Homemade Salmon Caviar Recipe (2024)

How to make Salmon Roe to Caviar Recipe – learn about the steps involved in getting the fish eggs to go from roe to caviar. The process is easy and simple, but youdo need to have a little “know-how” and I am here tell you all you need to know.

Before we get into how to make the Caviar from Salmon Roe let’s get some verbiage clear.

What are salmon fish eggs or fish roe?

They both refer to the same thing, it is the yellow round jewel-like fish egg or contents of the sack (skein) inside some female fish’s bellies. If the fish was not to be caught, the fish eggs would later become baby fish. The sack that holds the roe is called a skein.

What is Caviar?

Caviar refers to the cured fish eggs of a sturgeon. All other cured roe must have a specification of which fish it came from before the word caviar. In this way, caviar made from salmon roe or salmon eggs will be called salmon caviar, not just caviar. The true sturgeon caviar is blackin color, a lot smaller than salmon caviar and can cost hundreds of dollars per ounce.

Why is sturgeon Caviar so expensive?

The high cost of sturgeon caviar does not come so much from the exceptional flavor, which is not to say that it doesn’t taste good, but more so because of the scarcity of mature sturgeon fish.

Sturgeon female fish must be at least 10 years old before they’re ready to migrate upstream to lay their eggs. Most of them have been fished out by that age, which is exactly why the mature sturgeon are rare and theirroe is extremely expensive.

How much Salmon Caviar comes from 1 lb of Salmon Roe?

From every pound of salmon roe, you will get about 1/2 pound of salted or cured caviar.

Is Salmon Caviar or Roe good for you?

Salmon roe is amongst one of the richest foods in the omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential to the early brain and eye development, as well as the support of heart, eye, immune and mental health throughout the later years.

Which is why, eating caviar is good for your health overall, but especially so if you’re pregnant, or a child.

Where can I buy salmon roe?

Since the skeins with the roe are found inside the female salmon, if you were to buy fresh salmon straight from the fisherman during the spawning season or even a grocery store, oftentimes when you clean the fish you will find the belly full of roe inside.

Here in the Pacific North West, you can also search for locations (google “salmon sales locations”) where the Native Americans fish and sell fresh caught salmon and purchase it straight from them.

Sometimes, they will have already cleaned fish with the salmon roe sold separately. Sometimes, if you buy the whole female fish during spawning season it will have the fish eggs inside.

Tips for Success when making caviar at home –

• Try to avoid using metal utensils when making caviar. Wooden spoons and glass bowls are the best since they do not oxidize the salmon roe.
• If at all possible, use filtered water to clean and process the salmon roe. Fish eggs take on extra water very easily by the process of osmosis, so using chemical ladened tap water can have a negative impact on the delicate taste of salmon caviar.

Salmon Roe Recipe

• Set a large bowl in the sink, fill it with warm water, and set a colander or sieve into/over it.
• Make one tear along 1 skein lengthwise exposing the roe inside. Place the skein inside the colander and allow the warmth of the water to help shrink the outside membrane of the skein and free up some of the fish eggs. The roe might become opaque in color, do not worry this is ok.
• Gently, using your fingers continue freeing up more roe from the sack. When all of it is out, raise the sieve with the fish eggs up and down, rinsing out the impurities. Then pick out the rest of the impurities by hand. You can drain the water and add more clean water to further clean out the roe. Remove the sieve with the roe to a clean dry bowl.
• Meanwhile make the brine: in a bowl that would fit the sieve inside stir 3 cups water and 1/2 cup kosher salt until the salt is dissolved.
• Lower the sieve with the cleansed roe into the brine. Allow to sit for several minutes or until it is salted to your liking. I kept the roe in the brine for about 3 minutes.

• Raise the sieve out of the brine and transfer the salmon caviar to a paper towel to absorb the extra liquid. Then, transfer to a glass jar and refrigerate.

How to Eat Caviarand what to serve with caviar?

• Serve Salmon Caviar with some buttered toast like shown in pictures above
• Top Soft scrambled eggs with some Salmon Caviar
• Serve Caviar along with sour cream and these Blini’s
• Top Potato Latke’s (Draniki) with some Sour cream and this Salmon Caviar

How long does caviar last?

Freshly made caviar is best eaten fresh within 2-3 days. Make sure to keep it covered and refrigerated and of course, do not double dip your spoon when getting caviar out of the container, or it will go bad even faster.

Updating an old post:

Bon Appetite!