day riding reindeer through the taiga. We managed to catch a couple of wood grouse and a dozen squirrels. It was already getting dark when we decided to stop and drink tea.

Valera asked me:

Have you, Dmitrich, ever eaten protein?

No, I answered.

You should definitely try, what kind of taiga person are you if you haven’t eaten all the animals of the taiga. Now we’ll eat them with some tea.

Valera quickly lit a fire, took out from the toku (a bag transported on reindeer) everything necessary for drinking tea, skinned four squirrels, gutted them, put them two at a time on the goads, and lightly salted them. 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, and fried quickly,” Valera said.

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

I ate food that was exotic to me with great appetite and thought: “You can’t taste such food in any restaurant - a restaurant cannot replace the delights of the taiga.”

A scientist came to us in Evenkia from Moscow, maybe you know him? Surname Tugolukov. He said that all northern peoples who live in the taiga eat squirrels. The protein is boiled and stewed. And they fry it on the stove when you need a quick snack,” concluded my friend and guide.

Overseas animal

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

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

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

We will change the water three times over five hours, and then set it to cook.

Is this overseas animal delicious?

What kind of overseas guy is he? They were probably brought from America, but a long time ago, so now this animal is purely ours, Russian. 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 devoured the exotic soup with great appetite. The vermicelli and spices Bob added to the muskrat soup gave it a special taste and aroma.

Aybat (nayabat)

You need to eat fresh meat, otherwise you have no strength and your muscles hurt. “Soon there will be a lot of work,” said the foreman, pointing to the important woman tied to the sledge.

She was a young important woman who had no calf for the second spring, that is, she was barren. The foreman was right - we have a large amount of work to do: in a few days the corral work will begin, we need to count the deer, brand them, vaccinate the animals against anthrax.

While I was taking notes and preparing current documentation, the reindeer herders butchered the deer. 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 liver, kidneys, and all of this was covered in blood. The foreman sprinkled the blood with salt, 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 near the lips and the tip of the nose. The foreman recommended that I feast on kidneys and liver. There were only shepherds near the carcass. Pretty soon the ribs were finished. Then everything went in a row, including fat. The marrow made from tubular bones (kheva) is considered a delicacy among reindeer herders. It was divided equally among everyone. They brought a mug from the chum and the reindeer herders washed down their meat meal with blood. The brigadier scooped up a full mug of blood and handed it to me with the words:

There are a lot of vitamins.

I didn't feel any delight. The shepherds lowered their knives and stared at me. There was one expression on all their faces: “Do you respect us?” I respected them and I drank. I won’t write about my impressions. But immediately there were shouts of approval:

Savo, ulisavo.

The shepherds were happy and at peace with the feast. Everyone's faces were smeared with blood. And I didn't look any better.

After the reindeer herders moved away from the carcass and began to wash themselves at the nearest stream, the rest of the inhabitants of the camp surrounded the carcass: women, old people, children. Regardless of age, they all demonstrated masterful knife skills. When everyone had eaten, the women divided the remaining meat equally into two tents. Soon smoke poured out of the chimneys cheerfully: the cooking of meat began. The fresh food also went to the reindeer herding dogs.

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

Venison with blood

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

I cleaned it a little, poured some blood into it and threw in pieces of meat. “I tied the stomach and put it under the moss so that it would be a little cold,” Ari answered.

What will you do with the meat?

The blood is a little salty, the stomach will smell. He'll lie down for a while and then we'll eat.

Are you saying it will lie down for a while? How much is this?

Two or three days,” Ari stated.

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 soaked in blood and the smell of the stomach and turned out very tasty.

This is how I became acquainted with one of the dishes of Nenets cuisine. This dish is highly valued among the natives of the North and is classified as a delicacy.

Baked meat

Once I read to Evenk Konstantin Ermolaevich Chapogir lines from V.K. Arsenyev’s story “Dersu Uzala”: “In the evening, Dersu fried goat meat in a special way. He dug a 40 cm hole in the ground along the sides of the cube and lit a large fire in it. When the walls of the pit warmed up enough, the heat was removed from the pit. After this, the goldfish took a piece of meat, wrapped it in pobel leaves and lowered it into the hole. He covered it on top with a flat stone, on which he again lit a large fire for an hour and a half. The meat prepared in this way was amazingly tasty. Not a single first-class restaurant could fry it so well. The outside of the goat meat was covered with a reddish-brown film, but inside it was juicy. From then on, at every opportunity, we fried meat in this way.”

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

They write correctly that the meat turns out delicious. What do you think, they only make meat like this in the Ussuri taiga? No. The Evenks can do this too. Let's go to Mikhail Oegir's brigade, take a good piece of meat from him and fry it in the same way.

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

Bear meat cutlets

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

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

Well, how about bear meat? - I asked.

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

I've never eaten. I see your menu is full of exotic dishes,” I said.

Closer to lunch we started preparing exotic cutlets. Yura brought two pieces of bear meat, Misha began to grind it in a meat grinder. I peeled two onions, which also went into the meat grinder. Yura added salt and ground black pepper to the minced meat, mixed thoroughly and formed cutlets, placing them on plywood sprinkled with flour.

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

Once it's exotic, it's exotic. Of course, with bear fat,” I said affirmatively.

Soon the cutlets were fried in a frying pan in boiling bear fat. Boiled pasta as a side dish. The cutlets turned out to have a pine nut flavor.

Wood grouse cutlets

In my absence, Yura and Misha successfully hunted for wood grouse on the sand spits in September. At first they made soup from wood grouse, then they began to eat it stewed, but they decided to treat me to cutlets from wood grouse. I have never encountered such an approach to this royal bird and have never seen such cutlets even on restaurant menus.

No sooner said than done. Yura brought two wood grouse into the house, butchered them using northern technology: he skinned the birds along with their feathers, gutted them, washed them, and cut off the flesh from the chest and other parts. I took the rest into the pantry. Misha passed the pulp and peeled onion through a meat grinder. The minced meat was prepared in the usual way - thoroughly mixed with salt and pepper. The cutlets were fried in a frying pan with vegetable oil. The smell was wonderful, it had the aroma of game and taiga. Boiled pasta was served as a side dish. They added butter for “taste”.

Hare cutlets

When I arrived at the base located on the shores of Lake Turuchedo, I was invariably greeted by the “commandant” - Boris Stepanovich Lobov. A fisherman, hunter, driver of any equipment, he was also a great cook. He could prepare a rare dish from the most ordinary ingredients.

In October, during my next stay on Turuchedo, Boris Stepanovich caught a couple of birds with one stone. Using practiced movements, he removed the skins from them, gutted them, put the flesh cut from the carcasses to soak in cold water, and took the rest into 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 I passed the cooked hare meat and two heads of onions through a meat grinder, added a piece of white bread soaked in water, salt and ground black pepper to the resulting minced meat, and mixed thoroughly.

From the resulting minced meat I formed cutlets, putting a piece of butter inside each. Melt the fat in a heated frying pan and fry the cutlets on both sides. As a side dish, Boris Stepanovich fried coarsely chopped potatoes (for some reason my mother called such fried potatoes “hazel grouse”). Hare cutlets gave me great pleasure, which I expressed to the author.

Moose lips

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

Now we’ll go with you for meat. I killed a large elk two days ago. He brought the liver and heart, and left everything else at the mining site. Covered it with skin. It was a healthy elk. I've never seen anything like this in our area before. It took almost a whole day to skin it and cut the carcass into pieces.

How far is it to go? - I asked.

No, fifteen kilometers.

Getting ready took about two hours. Finally, we went for elk meat. Our argish consisted of two passenger and four cargo sleds. Having arrived at the place, we began loading. The elk, indeed, turned out to be of impressive size: its head occupied the entire area of ​​one cargo sled; The forelimb with the shoulder blade was my height.

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

When our argish stopped at the camp, Seika said:

Let's put the elk's head in the tent. Tomorrow Ari will prepare food like you have never eaten before.

And so they did. The next day, Ari, Seika's first wife, removed the skin from the elk's head, separated the upper and lower lips, singed and scrubbed them for a long time until they became completely smooth, without a single hair. Then she washed it, put it in a cauldron, salted it, filled it with water and cooked it for more than two hours. About 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 cooled the boiled lips slightly, cut them into oblong pieces and fried them in reindeer fat in a frying pan with high edges until golden brown. While she was finishing preparing the dish, Seika's second wife, Lena, set the table, laid out bread, sugar, and placed cups for tea. Seika and I took our places at the table. Ari put the frying pan with food on the table. The food turned out to be excellent, with a specific taste.

This was my first time eating such an exotic dish. Very delicious. Thanks to the hunter and the mistress of the hearth,” I stated.

You don't have to fry your lips. We often just boil it and eat it hot or cold,” Seika said.

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. One day 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 established his base on the Taimur River, the left tributary of the Lower Tunguska.

While on a business trip in the Evenki Autonomous Okrug, I went to Roman’s fishing place, he was glad to see us. We had a strong feast with taiga snacks. Roman’s wife, my guide’s daughter, Lyuba Chapogir, was busy at the iron stove and table. The owner was interested in my life, asking where I had been in Evenkia. I was interested in the life of a taiga dweller, his observations of the behavior of animals and birds of the taiga. Before going to bed, Roman said:

So you constantly ask me about the bear, about its habits, incidents with it. 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 their paws.

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 without skin, but with claws. Roman removed the claws, singed and cleaned the paws for a long time, then divided them into two halves and gave them 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. I fried them for quite a long time, turning them over periodically. Lyuba put the fried pieces into a large bowl and served them on the table.

Some hunters eat bear paws with sauce. There is no store in the taiga, so we will eat it 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

Take 2-3 partridges. The feather is removed along with the skin, and the birds are gutted. The liver, heart, and stomach are separated. The latter is cut and cleaned. The carcasses are washed and soaked in cold water for 3-4 hours, changing the water every hour. The prepared internal organs are washed. After completing the steps, 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 and placed in a goose basket. Add salted liver, heart, stomachs, 3 bay leaves, 3 tablespoons of rendered pork fat to it. Add water and sour cream sauce. The latter is prepared like this: the flour is fried without oil, cooled, mixed with butter and placed in boiling sour cream, stirred, salted and peppered. Boil for 3 minutes, filter, add granulated sugar and lemon juice to taste, mix everything.

Place the goose meat in a preheated oven and simmer until done - 1.0-1.5 hours. The side dish is spaghetti with butter and herbs.

Partridge breast with mushrooms

Take 3-4 partridges. Separate the breasts, soak in cold water for 3-4 hours, changing the water every hour, stuff with small pieces of unsalted lard, rub with salt and ground black pepper. Fresh mushrooms (porcini, champignons) are cleaned, washed, cut into small pieces, placed in a container and seasoned with salt. Place three tablespoons of melted butter in the goose pan, fold the breasts, put mushrooms, finely chopped onions (one head), and three bay leaves on them. The contents of the goose bowl are poured with sour cream sauce and water is added. The goose pan is placed in a preheated oven. Simmer until done for 1.0-1.5 hours. If necessary, you can offer fried potatoes as a side dish.

Original animal

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

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

It didn't happen.

Well, today we’ll eat groundhog for dinner.

I didn’t feel much desire to eat the marmot, but I had to act like a 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 one. The hunter puts on light-colored clothes, a skin from a fox's head on his head, takes a small-caliber rifle in one hand, and a small stick in the other, with a white tail tied to the end (usually a yak tail). In such equipment, bending down to the ground, the hunter, dancing, moves through the marmot colony. Tarbagan, at the sight of such a spectacle, although he is indignant and even screams, remains in place, like a spellbound column, and the hunter hits him at close range. This type of hunting is very rewarding. You just need to take into account that the tarbagan is tough on the wound, so you need to shoot it exclusively at 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:

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

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

Kopalchem ​​and cadaveric poisons

But there is another type of increased tolerance to poisons - the so-called acquired tolerance. Just as regular exercise can build muscles, regular ingestion of small doses of poison can develop enzyme systems that can neutralize that poison. True, one should not specifically engage in such a matter, and such resistance is not possible for all poisons. Most often, the results of such “exercises” will be chronic intoxication, and with accumulative poisons, that is, cumulative action, even with death.

This story is about other poisons - about cadaveric ones. The name of this group is self-explanatory - cadaveric poisons are formed during the rotting of corpses. The best known are the trinity of 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 affect them at all. This is understandable - they are scavengers, corpse poisons are simply an integral “spice” to their food. It seems like we eat clean food; we don’t need enzyme systems that can neutralize ptoamines. But don’t rush to conclusions - human evolution is full of secrets and mysteries, and there is still a very big question about how clean the food of our distant and not so distant ancestors was. It turned out that humans still have a biological mechanism for such protection. But very peculiar.

The very beginning of the 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. This is at the very base of the Taimyr Peninsula. We flew on 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 an expert on the area, showing him the swamps, pointing out local landmarks and their names.

And then a serious breakdown occurred in the air - something happened to the hydraulics, which transmits movements from the pilot's handle to the propeller shaft. The handle went berserk, started hitting the pilot on the legs, there was no control, the helicopter fell. Fortunately, 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 squeal, and, scattering stunted vegetation, broke off on the permafrost. The blow was strong, but no one was particularly injured. Bruised and abrased, with broken noses and dizzy from a slight concussion, the people stared at each other in a daze.

The pilot was the first to come to his senses - the helicopter smelled unbearably of burnt wiring, and suddenly the familiar smell of aviation kerosene was mixed in with it. And then smoke poured into the inside. "Everyone out of the car!!!" - he yelled, throwing open the door. Everyone immediately assessed the situation and rushed outside. For a second there was a jam of bodies at the door, but a moment later a ball of people flew out of the helicopter like a cork from a bottle. And just in time - something quietly cracked inside, and tongues of flame appeared in the cabin, which in seconds engulfed the entire helicopter. The people, with their mouths open, 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 is burned out, there is no food, there is no warm clothing, there is no weapon, there is nothing! But it’s September “outside” - it’s lucky that there’s no snow, although it’s time. There has been a noticeable frost at night for a long time, and it is not hot during the day. All hope for the search party, in theory, should be enough in just a few hours. True, the search area is large...

The first night was spent near the helicopter - according to assumptions, such a landmark from the air would be most easily detected by rescuers. But no one arrived. No one arrived on the second day, and the third day was foggy - it looked like no one was flying. On the fourth day, a helicopter was heard somewhere in the distance, and weakened people ran there, but the military uniform against the backdrop of swamp hummocks was difficult to notice from the air, especially if so far away. The hope for a small fire, which was constantly burned at the scene of the accident, did not help either - the Taimyr bush could not provide a significant fire, and attempts to create smoke ended in nothing - the north wind dispersed it across the tundra already ten meters from the fire.

Over the entire period of time, they managed to kill a dozen lemmings and a dozen mice; in the charred remains of the helicopter they found pieces that replaced a frying pan and a saucepan. We constantly made a decoction of lingonberries and cloudberries, but mushrooms helped the most. Here's a miracle - there are practically no tree species, but even among the dwarf tundra vegetation there are forest mushrooms. And what tough giants! Probably still in August - now even during the day it’s around zero. Apparently, therefore, there is not a single worm in the fungi, they are all strong, as if selected. However, such happiness cannot last long - it will be sprinkled with the first snow, and death will come. Not even from hunger - from cold. After all, only Peresol 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 high boots, the rest had overalls and a field Pe-Sha. Outerwear burned in the helicopter. Although they let you warm up, offering you a quilted jacket and a kukhlyanka in turn, this doesn’t help much - there’s practically no sleep at night, and your strength is running low.

The next morning, with the first glance at the graying cold sky, hopelessness froze in everyone’s eyes - perhaps this is what snow looks like. And judging by the barely noticeable drifting snow that flowed between the swamp hummocks and sang in a thin voice in the thin branches of the polar willows, then this will not be just snowfall - it will be a blizzard. The kind of shelter that was cobbled together from the remaining helicopter skin could barely accommodate everyone, and even then sitting. This will not save you from a blizzard. The officers silently held hands - it seemed like they were in trouble together, let's be friends, together we will face the inevitable. Only Peresol did not share the general mood:

“Oh, how very stupid we all are! It would be better to act according to the behests of the old people... Why did you sit?! Who were you waiting for?! Today the wind will freeze the swamp - it will be difficult to find kopalchem! We should have walked around the swamp on the first day - we would definitely have found kopalhem! They would have found it long ago, they would have eaten a lot, they would have taken a lot with them! Every day they would have walked, they would have worn a kukhlyanka and a quilted jacket in turn, they would have eaten kopalchem, they would have already reached Kheta! I would have looked a little along the shore, and then led you are much closer - to the north to Zhdanikha or to the south to Khatanga. And then they would send a helicopter for us from your Crosses, where there is a lot of condensed milk, stewed meat and vodka. A lot of it! We would be saved and have fun. Otherwise we will die! "

The officers regarded the local reindeer herder's plan as a complete gamble - he proposed a route of more than one hundred kilometers. And this is walking across the tundra without food or clothing? Nonsense! Even if they had left on the first day, they would still not have made it halfway by this point. Either way, or otherwise, you 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 case, and much faster. However, what kind of kopalchem ​​was the Nenets talking about? What kind of animal is this?

“Ah-ah, kopalchem ​​is delicious, kopalchem ​​is fatty, kopalhem gives warmth, kopalhem gives strength, kopalhem gives life! The spirits protect Kopalhem, because in the swamp where kopalchem ​​lies, the Spirit of the Big Deer himself lives. And he is the most important one who helps to a person in the tundra! Other gods, if they don’t help you well, can be whipped, and generally thrown into the fire, but the Spirit of the Big Deer is not allowed! And you can’t stay here any longer - until the swamp has completely dried up, and the Spirit of the Big Deer has not gone to bed for the winter, We have to go get the kopalchem, otherwise we’ll all die!”

This explanation did not reveal the essence of the mythical kopalchem. Something tasty and fatty, which is connected with some kind of Big Deer Spirit and at the same time for some reason living in a swamp, where a normal deer would never be driven. It’s clear about other gods - the Nenets carve their figurines out of birch and keep them in their camps, like talismanic gods. If a talisman “does not work well”, in the sense of not bringing happiness, then this person is brought up using the carrot and stick method. First, they cajole him with deer blood, and if he has not “corrected himself,” they may flog him. If even after this there is no increase in luck, then they may angrily point their heads at a birch bark diaper full of crap, which replaces diapers and diapers for tightly swaddled Nenets babies. And 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 ritual dedicated to this spirit turned out to be very interesting. Periodically, a reindeer herd needs to change its leader. According to some local esoteric signs, they calculate when this must be done in a special way - the old important man must be sacrificed to the Spirit of the Big Deer. Such a deer is separated from the herd and given nothing to eat for a couple of days to completely cleanse the intestines. Then the ritual of making such a sacrifice is simple - the overthrown leader (it is imperative that he is fat and in good health) is thrown a rawhide lasso around his neck and dragged to the nearest swamp. There they crush him with this noose and leave him in the swamp. But they leave it cunningly - the deer must hide there completely, then this place is also covered with peat or sphagnum moss, and covered with branches and stones on top. They crush the deer with great care - it is impossible for its skin to be damaged anywhere, its carcass must be absolutely intact. The peat bog itself masks odors well, and therefore cases of desecration of kopalhem by a predatory animal are relatively rare. Near the kopalhem, on the nearest hummock, a stake is driven in, always made of larch, so as not to rot. The stake is decorated with bunches of grass and moss, and often with some bright rag. In Soviet times, for example, pioneer ties or pennants for the “Best Reindeer Herder” were especially popular.

So, this deer carcass can lie like this for centuries. Actually, from the standpoint of thanatology, the branch of forensic medicine that studies cadaveric changes, there is nothing special here. After all, even in central Russia, bodies of innocently murdered merchants from the Middle Ages were found in peat bogs. Moreover, at the same time they called the police - it seemed like a recent murder, the body and the chopped wound on the head were so well preserved! And even Stone Age people were found in the swamps of Ireland. In the tundra, conditions are both worse and better. Because of the permafrost, the water there is always cold - a definite plus. At the same time, cold water does not allow marsh vegetation to develop rapidly. It also does not allow those meager plant remains that actually create peat to rot. Therefore, the water there is poor in humic acids, organic compounds such as the well-known succinic acid, which are a tanning agent and a preservative harmful to bacteria. Relatively clean water is the main disadvantage. There is still corpse rot there. Slowly, over decades, but it’s coming. 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 sacred things can easily be eaten! Straight up in a rotten, damp, smelly form. Even complete rotten meat does not lose its calorie content. They eat this not only when in need or due to force majeure, but also 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 - these are excellent canned goods for a rainy day, not to mention life-saving help for those who are lost in the tundra. After all, their main value is that they are, as it were, the gifts of their ancestors, forgotten and scattered across the northern land. It was precisely such a carcass that Savely Peresol undertook to find.

The officers really liked the idea of ​​getting hold of the meat - they didn’t even want to think about the fact that it was rotten meat. If you’re dying, you’ll eat something like that, but what about the smell... peculiar... You can pinch your nose with your fingers! In short, Peresol, put on your kukhlyanka, grab a knife and run for canned food of national Nenets cuisine. You can’t go anywhere from here anyway - 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 as to whether Peresol would return, whether he had gone to Kheta alone, his stocky figure slowly appeared from behind a hill against the backdrop of a bright orange sky as a black silhouette. The officers joyfully ran to meet him. Here he comes, laden, smiling, with a healthy deer leg hanging behind his back. Saveliy cut belts from deer skin and hooked the meat onto his back, like a backpack. Wow! Today we feast.

The meat, as such, is already barely distinguishable - instead of it there is some kind of grayish and foul-smelling mass. But the fat is okay - visible. Dirty gray and soapy to the touch, in your mouth it stuck to the roof of your mouth, somewhat reminiscent of soft paraffin, only cold. The dirty gray layer immediately under the skin also came 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 kopalchem ​​was most like terribly rancid unsalted lard. When we tried to fry the kopalchem ​​over a fire or at least heat it in a frying pan, it turned out even worse - the stench became such that it was definitely impossible to take a piece into your mouth. Viscous fat dripped from it, which burned with a dark, stinking flame, like rubber. Yes, such a “delicacy” is best swallowed cold, although according to the Nenets, the most delicious kopalchem ​​is generally frozen, then it is cut into thin slices that are rolled under a knife into gray tubes. The resulting stroganin is dipped in salt and eaten along with the fresh, raw lungs of a freshly slaughtered deer.

Those who served in the north often had to deal with the local tradition of raw food diet. From reindeer tripe - a national Nenets delicacy - the most courageous of the officers sometimes tried raw liver, but they liked to lightly fry the meat in a frying pan. It remained almost raw inside, only slightly whitening on the outside. Cut into small cubes, it was called "pasteurized venison." Almost everyone there has tried it. Therefore, they treated the stinking kopalchem ​​with confidence. They cut it into pieces and washed it down with lingonberry broth, without chewing they swallowed it to their fill.

By nightfall, bad weather broke out. The first snow came with gusts of wind. Now he has to stay until the end of May. However, surprisingly the night with snow was not so cold. The clouds acted like a blanket, retaining the earth's last warmth. People crowded into the shelter, and a makeshift “potbelly stove” was set on fire there. And by morning everything calmed down, the air became transparent, the sky was clear. The whitened tundra seemed to be wearing a wedding dress. Or a shroud... The northern lights scattered across the sky like a veil to the outfit. Wow, how cool! Here green flashes stretched out like stratosphic rain. Here in some places they turned pink, unfolded as a raised curtain of the divine theater. The luminous folds began to take on a violet tint, and underneath them there was again a green fringe... A decent frost hit. It’s cold, of course, but you can tolerate it on a full stomach. Not fatal.

It turned out to be fatal. Not from the cold - from copalchem. Some began to experience pain in the liver area, some began to vomit, in the end they all began to hallucinate, and by the morning they lost consciousness. However, Savely Peresol remained in perfect health, he did not develop any symptoms, even though he ate the most! All night he tried to somehow help the officers, but to no avail. Already when it fully blossomed, the pilot’s breathing stopped, but the body of the elder released Duzin’s soul into the land of his ancestors. By lunchtime the mechanic died. Two topographers were still alive, but in a severe coma.

Savely did not understand why this was so. Having long forgotten the subtleties 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 on the polar nights. It’s quiet in the tent, only the firewood crackles under the kettle, and the grandfather still doesn’t go to bed - it’s the first snow, after all, we need to remember the Spirit of the Big Deer. The same night as now. Did Saveliy somehow offend the tundra? Eh, damned vodka! It would be better if he listened to his grandfather and taught the spells properly... Pulling a footcloth over their saucepan, Peresol began beating it like a tambourine, trying to speak from the death of those remaining. Then he jumped around the helicopter and shouted with all his might in Nenets those fragments of magical phrases that surfaced in his memory. He tried to awaken the spirits, called on his grandfather to come, and, as in childhood, to ward off trouble.

And apparently he woke you up! At a low altitude, from the side of the swamp where he himself had gone out last night, a giant green dragonfly with red stars on its sides suddenly jumped out from behind a hill. From above, against the snow-white background of the tundra, the smoky skeleton of the helicopter stood out especially clearly. A funny little booth with smoke coming from it, three lifeless bodies in front of it, and a dancing figure of some local with an incomprehensible round “drum” flashed in front of the astonished pilots. Whirling with its propeller, the helicopter made a sharp turn, turned around, hovered for a minute over its burnt-out brother, and then jumped to the side and, driving the snow in all directions, began to descend. That's it, the Spirit of the Big Deer proved that he is the boss in the tundra - he brought in a helicopter! And all it took was finding copalchem...

The evacuation was carried out directly north, to Zhdanikha. All the same, there would not be enough fuel to get to Kresty or even to Khatanga. But in Zhdanikha there was only a paramedic, a civilian, it’s true, but who cares. The doctor is already in Kresty. While we have to refuel the helicopter, then how many more hours will we fly... We decided not to risk it - we contacted him on the radio. “Absentia” diagnoses are a difficult and dangerous matter, but what to do? In addition, it is absolutely not clear why the local man, without any abnormalities, is not frostbitten or even coughing, and why the two military men are unconscious. Thank you, the same local explained - it was too little to eat, due to hunger we gorged ourselves on rotten reindeer meat. Then the recommendations are simple - intravenously drip more fluid, force diuresis with medication, give glucose and vitamins to protect the liver, if necessary, inject drugs that support breathing and heart function. It is clear that all this is in milligrams, milliliters, percentages...

One of the topographers died during the night. The condition of the last military man, a senior lieutenant, remained “stable-critical.” This means that he can die at any moment, but something doesn’t die for a long time. A day later, the crisis seemed to be over. Breathing became deeper and normal blood pressure returned. The coma quietly turned into sleep. And here comes the awakening. It was the surviving senior lieutenant who told everyone about the taste of kopalchem. 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 there are already two investigators - one civilian, the other a military justice officer. And as you understand, these investigators opened a criminal case against citizen Savely Peresol for the murder of four servicemen by poisoning. As the investigation progressed, the article for murder was changed to “unintentional murder”, then “for accidental murder by negligence”.

What other caution could there be when ingesting a local food surrogate, called “kopalchem” in Nenets? Not a single toxicologist professor knew about such caution at that time. Frozen pieces of copalchem ​​were delivered to Moscow, to the Central Forensic Laboratory of the Moscow Region. Nenets Peresol was also dragged around military institutions - he was at the Institute of Military Medicine on Rzhevka, and visited various other toxicological laboratories. The military was interested in only one thing - how is the system in his body to counteract and neutralize ptoamines? Very interesting, maybe the Nenets are so resistant to other poisons? It turned out not. Only they are not sensitive to corpse poisons. But nothing was found in him other than increased activity of a special protein called cytochrome Pe-450. By the way, for science, poor Peresol even voluntarily agreed to a liver biopsy. This is when a thick, hollow needle with sharp edges is used to cut out a dead column of tissue from the liver.

Maybe because of this scientific value, Savely was only given a conditional sentence. 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, the “methanol” one. There, at least they were poisoned with stolen socialist, and therefore public, property. What's here? Gifts from the ancestors. Although it is also the common property of the Nenets people, it is not theft!

The Russian Chukchi have an analogue to the Nenets kopalchem ​​- they preserved walrus meat in a similar way. Far Eastern peoples, before the arrival of the white man with his table salt, used to not salt red fish - they would smoke it a little, dry it a little, but in general they stored it using the “bear method” and ate it quite rotten. During the season, American Eskimos climb onto 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 them into leather bags, 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 bones and feathers do not count - these remain, so you still have to spit. According to the FDA, the caloric content of such food is higher than that of bacon! By the way, trade in this “food” is strictly prohibited throughout the United States, including Alaska, and production is strictly limited to the reservations of northern “native Americans.” The funniest thing about this law is - who, besides the Eskimos themselves, will buy this? Even more wonderful are the “canned food” of the “native canadiens” - the Canadian Inuit. These manage to “rot” an entire whale!

However, the individual history of such tolerance to cadaveric poisons in each representative of the northern peoples is easily traced. And it begins from birth itself. To prevent a newborn from crying, instead of a pacifier, he is given a piece of raw meat on a string to suck on. They will tie it down so that you don’t swallow it in your mouth. And they change this “pacifier” when the meat, how shall I put it... begins to smell. Then, instead of porridge, they will give you reindeer blood to drink. Then they’ll pamper you with a slice of copalchem. So tolerance to ptoamines gradually develops.

Well, the last thing that any forensic expert who worked with exhumed remains knows. 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’ve seen this, but I haven’t had to do 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...