Caviar on my mind

New Year’s Eve makes me think of sparkling celebrations with champagne and caviar. Not that we had either one when I was growing up in Chicago. Mom and Dad saw the new year in with oyster stew. Mom was a terrific cook, and I don’t have many negative food memories from my childhood, but oyster stew probably tops the list. Those gray things floating in milk? As an adult, I Iove oysters, often order them fried or Rockefeller, am a bit afraid of raw though I consider them a treat. Truth is, I have little reason to associate champagne and caviar with the New Year celebration.

But I am intrigued by caviar, and lately I’ve been reading a bit about it. We’re talking about two things here: caviar and roe. True caviar is the unfertilized eggs from a sturgeon fish—not just any fish, but a sturgeon. The most common types of caviar are:  Beluga, Ossetra, Sterlet, White Sturgeon, Amur Sturgeon, Kaluga, Hackleback, and Sevruga. I would venture that few among us have eaten pure caviar. To say it’s pricey is an understatement.

Most grocery stores offer small portions of caviar—only it is not real caviar but roe. Roe is the unfertilized eggs of any fish except sturgeon. Trout roe is common (and bright red). Lumpfish is one of the most inexpensive roe offerings. What’s confusing is that roe is usually labeled with the fish of origin and the word caviar. So at my upscale market, you can get about an ounce and a half of Ossetra caviar (enough for two people) for $200, but you can get two ounces of black lumpfish caviar for $10 and the same amount of red salmon caviar for $20. People who dine on caviar frequently and have large budgets can probably discern a distinct difference. My palate is not anywhere near that sophisticated.

Because the sturgeon population was decimated in recent years, caviar today is mostly farmed—raised in tanks or other enclosures and fed pellets of special food. Some, particularly roe, is wild-caught, or some may come from fish raised in a hatchery until they are strong enough to survive and then released into the wild. There are subtle differences in taste, probably too subtle for my palate.

Some people are put off by caviar—it has a snobbish association (even the inexpensive varieties), it is often strong in flavor, and many (some of my family) don’t like the idea of fish eggs. I happen to like seafood and strong flavors, and I enjoy caviar, even the kind I can afford.

Experts advise buying caviar in a tin, though it often comes in a small glass jar. Either way, it should be kept very cold until used, and once opened must be eaten within 24 hours.

So what do you do with it? The simplest way to serve is to put a dab of sour cream on a sturdy potato chip and top with a smaller dab of roe—bright red salmon is nice. It is often served on blini (tiny Russian pancakes), again with sour cream. A dab of caviar will brighten scrambled or hard-boiled eggs or even a lemony capellini. The New York Times has a recipe online for a caviar sandwich and another for a sour cream dip topped with caviar and served with potato chips. A classic caviar plate has caviar in a small bowl, set in ice, and surrounded by small bowls of chopped hard-boiled egg, diced red onion, sour cream or crème fraiche, lemon wedges, and thin-sliced good white bread.

When I used to do large Christmas parties, my favorite caviar spread was the hit of the buffet table. I am sure I used lumpfish caviar (roe).

Caviar spread

2 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

1 3-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened (it is no longer sold in that size pkg. so just guess)

1 c. mayonnaise

1 small onion, grated

 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Dash of hot sauce

1 4-oz. jar black caviar

3-4 hard-cooked eggs, finely chopped

Chopped parsley

Mix first seven ingredients with electric mixer until smooth. Spoon into shallow serving dish. Top with caviar, eggs, and parsley. Serve with small pumpernickel breads.

Note that if you search caviar recipes online, you will be deluged with recipes for Texas or cowboy caviar. That’s a whole different thing, with an interesting story behind it. Watch for that in this blog next week.