Caviar

Ingredients

Roe

• 1.1 kgfresh sturgeon roe in the sacs, from a farmed sturgeon: osetra, sevruga or beluga
• 35–50 gfine additive-free salt per kg of roe (3.5–5%)

Equipment

• a coarse mesh screen for sieving
• a fine draining screen
• tins with press-fit lids, or small glass jars

To serve

• a mother-of-pearl, bone or horn spoon, never metal
• blini and smetana, chopped chives, or nothing at all
• chilled vodka or brut champagne

Directions

1. Take the roe from a chilled sturgeon within minutes of slaughter. Warmth is the enemy at every stage; work at 4°C (40°F) or below throughout.
2. Rub the sacs gently over a coarse mesh screen so the eggs drop through and the connective membrane stays behind. Use a light hand: broken eggs cloud the whole batch.
3. Rinse the eggs briefly in very cold water, then drain them thoroughly on a fine screen for 10–15 minutes. Wet eggs will not take salt evenly.
4. Weigh the drained roe and fold in the salt: 3.5% for malossol, which means lightly salted and is the premium grade, or up to 5% for a saltier product that keeps longer.
5. Turn the eggs gently by hand for 2–3 minutes, until the salt has dissolved and the eggs firm up and begin to look glossy. Judging this moment by eye and feel is the one genuinely skilled step in the process.
6. Drain again on the screen for 10–20 minutes to shed the brine the salt has drawn out of the eggs.
7. Pack tightly into tins, pressing out every air pocket, and close them under slight pressure so there is no headspace at all.
8. Mature at -2 to -3°C (27°F) for one to three months, turning the tins occasionally. The eggs relax and the flavour rounds from raw and metallic to nutty and buttery.
9. Serve at 4–8C straight from the tin set on crushed ice, 15–30 g a head, with a non-metallic spoon. Let the eggs burst against the palate rather than chewing them.

Technique

• Food safety: at 3.5% salt, malossol is lightly preserved and not shelf-stable. Hold it at -2 to 0°C (30°F), never freeze it solid, and eat it within a few days of opening the tin. Pasteurised caviar keeps far longer but loses the fragile pop.
• All sturgeon species are CITES-listed and wild Caspian caviar has been effectively banned from international trade since 2006. Anything legal you buy today is farmed, mostly in China, Italy, France or Israel. Do not buy roe of uncertain origin.
• Metal spoons genuinely make caviar taste metallic. The eggs are delicate and oxidise on contact with silver and steel; this is measurable, not snobbery.
• In Russia caviar is not a garnish. It is spooned onto buttered blini with smetana, or eaten from the tin with a shot of vodka, and it is a New Year and Maslenitsa food.

Substitutions

• Sturgeon roe cannot really be substituted, but salmon roe (krasnaya ikra) cured in an 8–10% brine for 10–15 minutes is the Russian everyday caviar, and it is what most blini actually carry.
• Trout and whitefish roe follow the same method and take slightly less salt.
• Pasteurised jarred caviar is the practical choice for keeping; expect a firmer egg and a muted finish.

Variations

• Malossol, salted at 3.5%, chilled and matured, the premium grade.
• Payusnaya ikra, pressed caviar, salted, drained and pressed into a dense jam-like block, the connoisseur’s choice in old Russia.
• Pasteurised caviar in jars, heat-treated for a long shelf life.

History

Volga and Caspian sturgeon supplied the tsars’ tables; overfishing led to a ban on wild caviar exports, and farmed sturgeon now dominates.

Frequently asked questions

What is Caviar?

Caviar is a charcuterie & cured from Russia: salted sturgeon roe eaten on blini with sour cream. Volga and Caspian sturgeon supplied the tsars’ tables; overfishing led to a ban on wild caviar exports, and farmed sturgeon now dominates.

How long does Caviar take to make?

Caviar takes 40 min of preparation and 1–3 months maturing at -2°C (28°F) of cooking. The recipe makes about 1 kg of finished malossol caviar from 1.1 kg of roe. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Caviar?

Yes, within limits. Sturgeon roe cannot really be substituted, but salmon roe (krasnaya ikra) cured in an 8–10% brine for 10–15 minutes is the Russian everyday caviar, and it is what most blini actually carry. Trout and whitefish roe follow the same method and take slightly less salt. Pasteurised jarred caviar is the practical choice for keeping; expect a firmer egg and a muted finish.

What is the most important thing to get right in Caviar?

Rub the sacs gently over a coarse mesh screen so the eggs drop through and the connective membrane stays behind. Use a light hand: broken eggs cloud the whole batch.