What is Bombay Duck?

Bombay Duck is not a Duck. 'Duck' is a slang for Hindi word 'Dak'. Dak in Hindi stands for mail.

Bombay duck is a small fish normally called as Bumla found near the piers of Bombay. The fish is scaled, cleaned, filleted as strips, salted and dried. After it is dried, it has very strong and distinct fishy odor. In an air tight jar, it can be stored indefinitely.

British could not say Bumla, so they called it Bombay Dak, referring to the smell of the Bombay Mail. The fish was not transported by train. The mail was transported by train, the mail would gather fishy smell from the area where the mail was loaded.

In Canada, fresh Bombay duck is available at many Indian Stores.

The fresh fish is used a 'fish fry'.