# Best fish roe to make caviar

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fish-roe-to-make-caviar/745030>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 3, 2016, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fish-roe-to-make-caviar/745030 "2016-02-03T05:23:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fish-roe-to-make-caviar/745030/1 "2016-02-03T05:23:46Z")

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…besides sturgeon and other protected/endangered fish. We’re tropical here and my choices are limited to: Japanese carp, eel, tuna, various members of the mackerel family, tilapia, milkfish (fam Chanidae, awa in hawaiin.)

Anything?

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fish-roe-to-make-caviar/745030/2 "2016-02-03T10:48:06Z")

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Salmon, trout or, if you really want to be classy - [snail caviar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snail_caviar).

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fish-roe-to-make-caviar/745030/3 "2016-02-03T10:55:36Z")

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Salmon and trout aren’t tropical, but have been introduced all over the place.  
Snails are worldwide.

Or you could make fake caviar with [spherification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherification)

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**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fish-roe-to-make-caviar/745030/4 "2016-02-03T13:10:21Z")

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> [@MrDibble](#):
>
> Or you could make fake caviar with [spherification](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherification)

A chef friend of mine has used this technique for food-beer pairings. He’s also used liquid nitrogen to prepare some foods, and served an amazing faux foie gras.

Science + cooking = yumm.

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**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fish-roe-to-make-caviar/745030/5 "2016-02-03T14:09:10Z")

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> [@kayaker](#):
>
> A chef friend of mine has used this technique for food-beer pairings.

I’ve done it myself - Cointreau spheres piled atop chocolate tartlets, for instance, or balsamic spheres (with basil jelly noodles and [mozzarella balloons](http://www.molecularrecipes.com/fun/mozzarella-balloons-recipe/) as part of a deconstructed caprese salad).

But I think to do faux caviar, you’ll want something slightly sea-tasting and very salty for the caviar, like fish stock or maybe miso & seaweed soup.

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**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2016, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-fish-roe-to-make-caviar/745030/6 "2016-02-03T19:18:03Z")

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I love the flying fish roe that you get in sushi bars: tobiko. It has a nice snappy bite, it’s salty and fishy and delicious.

I one had real sturgeon caviar, quite pricey, and I didn’t like it as much as tobiko. That’s good, because tobiko is much cheaper.