The story begins in 1978, in the Swiss Alps. Hans Gerd Kübel develops an artisanal approach to smoking salmon, drawn directly from the tradition of the Russian imperial court. Far from symbolic, this lineage shapes the very structure of the Balik method. Carried by more than 300 years of inherited experience, it gives the house its identity.
The smoking of Balik salmon relies on a rare wood from the Swiss mountains. This wood, dried for several years and found nowhere else, is one of the house's singularities. Slow and precise, the smoking takes place at low temperature, in the manufacture's emblematic kiln. The different steps are carried out by hand, with care and exacting standards.
Native to Norway, the Salmo salar is specially selected for its quality. It is this very quality that yields the Balik signature: an ultra-melting, almost silken texture, and a balance in which the smoke keeps its delicacy without ever masking the flesh.
Today, Balik is regarded as one of the finest smoked salmons in the world. Human in scale, the manufacture remains forever devoted to the authenticity of the gestures that make the quality of its products. From the Classic Side to the Tsar Nikolaj, by way of the Gravlax and the Sashimi Style, every piece bears the same mark: that of the excellence of a Swiss craft drawing its source from an age-old Russian tradition.
