Red caviar - a valuable nutrient - is produced from the roe of salmon
fishes (dog salmon(keta), pink salmon, red salmon, king salmon, coho
salmon, Atlantic salmon) processed with the solution of table salt and
addition of preservatives. Caviar is distinguished by recipe. Caviar
without preservatives is made only by a customer's request. Salmon
fresh-grain caviar is packed in tin or glass hermetically sealed jars.
Specialists distinguish several kinds of the fish with the common name
salmon. When speaking about waters of Atlantic and Europe, we can name
Atlantic Salmon ( Salmo salar ), which lives in the rivers and along
the West coast of USA, and Dunai Salmon, which belongs to a different
genus (there is 10 kinds of noble salmon).
Pacific Ocean salmons are the most numerous. They all belong to one
genus Oncorhynchus, which in Greek means "from the nose to the hook ".
This genus includes the following kinds: red salmon, pink salmon, dog
salmon (keta), coho salmon, king salmon, cherry salmon. Also Japanese
salmon (O . masu, O. rhodurus) is assigned here. This is the general
systematic and geographic classification of salmons.
Far East is the main salmon supplier for Russia. Only here can one
meet such diversity and richness of fish kinds; red caviar (which is
very nutritious and much cheaper than black one), smoked and preserved
fish from the Far East are widely popular in Russia and in the whole
world.
Red caviar has its advantages which allowed it to take its deserved
place among delicacies: even though it is cheaper than black caviar,
it is not less valuable in its taste and nutrition quality. The reason
is that there is still enough fish of salmon kinds.
While black caviar was especially popular in the South of Russia, the
red one was favoured in Siberia and in the Far East. During the last
decades this delicacy found its fans in Europe and America, but it
still can't be compared to black caviar in popularity, staying
"Russian exotics". Though the residents of Japanese islands prefer raw
red caviar in combination with other foods.
Unlike the caviar of sturgeon fish, which has been prepared different
ways (yastik , drying, sun drying, pressed or fresh-grained ) , red
caviar has always been fresh-grained. The most important thing in the
processing is to strictly follow the procedure. For example, the
caviar should only be extracted from the fish during the first four
hours after it was caught, and the solution (tuzluk) should be of a
certain concentration and it should be left to stay for no less than
10 days before preparation.
The red caviar table of ranks admits the priority of keta caviar. Its
colour is orange with a glimpse of red, the grains are quite small,
the film is thin and elastic. If the caviar is pale or yellow it means
it's overripe and of low taste quality. The second place belongs to
the caviar of pink salmon; its grains are of orange and light orange
colour. The caviar of red salmon has a distinctive flavour which is
not favoured by many Russians, while the Europeans consider it the
best; the colour of the caviar is dark red. Anyway, the caviar - black
or red - is eaten cold, with little spoons and without bread, because
a caviar sandwich destroys the true taste of the product and also is
not well digested by the body. The classical serving of caviar is in a
special glass caviar dish (ikornitsa), which is put on ice in
podikornitsa - a supporting dish.
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