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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
In Bessarabia, fish soup is not served as a single dish. The fish is served separately, the broth separately, and between them sits a small bowl without which the whole thing makes no sense.
It's called salamur. It's a garlic sauce made with the very fish broth, and the fish is dipped into it.
The logic here is fisherman's. When they make soup from several kinds of fish over a live fire, the broth becomes rich, while the fish itself gives its flavor to the water and turns bland. Salamur takes away that blandness.
It is made in three minutes, but there are two mistakes that turn it into something disgusting.
We recommend using garlic that is crushed, not chopped. A few cloves and a good pinch of salt in a mortar, and grind until it becomes a uniform paste. The salt acts as an abrasive here; it’s what makes the garlic release its juice.
The first mistake: pouring boiling water. Garlic instantly becomes sweet and smells boiled when exposed to boiling water. The broth should be hot but not boiling, around seventy degrees Celsius.
The second mistake: adding too much. Salamur is not a soup. For five cloves of garlic use half a glass of broth, no more. The sauce should be thickish and sharp.
Add hot red pepper, a little black pepper, and let it sit for five minutes.
Some add a spoon of oil, others a spoon of vinegar, and both options are legitimate in Bessarabia.
Serve it like this. In a deep bowl the broth, separately on a board or plate the boiled fish, and salamur between them. You take the fish with your hands or a fork, dip it in the salamur, and wash it down with the broth.
The bread must be black and must be stale.
A sauce that has only three ingredients decides the fate of a ten-point dish.
💛Enjoy.
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