:p Depends what kind of dim sum. I don't think you can mix it with duck feet or pig intestine :p

Either way, I am sticking with Ikura, cheap and high levels of omega-3.

Not wild about Caviar, I'd never order it a restaurant, and certainly never pay for it. I was happy to try it on LH, and it was 'interesting', but nothing about it is worth paying exorbitant prices for.

Many UPSCALE buffets serve caviar [the STERLING BRUNCH at Ballys in Las Vegas is one]. You can add blinis, onions, eggs--the whole combination tastes very good. Would I buy cavier in the gourmet shop NO.
There is "cheapo" red/orange caviar...not in the same league as the black caviar.

If anyone is up for laying out a bit of change, try Caviar Russe in midtown NYC. It's a Michelin-starred restaurant that knows its way around caviar. Caviar with blini, caviar butter(!) (we crushed all the bread we got because of how good this was), caviar in a lot of the entrees - it was amazing.

It's on the 2nd floor of a building above Madison Avenue, so it's a bit hidden - getting reservations is a cinch.

No offense, but I find it funny that when someone tries something and does not like it, he/she will comment that it is "overrated".

It is perfectly fine not to like what you have tried, maybe even not to like caviar in general, but for one thing, that would take a little bit more investigation than "tasting it twice" especially with condiments of various sorts.

There are many different sorts of caviar. Sadly, the wild stuff cannot be exported any more so most people will simply not try the real thing anyway. Among the farmed stuff, most now use varieties such as Baeri ("Siberian sturgeon") which are completely different from the various types of sturgeons that populate the Caspian sea. The result is not necessarily bad, it is just different.

As mentioned by some others, the taste of most caviar is very subtle. It is certainly not salty unless it has been poorly prepared. It also certainly shouldn't be eaten with the various condiments that airlines seem to insist on offering with it (chopped eggs, or even worse onions, and possibly most disgusting of all lemon). If you want to taste it, 1) choose as good a caviar as you can find, 2) have it on its own, or with bread, blini or boiled potato (and tolerably a bit of plain cream or unsalted butter). Do not use metal cutlery of any sort, and drink water (ideally), vodka or an ultra brut champagne (if you want some alcohol to make it more festive) but no wine let alone cocktail.

If you don't like it, that's perfectly fine, tastes vary and there is no food on the planet that everybody loves, but it does not make any of it "over-rated" either, just says something about what you like and what you don't.

What orbitmic x 1000!

There are some things that I don't like. I don't like gin - I've tried many brands and I just don't like it. That does not make gin bad, a poor buy, overpriced, liked by people that have no taste, etc. I don't enjoy it - but this is the first time that I ever ever mentioned it except when a friend wanted to pour me a martini. Its not "gin's" problem, it is mine

If you drink both of these within a year of release, you probably can't tell.. other than then $150 is probably more tannic and probably less pleasant to drink.

Cellar them properly for 15-20 years and one is no longer drinkable, and one shows its pedigree and magic..

You are propably right.


But this thread is about Caviar...

:rolleyes:

No, it's not - from the very start it looks to have been about reverse snobbism.

depends on the caviar..

From today's NumLock News newsletter

Caviar

Sanctions on Russia mean that iconic Russian caviar is now off the menu in Europe, but that actually won’t make much of a dent in the overall market for roe. In 2001, China began importing sturgeon eggs in order to kickstart a domestic fish farming market, and today the largest caviar company in China — Kaluga Queen — produces more caviar in a single year than Russia exported from 2014 to 2020. In 2018, China’s fish farms were home to 84 percent of the global population of sturgeon, and China exported 123 tons of caviar in 2020, the same year that Russia exported just 1 ton.

Samanth Subramanian, Quartz

I don't eat Caviar because it is not kosher, however I recently bought some Exmoor caviar for my wife as she is undergoing chemotherapy and there is a window between cycles when her tastebuds come back a little. She had said that when she did try it years ago she did enjoy it. I made blinis with chives, and put sour cream and Foremans London Cure Smoked Salmon on top and she thought it was wonderful. This English farmed caviar seems to be getting a good reputation.

Last night Mrs Willie & I dined on some caviar at home. We always choose either Oscietra or Sevruga, we seem to prefer the flavor more than Beluga.

I was at a local fish monger and they were selling Kaluga caviar, apparently a hybrid. I purchased a tin of Kaluga and one of Oscietra.

While the Kaluga was certainly good quality, we both preferred the Oscietra.