Caviar has always had a hold on me. It is a mysterious ingredient, almost otherworldy; the individual eggs look like jewels from an alien planet. Caviar tastes briny and vaguely floral, and the textural surprise of the pop in your mouth has led more than one writer to liken it to Pop Rocks for adults.
I’ve eaten all sorts of caviar, from spendy Osetra sturgeon caviar to our own California white sturgeon eggs, to Paddlefish roe to salmon roe ikura, to the wonderful little eggs from flying fish (tobiko), capelin and whitefish, which is a golden yellow. I’ve also eaten caviar from trout and char.
Steelhead roe is a particular favorite, as is king salmon roe.
I’d read about a general method of making caviar in a book called The Philosopher Fish, which involves gently removing the eggs from the skein — the membrane holding them together — rinsing them, salting them and drying them. It seemed pretty easy, which alarmed me: How could something so mysterious be so easy to create? It didn’t seem fair.
I delved into some more research, and it is indeed that easy. The art comes in the details: How do you get the eggs out of the skein? How much salt? How long to brine or rub the eggs? What temperature do you store them at?
So I use an amalgam of the methods I’d read about. I brine the salmon roe for a half hour in the fridge. Then I run the skein under hot tap water, which shrinks the membrane and lets the eggs drop into a colander. I then return the eggs to the brine for another 30 minutes. I rinse them off and let them drain in the colander for 15 minutes. Then I package them into a clean glass jar in the fridge. Done!
And there is an easier way: Run them over a cooling rack, membrane side up. Either method results in some egg loss, and the hot water trick can sometimes cook the eggs, which is no bueno.
Aren’t they the coolest things ever? I have a hard time not taking them out of the fridge just to look at them. homemade caviar keeps for 2 weeks in the fridge, but I think it gets fishy after about a week.
I prefer my caviar straight, served in a special spoon, so you can linger over the qualities of this caviar versus that one; this is what the Russians do when they serve the three classic sturgeon caviars: Beluga, Sevruga and Osetra. In case anyone cares, I am particularly fond of Osetra, which is pretty close to our caviar made from California white sturgeon.
Remove from your mind the notion that the only good caviar comes from sturgeon.
The tobiko and masago you see in sushi restaurants is caviar from the flying fish and the capelin, a kind of herring. It really is like pop rocks. Whitefish caviar is even better, and is a beautiful canary color. Lumpfish is like a larger sturgeon caviar, but trout and salmon caviar is its own thing: large, luxurious, and slightly fatty — I saw thousands of minute fat droplets floating on the top of the brine when I made it.
When combined with a larger dish, caviar can become an accent that makes a good dish great.
I make a pasta dish with flaked salmon, mixed with toasted pine nuts, parsley, shallots, olive oil, Meyer lemon juice — and a spoonful of salmon roe caviar. The color and pop really makes the dish.
Homemade caviar also works well as a garnish for a simple Japanese dish of salmon or trout wrapped in buttered foil with some matsutake (or other) mushrooms, sake and lemon slices, then baked it for 20 minutes. Damn good.
Will this method work for other fish roes? Yep. I imagine the salting times and care you will need to dislodge the eggs will change, but the basic technique shouldn’t change.
How to Make Caviar
Ingredients
- 1 full skein of steelhead, trout or salmon roe
- 1/2 cup kosher salt
Instructions
- Mix the salt and 1 quart ice-cold water until the salt is all dissolved.
- Make sure the roe skeins are split, so you have an opening that the eggs can come out. Set up a cooling rack or something else with a wide mesh (chicken wire works, too) over a bowl. Take a roe skein and, with the membrane facing up work the eggs out through the rack. Perfectly ripe eggs will come off easily, unripe ones will require some force. Either way, you will pop some eggs in the process.
- ALTERNATE METHOD: Get the faucet running with warm water roughly 105°F to 115°F, or heat cool tap water to this temperature -- some people fear that hot tap water can add harsh minerals to their food. Either way works. Fill a metal or glass bowl with the warm water. Dunk a few skeins of roe at a time in the warm water. Gently massage the eggs out of the skeins with your fingers under the surface of the warm water. They will float away and sink. Discard the skeins.
- Have a fine-meshed sieve ready. Pour the strained eggs into the strainer to rinse them well with cold water. Pick out clumps or stray bits of membrane.
- Dunk the eggs in the brine for 5 minutes. Taste them and if they are salty enough for you, drain them again. You can brine for up to 30 minutes, but they will be very salty. My preferred brine time is 10 minutes. Spoon carefully into a clean glass jar and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks, but try to eat them within a week or they will start to get fishy.
Notes
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Hank~off topic but couldn’t think of another way to get an answer. I’m on day 9 with your bottarga process using shad roe. It’s been in the basement, salted daily changing towels. It’s pretty hard and won’t take anymore salt. It doesn’t smell fishy at all, more like the ocean. Should I move it to the fridge now or can I leave it sit out longer? Thanks!
I just made this last night with some steelhead roe from a fish I caught yesterday. It turned out great. I bought some salmon roe caviar from the store to compare my home made stuff to and I preferred the batch I made following this recipe.
I have made many of Hank Shaw’s recipes. As a hunter and angler I appreciate his creativity.
I’ve made this numerous times with all kinds of salmon and a few varieties of trout. The instructions are clear and the recipe is flexible. Hard to mess these up!
I like how you stated that when combined with a larger dish, caviar can become an accent that makes a good dish great. My husband absolutely loves Caviar, so I want to attempt to make it for our anniversary next month. I will definitely keep all of your great tips and information in mind when trying to make Caviar.
I just made a batch of caviar from red salmon Roe using your recipe. It is fantastic! I used a steel veggie steamer screen to push the eggs through. It was easy. Thanks for your method! I will be using it from now on.
Actually, Lumpfish is it’s own critter. It’s not Paddlefish. Paddlefish caviar makers are very proud of their products .. and call it that. Very close to the fine Russian caviars and easier to find (and cheaper). Whole Foods carries it. Lumpfish is actually a salt water fish and not a very pretty one. The eggs are real black when I have seen it. Though I don’t know if it is a natural color or not. For those folks that catch and bring home Paddlefish (Spoonbills), would this recipe work just as well or do you think changes should be made?
Sea Wolf: Interesting, I didn’t know that! And yes, I have actually used this very recipe for spoonbills.
I thought I had my salmon caviar recipe down pat — brine in one part salt and four parts water for 10-20 minutes depending on how salty you like it, wash off the brine in cold water and jar — but the last time I made a batch of coho caviar it turned out to be somewhat dry. The taste was OK but some of the eggs stuck together and seemed to be less oily than they should have been. Did i wash them too much or did I make some other mistake?
I thought I had my caviar recipe down pat: Chum best, then coho, chinook, steelhead, sockeye and pinks in that order; mix one part salt to 4 parts cold water, brine for 10-15 minutes depending on taste, wash off the brine in a colander and jar the caviar. But the last time I made some coho caviar the taste was fine but the eggs seemed too dry, a lot stuck together and there didn’t seem to be enough oil in the mix. Did I wash the eggs too much or what else did I do wrong?
Holger: Could just be the eggs themselves. I’ve had tacky eggs like that before.
Theon Greyjoy,
Yes, you can do this with almost any fresh water fish roe. Most of the commercial “caviar” has been frozen before canning anyhow. You just have to thaw it with care, and you will see very little difference.
The recipe for fresh water roe: empty the roe bag in to a bowl by making a small incision to one end of the egg sack, and push out the roe using the back of your knife or a spoon. Use a fork or a hand whisk to remove any veins and pieces of membrane by gently (I mean very gently) whisking the eggs.
Once the roe is clean, you must freeze the roe at least 24 hrs at least -18 C / 0 F.
Once this has taken care of all the nasties that might be in the fresh water fish eggs, you are ready to slowly de-freeze the roe in the fridge, and proceed with the salting or any other method you like. Thaw the roe in a mesh colander over a bowl, and you get nice loose eggs.
Are you able to do this with freshwater fish? I fish the great lakes and am always sad to see the salmon roe being discarded at the fishing station.
A great recipe ! We tried it today with Shad roe. Delightful.
Great recipe. Thanks, Hank. Made it last night with eggs from a 23-inch hen Missouri River rainbow. Note: Do not make caviar from any gar species. The green eggs are poisonous. But everything else? Have at it. The only way to know is to try.
Tom: Very true about gar eggs! I think there might be one or two other North American fish with toxic or at least foul-tasting roe.
Does this recipe work with mudfish or “Bowfin”?
Will: I’ve never used it on bowfin, but it works on paddlefish.
I have been smoking salmon roe for years and have had great success. Only recently I have tried making trout caviar and it has been delicious. I live near Lake Tahoe and occasionally have access to lake trout roe. Have you made caviar with this, and how was it?
Steven: Not lakers, but most other trout yes.
Thanks Hank. What steps do you suggest to minimize that risk? And how serious is the risk, in your opinion. I read an FDA warning that said it is rare for parasites to be in eggs in salmon. Most often any parasites associated with eggs are contained within the skein membrane. That was for oceangoing fish though. I’m sure steelhead would have a similar issue once they hit fresh water. I would really like to try this and I have access to copious amounts of Kokanee. , I’ve just done my bouts with parasites from time overseas and not excited about reliving my younger days.