STourists have always been drawn to the white and blue painted thatched roof inns in the Danube Delta. When the sun rises from the mist over the water in the morning and the jackals can still be heard, holidaymakers get up to take the boats on the narrow canals lined with reeds and water lily flowers. The already active anglers check the fishing nets that were laid out the night before. Nature, awakening to a new day, never ceases to amaze with its vegetation and rich fauna. Pelicans will group in circles around schools of fish to herd them onto shore where they can more easily catch them.
Located in the north of the Dobrogea region, the Danube Delta forms the Biosphere Reserve between the three arms through which it flows into the Black Sea – Chilia, Sulina and Sfântu Gheorghe. It is an attraction all year round, but especially in the summer when even cruise ships arrive. However, it is better to explore the Danube Delta in small boats in order to admire the landscape up close – and then taste the local fish specialties.
The locals rely primarily on local products in their cuisine and preserve the fish by smoking or salting it. Later the fish can then be desalted to make malasolka, which in Slavic means “a little salt”. “Smoky and dry mackerel or flatfish with boiled potatoes and garlic sauce are the best trio for this,” says Lipovan Alexandra Butîlchin. Raised in Tulcea, Romania, she then moved to the village of Mila 23, where she and her fisherman husband, Mihai, set up a guest house. Here Alexandra spoils her visitors with traditional dishes with fish caught daily by her husband.
Sturgeon soup from Sfântu Gheorghe
Other delicacies from the region are carp roe salad with sunflower oil and onions, but also pike salad with lemon juice. They are even protected by EU law as a local tradition of a demarcated geographical area. The popular sturgeon soup, also called starceak (“little sturgeon”), with boiled vegetables and drizzled with grated tomatoes or tomato juice, is a dish from the Romanian village of Sfântu Gheorghe in the Danube Delta. The sour taste is achieved by the whey that remains after separating the butter from the sour cream. Pepperoni or garlic mayonnaise, also known as sarmusak, are served with it. This name derives from the Turkish term for garlic: sarimsak.
In the early centuries, when the sturgeon population was very large in the Danube Delta, caviar could be consumed at will. Sturgeons have traditionally migrated from the Black Sea to the Danube to spawn. However, in the second half of the 20th century, the Iron Gate hydroelectric power station was built, which interrupted their migration route. The sturgeon population continued to decline due to overfishing. The sturgeon is now a protected species in the Danube Delta. What is consumed today is obtained from breeders. A well-known aquaculture farm, which supplies fish for restaurants and ensures the colonization of the Danube waters with juvenile fish, is located in the village of Horia, Tulcea County.
Because the price of the sturgeon soup is quite high under these conditions, catfish is often used instead, although this variant does not taste like the original recipe. Instead, we recommend the traditional fish soup from the Danube Delta. According to Radu Manolache, chef from the fishing village of Yurilovka, it is the region’s most popular dish. “The fish soup can be made with at least six to seven types of fish and contains a small amount of vegetables because there isn’t much land for plantations in the Danube Delta,” says Manolache. The selection of fish species is all the more varied: “For this recipe, fish species such as bream, roach, crucian carp, pike, catfish, carp and flax are used,” explains the chef. After cooking, the fish is served separately with diced potatoes, and the vegetable soup is served with garlic sauce and pepperoni.
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