caviar
Intermediate Oscietra 12 years old can make eggs, and the lowest is Sevruga, which can make eggs at 7 years old. For this reason, it is expensive. Caviar is the most luxurious enjoyment on the French table. Black caviar used to be a royal delicacy, but now it is a beauty and healthy recipe for fashionistas and friends who love food and want to lose weight. The best caviar particles are full and smooth, and the color is transparent and clear. As for wine, it is best to match champagne, especially with strong sour champagne and caviar.
As far as caviar itself is concerned, there are three or six grades. Caviar with good quality and taste is made from the eggs of beluga whales. The difference in quality can be distinguished from the appearance. The more advanced caviar, the rounder and fuller the particles are, and the color is clear and transparent, even slightly golden, so people are used to comparing caviar to "black gold".
Caviar contains trace elements, mineral salts, protein, amino acids and recombinant basic fatty acids. It can not only effectively moisturize and nourish the skin, but also make the skin delicate and smooth. The so-called "rejuvenation" of the skin is such a secret.
Among the surviving sturgeon species, the most famous are the great white sturgeon (Bduga) and the small sturgeon (SVRUGA)-the largest and smallest sturgeon respectively. When you feel rich enough, you can look for their names. Sturgeon is 15 feet long and weighs more than 1000 pounds, and its eggs can account for more than 20% of its weight. The eggs of ACIPENSER schrenckii are the largest species, and it takes a long time to lay. It takes 20 years for females to grow up and lay eggs. Only about 50 pounds of sturgeon can grow up in seven years, and its eggs are the smallest.
If caviar only catches sturgeon and takes eggs by laparotomy, the price will definitely be much lower, but it certainly doesn't taste like this. Fish eggs are actually tasteless things, even sturgeon eggs. The transformation from fish eggs to delicious caviar depends entirely on the processing process, and the skilled skills and knowledge required for this processing can be called art.
This processing needs to complete more than ten procedures in about 15 minutes; As long as it is longer, the fish eggs will not be fresh and cannot be made into caviar. First, the sturgeon is knocked unconscious-not killed, because the eggs will rot faster-and then the eggs are taken out, screened, washed and drained, and taken care of by a mythical figure; This man, like a master brewer, can turn natural materials into magic.
This grader, taster or caviar master would be more correct. He has only a few minutes to make a judgment, which will determine the taste and price of the pile of fish eggs in front of him. He smells, tastes, looks and touches with his fingertips. According to the size, color, firmness, aggregation and dispersion density, smell and so on, fish eggs are graded, and then the most important decision in the whole process is made: how much-yes, how much-salt should be put in fish eggs to make caviar, but the salty taste will not hide the subtle combination of taste and taste.
The best quality fish eggs need the least amount of salt, which does not exceed 5% of the weight of fish eggs; This kind of caviar can be called "Maloso" (low salt) caviar. ("Maloso”Mallss means" a little salt "in Russian, but it means more than a little in America; This is the case in the United States. The food instructions are not so strict. After adding salt, shake the fish eggs on the filter until they are dry. The canned food is very small-only two kilograms, that is, a little more than four kilograms-to prevent the upper fish eggs from crushing the lower fish eggs. Next, these caviar will start a journey in the freezer, from the Caspian Sea to some respected companies around the world; The customers of these companies are people who can afford at least $5 for a sip.
In fact, if you think sturgeon is so rare, it takes so many years for the mother fish to mature and lay eggs, processing requires so high technology and transportation is so difficult, it is easy to understand why caviar ranks among the three most expensive foods in the world (the other two are saffron essence and truffles). In terms of its price and ounce ratio, caviar should be regarded as a major investment and must be carefully considered before selling; It's just that it will definitely taste better than your shares in IBM or that famous Monet painting hanging in your bedroom.
Caviar, like any natural, delicate and perishable thing, must find a supplier you trust, and he must sell enough, because then he will take the trouble to store it well. There is no special price for caviar. If you buy from the best store, you will never lose. Such as petrosyan in new york or Fortner in London. If you look like someone who wants to buy in good faith instead of looking for snacks, they may let you try it before buying. However, ironically, if the suppliers have full confidence in their caviar and dare to provide this wonderful service, then their suggestions must be trustworthy, and you don't have to try it for free!
But buy as much as you want; And once you buy caviar, don't go back to the office, don't go to bars, and don't go to the park to see girls. You must go straight home and put the caviar in the refrigerator. Caviar can be kept unopened for about four weeks. Once opened, it can be kept fresh for a day or two in theory, but it won't be left.
You must make a series of decisions now. It seems like a trivial matter, but the result of a single thought will either make your caviar a well-deserved feast or waste your money. The first thing in this series of decisions is who you should choose to enjoy.
Some people can be eliminated immediately. If a fat cat pours a lot of sauce into everything he eats, you'd better let them enjoy their terrible hobby in front of the hot dog stand! Your boss and your friendly tax inspector friends should also be excluded, because these two will definitely think that you earn too much. Business people will think that you may want to put on airs in front of them, but just eat more. Relatives, not worth it. Therefore, the choice is narrowed down to a particularly close friend, or someone you love more than anyone else, and this person is of course yourself. Enjoy a caviar dinner alone, which you will never forget.
What wine should you go with? Traditionally Russian or Polish vodka, the whole bottle of wine should be frozen in a big piece of ice, so vodka will sting my throat. But don't risk trying flavored vodka: the taste of flavored vodka will compete with caviar and usually win. Personally, I like champagne with low sweetness. Besides eating boring bubbles, drinking boring bubbles at the same time is also quite symmetrical and ingenious.
The process of making and serving caviar is usually complicated and ridiculous. You often see people piling up layers of spices on their plates to either change the taste of caviar or cover it up; And they spend so much money, isn't it for this taste? Clouds of sour cream, pieces of carp meat, finely chopped thorn fruit buds and onions, and boiled eggs are layered on top of each other. What else can I eat? It may be delicious, but it won't be caviar.
The best way to eat caviar is to use the simplest method: direct entrance. If you want to pour it into a plate, the plate should be refrigerated first. If you want to eat directly in bottles and jars, put it in crushed ice. Slices of bread are thinly coated with unsalted butter, Russian pancakes, or a drop or two of lemon juice, which can be matched at will. However, the last stop of caviar's life journey-sending it to the mouth-has no choice but to make a spoon.
You will see people-often those who drown caviar with minced onions and eggs-eating this sticky stuff on toast with knives, as if making peanut butter sandwiches. These people are civilized killers. The most precious thing about caviar is that it is so difficult and expensive to process and transport caviar, because the fish eggs must be intact when they are delivered to the mouth. Only in this way, at the moment when you crush the fish egg with your tongue and upper jaw, can you understand how much effort has been made to make this small fish egg feel delicious. If the fish eggs are chopped up with a knife first and contain a mouthful of caviar, they will be enjoyed by the toast early, not your tongue. So be sure to use a spoon.
People who are addicted to caviar will argue fiercely about the advantages and disadvantages of different spoons. Many people who love to practice some sacred rituals in life are like this. But strangely, the spoon in the mouth of the favored person at birth-silver spoon-can't be used, because silver spoon will add a faint metallic taste to caviar. Besides, you can choose: gold, ivory, wood, pearls, horns, or-my favorite-you can always get a plastic short-handled spoon back from the snack bar. This kind of spoon is easy to handle, light and soft, and there is no acute angle to pierce fish eggs. Good function, good hygiene, and can be thrown away after use. Without aftertaste, it is often free. I recommend this spoon.
The final decision you have to make is when and where to pamper yourself; Then you can begin to understand another less obvious advantage of caviar. This caviar is also a convenience food! This is the best side of "convenience food". You can eat in bed without having to endure dangerous stunts such as moving knives and forks. You can sit in the back seat of the car on the way to work, (an ounce of caviar, chew slowly all the way-that's what you should eat-stop for a sip of wine and get drunk from time to time, enough for you to eat from Wall Street to Park Avenue. You can sit on the floor and eat by the fire in the fireplace, or you can eat comfortably in the bathtub. You don't need a table of tableware or a $65,438+$0,000 dress to eat it. Without red tape, the delicacy of caviar can be brought into full play.
Caviar is a delicious food, which can be eaten on good days and bad days. Victory can be rewarded, and disaster arrival can be comforted. On the day when I earned the first sum of 6,543,800 yuan, it tasted delicious, but on the eve of bankruptcy, it could be better as a last-ditch gesture. When love first blooms, it can also be; When love withers, it can be. There is no excuse for eating caviar. If you can't remember it for a while, eat it for your health. It is said that caviar is good for body and mind.
74 calories per ounce, you have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to gain weight. Caviar is known as an aphrodisiac, an anti-hangover agent and a liver protector. Caviar contains 47 minerals and vitamins. The only mistake this female sturgeon made was that the sodium content was slightly higher, otherwise she would make a perfect delicious meal. But, whatever! No one is perfect.
* * * Classification of caviar * * *
The beluga sturgeon has the best quality of sturgeon eggs and can produce the most precious and rare caviar in the world. The color of beluga caviar varies from light gray to gray-black, and there is a fine transparent film around the slightly larger caviar, which has always been called "Caspian Pearl". Usually, the catch of sturgeon beluga whales is less than 100 a year, accounting for only 2% of the total sturgeon catch, and the number is really pitiful.
The main reason for the low yield is the slow growth of this sturgeon. It takes about 18 to 20 years for a young fish to mature and lay eggs. With such a long process of growth and reproduction, it is not easy to live well in the case of more and more serious overfishing in the Caspian Sea, not to mention that there must be no mistakes in these years, and it really depends on our ancestors. In fact, the life span of beluga whales can exceed 100 years, the body length can exceed 4 meters, and the weight is nearly 1 metric ton. The fully mature beluga sturgeon is about 60 years old, and there are many caviar produced by beluga whales over 100 years old, so there is no need to mention the preciousness.
The second-class sturgeon of Oscietra is small, weighing only 80 to 200 Jin, and its growing period is only 12 to 14 years. Its eggs are grayish brown, shining with black gold luster, and have a unique nutty flavor. Its taste is not as good as "Caspian Pearl", but it has a unique fruit flavor.
The more common Sevruga sturgeon can grow up within 7 years. The roe is not as big as the Caspian pearl, but the color is similar. Caviar with spherical particles and gray-black color is favored because of its full and rich caviar flavor, but it tastes more like specially selected caviar, and its flavor specificity is not as good as that of Moby Dick and Oscietra.
[Edit this paragraph] Production process
Sturgeon is harvested twice a year in the Caspian Sea region, namely in spring and autumn; It is generally believed that sturgeon caught in spring can produce better quality caviar. Every year after the harvest season of sturgeon begins, fishermen work almost all day, just like the mullet season in Taiwan Province Province. The way to catch sturgeon in Russia is to take advantage of the characteristics of sturgeon spawning in the upper reaches, wait for an opportunity to catch sturgeon in the delta area formed by the convergence of rivers around the Caspian Sea, and kill and take eggs directly on board after fishing. On the other side of the Caspian Sea, Iran's style is different. Iranian fishermen drive boats to catch sturgeon in the lake. They specialize in catching sturgeons that are about to lay eggs, and they are stronger.
However, it is not easy to deal with this sturgeon, which is extremely fierce in appearance and weighs 2000 pounds. Although sturgeon is peaceful, it often floats on the water like dead wood. But it doesn't feel good to be caught by a group of greedy humans, so it's not easy to give it a good look after being caught. How to quickly and accurately give the sturgeon a knife in the head when it is alive and kicking, and let the sturgeon die painlessly, it depends on an experienced fisherman. Otherwise, in the case of mild pain, sturgeon will secrete a lot of adrenaline under natural reflex, which is likely to destroy the delicious original taste of caviar. However, after the sturgeon died, things did not end immediately, because it was not easy to keep the roe fresh, and it was necessary to deal with the roe in a very short time. Therefore, the laparotomy of sturgeon must often be carried out on board, and the quality, maturity and time to market of fish eggs depend on the sense of touch of old fishermen.
Fishermen took out a large mass of caviar, removed the outer membrane with a sieve, washed it with cold water, and then classified and packaged it according to its size and color. They also have to sprinkle some salt by experience to keep it fresh and bring out the original flavor of caviar. Some caviar will be treated with borax, which is said to make caviar more elastic and delicious (according to the experience of shrimps sold in the market, borax can increase elasticity, but the umami taste of shrimp meat is removed a lot, so the saying of adding delicacy is reserved. ), can remove the taste of salt, and has a good antiseptic function (also for human body, so borax is not allowed to be added to caviar sold in the United States and Japan).
* * * Sub-packaging and distribution of caviar * * *
In Russia, according to the convention, caviar can be repackaged with many sturgeon eggs, while in Iran, there are strict quality control standards, and only one fish can be produced in retail packaging cans below 20 grams. Especially in Shilat, Iran's official packaging export company, you can even track which fish have taken out caviar. Caviar in larger package is canned in 1.8kg, and the types and grades of caviar are distinguished by color, with blue representing beluga, yellow representing Ossetia and red representing Sevruga. Generally, caviar can be stored for 18 months at MINUS 2 ~ 4 degrees Celsius, and can only be stored for 6 ~ 8 weeks in the refrigerator. If it is kept fresh in time, caviar can also be sterilized at low temperature, providing a longer cold storage time.
* * * The future of caviar * * *
Due to the disintegration of the former Soviet regime, the sturgeon caviar production and fishing system originally under the jurisdiction of the Soviet government also collapsed. Next, you can guess what happened to these sturgeons with caviar worth $3,000 (about NT$ 90,000) per kilogram. In the past, only two countries fished sturgeon in the Caspian Sea-the former Soviet Union and Iran. Now it is divided into five countries, namely, Russia (including Tanzania), Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Toumani and Iran. So the current situation is that almost all countries except Iran have no legal constraints, and a bunch of poachers illegally catch sturgeon. Anyway, no one cares whether you catch it or not (or give it a red envelope), so I will catch it to make money. In the end, it will become a national movement, and everyone will catch it together.
At present, only Iran on the south bank of Caspian Sea strictly controls the production of caviar and the fishing area of sturgeon. I just hope these sturgeons know that the north is a forbidden area and it is better to go less.
After the news that the population of wild sturgeon in Caspian Sea decreased sharply was exposed in the global media, more gourmets wanted to taste delicious caviar before the sturgeon became extinct. Science has made great progress in this situation, so sturgeon culture technology began to flourish. In the early days of the Soviet Union, the focus of aquaculture development was to cultivate and release young sturgeons in the Caspian Sea. Now, of course, you can't do this stupid thing of letting others catch fish. You can shift the focus to farming.
However, sturgeon is not easy to mess with. Remember, it takes seven to nine years for ordinary sturgeons to reach maturity. To produce beluga caviar, it takes 20 to 60 years, hehe! Do you really want (or have the money) to keep a fish like this? This is no better than leaving brandy or whisky there for 30 years. You should feed it every day and worry that it will get sick. Only raising children by yourself is such a way. So under the entanglement of finance and technology, there is still no good way to solve the problem.
1985, the Soviet Union produced more than 650 metric tons of caviar, and Iran can produce another 350 metric tons. However, in 1997, Russian official statistics show that the output of caviar has been reduced to 250 metric tons, while Iran only has 120 metric tons. Abnormal climatic conditions in the past two years have further reduced the production of caviar, which may have dropped to only 200 metric tons, of which 120 metric tons comes from Russia.
According to the authoritative food chain Caviar House, the global demand for caviar should be around 350 metric tons, while the output is only 200 metric tons.
[Edit this paragraph] Eating history
The word caviar originated in Havia, Turkey, and first appeared in Chinese and English print 159 1. Dating back to prehistoric times 250 million years ago, sturgeon has become a part of the diet of most people in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
Caviar used to be a strict royalty. Surprisingly, however, in the United States, caviar was a free lunch room in the routine service of1early 9 th century. The thirst for salty taste has promoted the increase of beer sales.
At that time, the United States was rich in water resources and sturgeon resources. 1873, German immigrant Henry schacht set up a company to export caviar to Europe, and the price seems to be as high as 1 USD per pound. Other entrepreneurs followed closely. At the end of 19, the United States was the largest exporter of caviar in the world.
In this caviar craze, many harvests were transported to Europe to obtain import rights, and returned to the United States again, which was marked as the more coveted "Russian sturgeon". Russian caviar river has always been considered as a premium. 1900, a report published in Pennsylvania estimated that 90% of Russian sturgeon sold in Europe actually came from the United States.
Due to the American caviar craze in early 1900, sturgeon was overfished and almost endangered. The sudden shortage has caused the price of wild caviar to skyrocket, and another result is that most caviar is marked as Russia's real import from Russia. At 1960, the price is so high that the new source is the domestic demand for caviar.
Romanov company of caviar (originally established in 1859) turned to sockeye salmon caviar, lumpfish, and later in 1982, white fish (called golden white fish caviar) became more and more economical than its imported counterparts.
/kloc-before the Russians put forward that "caviar is the best food" in the 0/9th century, caviar was so common that people could even find it on the table of ordinary people. As sturgeon can also be caught in Russian waters, caviar was quickly introduced to Europe and accepted by many elites, which led to the origin of caviar with a hundred times value.
As far as today is concerned, with the vigorous development of science and technology and biotechnology, the feeding and survival rate of sturgeon have been greatly improved. Therefore, eating caviar in recent years is no longer a blind pursuit of fashion, and its own nutritional value has a broad market prospect.
-The caviar method.
Many things are euphemistically called "caviar". Strictly speaking, they are not caviar at all. These things may come from pregnant members of round fin fish, salmon, whitefish, cod or other fish families. In France, the definition of caviar is as precise as champagne: only the eggs of sturgeon are eligible for caviar.
On the last day, people were unfriendly to sturgeon, and overfishing and pollution almost made them extinct, leaving only a few exceptions. At present, only the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea and the Gironde River in France can find a large number of sturgeon waters on the earth. Among the existing sturgeon species, the most famous are Moby Dick and Sevruger-the largest and smallest sturgeon respectively. When you feel rich enough, you can look for these names.
[Edit this paragraph] Production process
The transformation from fish eggs to delicious caviar depends entirely on the processing process, and the skilled skills and knowledge required for this processing can be called art, and this processing needs to complete more than ten processes in about 15 minutes; As long as it is longer, the fish eggs will not be fresh.
Cann't cook caviar
The first is to knock the sturgeon unconscious (not to kill it, because then the eggs will rot faster).
Then take out the fish eggs, screen, clean, filter dry, and then give them to experts for careful care:
He will grade fish eggs according to their size, color, firmness, aggregation density and smell.
Finally, the most important decision in the whole process is made: how much (yes, how much) salt should be put in the fish eggs to make caviar, but the salty taste will not hide the subtle combination of taste and taste. After adding salt, the fish eggs are shaken to dryness on a sieve, and then they can be canned and shipped around the world.
In order not to waste things, I found a way: I can also get rid of some fishy smell.
1。 Caviar salad
Ingredients: eggs, caviar, onions, lettuce and French eggs.
Practice: Cook the eggs in water, cut them in half, and take out the yolk completely. Chop onion, add egg yolk and French mayonnaise, and stir well. Fill the mixture with egg whites. Lettuce is shredded and mixed with vegetables as the base, eggs are placed on it, and caviar is decorated with wooden spoon on the yolk. Lettuce or other vegetables can be chosen as decoration, which is beautiful.
2。 Caviar tofu
material
200g of tofu, 20g of lean pork and 20g of garlic sprout10g.
Ginger 1 small starch, right amount
condiment
Cooking oil 300g (actual oil 50g) sesame oil 1 teaspoon.
3 teaspoons of oyster sauce, 2 teaspoons of caviar.
Jingyan 1 teaspoon monosodium glutamate teaspoon
working methods
1. thick slices of tofu, slices of pork and ginger, and slices of garlic seedlings;
2. add oil to the pot, heat it, add tofu slices, fry until golden brown, and pick it up for use;
3. Leave the bottom oil in the pot, stir-fry the ginger slices and meat slices, add tofu, inject broth, add caviar, refined salt, monosodium glutamate and oyster sauce and cook until it tastes good, add garlic sprouts and cook for a while, thicken the water starch and pour sesame oil, and serve.
3。 Snacks: Put caviar in a container filled with ice to keep it delicious. Serve with cream and baked white bread.
[Edit this paragraph] Eat correctly
Put caviar in a small container filled with ice cubes to keep its delicious quality, and at the same time, it can be matched with different accessories according to personal taste. The most classic and popular accessories are white bread with whipped cream and baking. It is particularly noteworthy that caviar should not be eaten with strong-smelling accessories, such as onions or lemons. As for drinks, vodka or champagne are the best products to taste caviar better.
Moreover, the vessels for holding caviar are also quite particular. Shells, wood, horns and gold are ideal materials. The biggest taboo is the use of silver tableware, silver has oxidation, which will destroy the intriguing taste and fragrance of caviar itself.
Finally, I recommend a caviar salad that is deeply loved by European women to female friends. It can not only nourish yin and enhance the body's immunity, but also be of great help to friends who are obese and have weak waist and knees.
[Edit this paragraph] Caviar salad
Ingredients: eggs, caviar, onions, lettuce and French eggs. Practice: Cook the eggs in water, cut them in half, and take out the yolk completely. Chop onion, add egg yolk and French mayonnaise, and stir well. Fill the mixture with egg whites. Lettuce is shredded and mixed with vegetables as the base, eggs are placed on it, and caviar is decorated with wooden spoon on the yolk. Lettuce or other vegetables can be chosen as decoration, which is beautiful. The taste is not the same. Caviar lobster cold noodles salad Japanese sauce mixed noodles with sugar tastes sweet, accompanied by crispy lobster meat and delicious caviar, which makes ordinary matcha cold noodles extraordinary.