Caviar 101

Caviar is a delicacy consisting of salt-cured fish-eggs of the Acipenseridae family of Sturgeon. It was said that Judas was paid in caviar and that Liberace used to bathe in it.

We are serving Pacific or White Sturgeon (Acipenser Transmontanus) farmed by Sterling Caviar in Elverta California, which is close to Sacramento. Sturgeon are an ancient fish that have survived for about 200 million years and haven’t changed much since dinosaurs roamed the Earth. The bony-plated fish have a long snout and vacuum-like mouth; they can live to over 100 years of age and grow as big as 2,500 pounds and 15 feet long. They look like dragons.

Sterling Caviar is an aquaculture farm that was the first to farm caviar in the world – they started in 1993. Their facilities are located in Northern California.

Sterling Farms were the first in the world to raise sturgeon. They produce one of the best domestic caviars on the market. We have a personal relationship with the farm and have seen the harvest and processing of caviar first hand. What we saw when we visited: the same meticulous attention to detail and rigorous standards that we have on our oyster farm, and likewise a similar end product: consistent, sustainable and – fabulously – with a unique, complex and appealing flavor experience. Similar to the Island Creeks, the caviar is so balanced – it’s equal parts SALT and EARTH and SWEET and SMOOTH. It’s texture is also comparable – tender but has a nice resistance to pressure. Sterling and Island Creek have one major thing in common – we are used, together, in one of the most iconic dishes at the french laundry and PerSe – Oysters and Pearls.

See above. More talking points – the salt is there but the body softens it. Balanced, Buttery – but NOT like a chardonnay. More like a mushroom, which is earthy and ‘of’ the place it comes from. Round, it fills your mouth. If you have had a fresh farm egg, you get the idea – it’s incredible how so much flavor can come in such a small package. Nutty, but not bitter, rich like anything that will give you gout.

Caviar is given it’s ‘rating’ by looking closely at three things – size of the egg, firmness of the egg and color of the egg. If the eggs are very light in color, they are given the highest status which is called Imperial. If they are darker in color, they are called Royal. If there is something less than optimum about the caviar, such as improper size or firmness, it is called Classic. We sell Royal.

At Sterling, the entire production cycle is under their control and does not use any outside resources such as fish from the wild. The production cycle begins with spawning their fish and incubating the eggs for a week before the baby sturgeon, known as fry, are hatched. They grow the fish to about three years of age, by which time they are about 20-25 pounds in size each. At this point, using ultrasound technology, they identify which select females we want to keep for another five to ten years to produce caviar. The females selected at three years of age continue to grow until at least seven years of age, at which point a relatively small percentage of them are ripe and are processed into caviar. Those whose eggs are determined to be of the proper quality in order to produce premium quality caviar worthy of the Sterling Caviar brand name are separated and processed into caviar. The remainders of those females continue to grow and are checked each year thereafter if they are mature and processed into caviar. We can look at the pictures from the farm – that will help you visualize the process.

In 2006, world-wide trade in wild caviar was banned because the nine major caviar-producing countries failed to convince the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) that their stocks of wild sturgeon are sustainable. Shortly thereafter, American farms popped up to fill that void. Since it takes some time for the operation to get up and running and the sturgeon to mature, we have recently started seeing a resurgence in domestic caviar. So what was once foreign, unusual, elevated and very expensive – is now domestic, accessible and much more available. Now as you know Sterling has been producing caviar for a while before that, but in their case, they had a 20 year contract with the one of the largest caviar houses in the world – Petrossian. That contract meant that everything Sterling produced had to be sold to Petrossian. During this time Petrossian controlled the tonnage and the price of their caviar, strongly influencing the market. That contract ended in 2017. We stepped in to seize this new opportunity!

While there is no wrong way to eat caviar, my logic here runs a bit like oysters – why disguise something you have paid so much for? An accompaniment here and there – some creme fraiche, a small carb-like object, for oysters a lemon or hot sauce, but not much beyond that. But, if someone wants to slather their (insert shellfish or egg name here) with cocktail sauce or chopped onions, let them do their thing. No one likes to be judged! We believe that caviar should be enjoyed not stressed over, so as far as presentation – eat it out of the tin, put it over ice, eat it off of someone’s stomach, do it in a way that appeals to you.

One thing to note is that metal interferes with the taste – so best to use bone, mother of pearl, porcelain, glass, wood, even plastic.

Rough serving portion suggestions:

Size                   Persons

20 grams         1

30 grams         1 – 2

50 grams         1 – 2

100 grams       2 – 4

200 grams       4 – 8

500 grams       8 – 20

1000 grams     20 -50

What is important to remember is that the enemies of caviar are air, light, heat and silver. Aside from making sure the caviar integrity is maintained in storage (see below), make your own rules.

Best to take the caviar out of the fridge 30 min before serving so it isn’t too cold. That diminishes the taste. Do not open the lid until you are ready to dive in.

As quickly as possible, put the tin in the coolest part of your refrigerator. Ideally, it should be kept at 28 – 35 degrees F. Do not freeze. Unopened, the caviar will keep for up to six to eight weeks from the packing date, which is indicated on the bottom of the tin. If you don’t finish the caviar, place Saran wrap gently over the surface of the eggs and close the lid firmly. For extra care, completely wrap the whole tin with plastic wrap, and again store in the coldest part of the refrigerator. If you take these steps, you can safely keep the caviar for another 1 – 2 days. Please note, though, that once a tin has been opened, the flavor immediately begins to deteriorate.

• Direct from the farm, just like the oysters
• Sustainable product
• Served by the best restaurants in the country including the French Laundry and PerSe
• Firm beads that ‘pop’ in your mouth
• Rich and nutty flavor – earthy and round
• Medium to large sized eggs with a subtle marbling
• Loads of good stories to tell – pick three that inspire you and talk about them!

• Caviar is sexy like oysters are sexy. There are a few different contributing factors. A. Caviar is low brow and high brow at the same time, anatomical and animal but fancy and elite – that combo tends to send people into a tizzy. B. A lot of minerals in there, and omega 3’s C. Texture plays a huge role – it’s part of the experience, there’s a melt there, and a question – what is the exact texture of this one? In caviar specifically there is a little burst in there. You get it. D. Speaking of salt and thirst, that makes people drink, which they do when they are celebrating, or feeling good, and that’s sexy. Unless it’s the opposite, and not. Hmmmmmm.
• When you know a lot about a food item (like you all do now) it’s crucial to strike the balance between Portlandia reenactments and informationless server drones – be quick with your few important talking points and then OBSERVE: Do they respond? What do they respond to? You throw a few things out and it becomes pretty clear who just wants to look cool to get laid, who is a food geek, who didn’t realize they cared but now does… and at that point, you come in with more info. So this is an activity in awareness and listening. If they don’t care, let it go! Keep it fun and light. Make a joke! But if the care, pull the glasses out of the drawer and roll your sleeves up and get nerdy. They will be impressed.
• Caviar is a sustainable farming endeavor. In the case of Sterling, there are no wild feed inputs, no mixing with the wild sturgeon population and most importantly there mere existence of farmed sturgeon helps to protect the wild population from poaching and overfishing.
• For more information, I encourage you to check out Sterling’s website at http://www.sterlingcaviar.com/
• There are also tons of excellent books on the subject. Right now I am reading Caviar: The Strange History and Uncertain Future of the World’s Most Coveted Delicacy By Inga Saffron.  Also respected are: Caviar, A global History by Nichola Fletcher and The Caviar Encyclopedia by Morgan C. Parker
  

We want to sell caviar in the most down to earth, transparent way possible. Talk about the farm. Tell people why we work with them. Be earnest.