With New Year’s Eve coming, I got started thinking about fancy foods. Fancy like caviar, which I saw on the menu at the Red Square restautant in the Mandalay Bay Casino starting at $80 an ounce. Then I wondered how does one eat properly eat it? The menus said it was served with the traditional accomaniments, but what are they? I did not have a spare 80 to find out.
Also, what’s the difference between the little jars you can by for a few bucks at the grocery store and the “good stuff” that goes for 300 bucks an ounce? Can one really be 50 times better?
I really like both flying fish eggs and salmon roe sushi. How do I step up to the queen of fish ova and not go broke?
Last year I was at party where caviar was served. I asked a friend how I was going to eat it. You get “toast points” which is a piece of toast cut into a triangle, basically. You spoon out some caviar and smoosh it on the toast. Then you eat it. The caviar that I had was “salmon caviar,” large bright orange eggs. Real caviar eggs are tiny and black, as my friend explained when he saw the spread. I then asked him if I was, in fact, eating bait. I was.
Caviar is usually served on:
-Toast, usually buttered
-eggs, hardboiled or sometimes deviled (eggs on eggs, mmm)
-blini (small buckwheat pancakes) with sour cream, if you’re Russian
Basically, alongside something very fatty with a smooth mouthfeel.
I’ve never had very very good caviar, but its something of an aquired taste. If you don’t like the type of fish eggs that are common to sushi (the big orange ones and the little orange ones), you probably wouldn’t like caviar, in general.
High quality caviar, that is sturgeon roe, properly prepared, is truly sensational…
Unfortunately, there’s a lot of low quality stuff out there at a high price.
And the other fish roe products just don’t taste the same.
Buttered toast points are good, a little hard boiled egg is good, but really the flavors shouldn’t be overly complex, as they’ll detract from the caviar.
It’s been years since I had the decent stuff. It’s very nice, but not worth it to me to shell out the big bucks.
If the sturgeon ever returns to Lake Michigan, perhaps I’ll re-acquaint myself with it.
While the best caviar is probably sturgeon, and while there are high-priced low-quality caviars, as Qadgop comments, there are lower priced and nice tasting caviars. For instance, we had trout caviar the other week; the roe is larger sized, like the salmon roe you say you like (ikura in your local sushi restaurant) but still very tasty.
We served on small pancakes made with creamed corn, 'twas fantastic. Generally, however, I’ve had various caviars on small pieces toast as described above – cut up a piece of a nice bread into little triangles, squares, or circles with a cookie cutter (say, two inch diameter) and lightly toast.
My suggestion: Get some advice from someone in your local high-quality grocery store who knows about their products.
Thanks all, it’s great to be able to count on the dope.
The nice folks at Balducci’s hooked me up with some paddlefish roe, which they said was a good starter, and the little blini pancakes and crème fraiche. I’ll use a plastic spoon as a compromise. They did not have the trout, or I would have tried it. So, I’ll be starting my new year off with fish eggs and not black-eyed peas.
The most common brand I see in supermarkets is (IIRC) Romanov. Pretty nasty, if you ask me; but okay (with a bit of sour cream) as a garnish for eggs or omelettes.
I don’t butter my toast points.
I usually get caviar from Trader Joe’s. They don’t have it all the time. When they do they often have two or three different kinds. I like the salmon caviar (about $7). They also have the little black ones for about $10/oz. I’ve also tried the $17/oz. they carry sometimes. It’s good, but I like the other kind better. One of these days I’m going to splurge and get ‘the good stuff’ just to see what it’s like.
Hey, just for curiosity: I assume the roe is ripped from the killed fish, and so would not be acceptable for a vegetarian. Is this correct? … or might they harvest the roe after it’s laid? (I’m probably fantasizing, but … )
You know the scene in Big where Tom Hanks wipes his tongue off after eating caviar? That was me, first and only time I ate it - and it was the expensive stuff, too. Just sayin’, don’t be disappointed if it sucks…