The Russian Tsar’s Secret Recipe Behind Swiss Balik Salmon

30th Anniversary of “Balik-Räucherei im Toggenburg AG”

After 1918, following the death of the tsar family, this culinary delight sank into oblivion. But 30 years ago, the secret recipe was rediscovered, and today the world’s most noble smoked salmon comes from the Toggenburg. In the Balik smoked salmon manufactory high up in Ebersol, a small village nestled snugly in the midst of an unspoilt hilly landscape, the “King of Fish” is smoked by hand and exported to countries around the world. Numerous royal families in Europe – from Denmark to England and Spain – are regular and loyal clients. Today, Balik is synonymous with the tradi-tional salmon smoking method as practised at the court of the Russian tsars. The manufactory smokes and refines selected salmon cuts according to the secret recipe of the last purveyor of the imperial court. The recipe was entrusted to Hans Gerd Kübel in 1978 by Israel Kaplan, the grandson of the purveyor to the imperial court.

In the 19th century, in Russia’s cultural heyday, repasts at the tsar’s court were more sumptuous than commonly known in France. St. Petersburg was the cul-tural centre of Europe long before Paris. Thus, it was the Russian ambassador who in 1840 introduced the sequence of menu courses in Paris that we still know today. In 1918, after the death of the last Russian tsarist family, the ancient tradition of smoking the most noble cut of the salmon – the back fillet called “balik” – sank into oblivion.
The success story of the Balik company started in 1978, 60 years after the ex-tinction of the Romanov dynasty. It was then that Hans Gerd Kübel, a stage actor and stage director at the Zurich Municipal Theatre, bought a 300-year-old farmhouse in Ebersol in hilly Toggenburg, which he rehabilitated. On one of his theatre trips, he had a fateful meeting in Berlin: Hans Gerd Kübel got to know Israel Kaplan, a Russian from Riga who was the grandson of the last smokery master. Kaplan initiated Kübel into the world of smoking salmon and finally unveiled the secret of the smoking method of the imperial court. Balik has remained the sole custodian of this secret formula to this day.
 

From the Toggenburg to Hong Kong, Dubai and London
Until 1993, when Balik was entrusted to Caviar House (now Caviar House & Prunier), only a selected circle of Balik friends beside insiders could buy the noble salmon. “One day, a gentleman entered my office with a salmon under his arm,” remembers Peter G. Rebeiz, CEO and President of the caviar empire “Caviar House & Prunier”. The two understood each other immediately, since they shared the same passion – art and culture. They decided to team up. In the following years, Rebeiz transformed Balik into a successful international luxury brand in the gourmet scene. Today, Balik salmon is available all over the world.

A delicacy standing out in a time of abundance
The salmon from the Norwegian fjords is transported over the Ricken pass to Ebersol. Up here, at an altitude of 920 metres above sea level, against the magnificent backdrop of the Alps, the freshly caught salmon is checked a sec-ond time for its quality, processed by hand and smoked. “Our salmon is pro-duced in Switzerland, a country without any fishing tradition, and in a location in the hilly Toggenburg region which actually does not make much business sense,” says Peter G. Rebeiz. “You therefore might be tempted to smoke the salmon in Norway or Scotland. But no other place allows the salmon to achieve such a consummate taste as the Toggenburg,” he says proudly. Ultimately, this is not surprising, for the crisp alpine air, the company’s own spring water, the quality of the firewood and the meticulous craftsmanship of the staff are the secrets behind Balik salmon. A complete refrigerating chain guarantees its freshness when delivered to clients, which is ensured also in postal consignments thanks to a purpose-developed packaging. In Switzerland, Balik clients receive the salmon they have ordered the very next day. “Balik is a genuine manufactory. Its only two pieces of mechanical equipment are the scales and the vacuuming unit,” says Peter G. Rebeiz.

The culture of Balik
The Balik Farm boasts a high-tech recording studio. Many well-known Swiss singers and international stars have recorded their CDs here. Peter G. Rebeiz: “Every year, we offer the winners of the talent competition of the Montreux Jazz Festival the opportunity to record their first professional CDs during one week here in the Toggenburg. Balik thus selectively helps young talents to achieve their international breakthrough.” The Balik Farm also has guest rooms and event rooms that can rent for exclusive representation purposes, customer events and continuing education courses. Businesses which use the Balik facilities appreciate the tranquillity they find there. This is where the brightest ideas are born.
The smokery “Balik Räucherei im Toggenburg AG” is at once the manufactory which arguably produces the world’s most famous smoked salmon and a cordial host. The company thus continues a tradition which Hans Gerd Kübel carefully kept alive, combining culinary and artistic passion. Peter G. Rebeiz says: “Balik salmon is something for very special moments, which you should share with friends. That is true luxury today.”

For more information, please contact
Balik Räucherei im Toggenburg AG

Event- & PR-Manager
Im Moos
CH-9122 Ebersol-Mogelsberg, Switzerland
T: 071 375 60 60
F: 071 375 60 75
mirjam.belz@balik.ch
www.balik.ch