Culinary Dish Tips: Caviar

Prepping caviar for Friday night dinner, or maybe getting it ready as a hors d’oeuvre for a special party or high-class engagement? Whatever your reason for slipping that mother of pearl spoon out of its fancy cloth case, you want to make sure that you prepare this dish correctly upon its initial serving. Caviar is an expensive, delicate food and any error made during its preparation, serving, or storing can result in a negative food experience for you, your guests, or anyone else who gets his hand on it. By following these tips, you may just avert disaster and head straight for the victory lap.

Serve it right

It may seem tempting to just pop out an ordinary sterling silver table spoon and scoop the caviar directly onto some fancy crackers, but you’d be making a big mistake if you did. Metal surfaces taint this particular food type, so unless you want a metallic aftertaste in your mouth after your first bite, avoid using any nonmetal serving or dining utensils. Instead, use spoons made out of mother of pearl or bone for serving and eating, which will not affect the taste of the dish one way or the other.

Forget the blight

Caviar is such a delicacy that it simply can’t handle other attention hogs sitting on the same plate. OK, so that is a bit of untrue personification, but it does teach an important lesson: unless you’re a very experienced seafood cook or a professional chef, avoid serving caviar with condiments and using it as a smaller piece of an ensemble dish. Caviar is easily overwhelmed by the flavors of more pungent food types, and you never, ever want to serve it with onions. Flavorful in its own right, the texture and taste of caviar is best preserved when served independently of other foods at your engagement.

Keep it tight

Caviar should be stored in a tightly sealed refrigerator after serving. Though perishable, in many instances stored caviar will retain its freshness for a few weeks after initially being served. Still, caviar isn’t invincible. It shouldn’t be left out for long even at room temperature, though because it is often used as an appetizer, it often is. Cool it. Seal it. Serve it again only when you or your guests are ready to eat it right away.