Comments on: Help me figure out this Mystery Roe

Question: Help me figure out this Mystery Roe

qvtqht — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:54:46 -0800

A few weeks ago, I ate a strange sushi made with a large black roe. Does anyone know what it is?

A friend was at a Japanese restaurant in Brooklyn and picked up an order for me too. Among other things, I asked for a piece of salmon roe sushi.

They said that they were out of salmon roe, but they have _____, and it was just delivered, so it is really fresh, and would be a good substitute.

_____ turned out to be something very dark, if not black. It looked a little bigger than any salmon roe I've seen. It tasted similar to salmon roe, but sweeter. It seemed very fresh indeed. There was no fishy taste at all, but fresh salmon roe doesn't have a fishy taste either.

It did not look dyed, but I could be wrong about that.

Has anyone encountered anything like this? Any idea what it was? I liked it, and wouldn't mind eating some more in the future.

By: 6:1

6:1 — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:05:11 -0800

Kind of on the side--anyway you can call the restaurant and ask? I'm sure they get this kind of question frequently!

By: spec80

spec80 — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:08:20 -0800

Seconding 6:1. Plus, they are your best bet to getting the dish again.

By: bread-eater

bread-eater — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:09:14 -0800

Tobiko? I think it is pretty common, so you should be able to get it again.

By: qvtqht

qvtqht — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:35:28 -0800

bread-eater: Tobiko is much smaller than salmon roe.

6:1: I will call the restaurant if I remember or find out the name, but I currently can't. Otherwise, that would be my first step.

By: chairface

chairface — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:37:12 -0800

Tobiko is usually orange and very tiny. It is the orange "sparkles" you often see on sushi. I've never seen red or black tobiko but I have to believe bread-eater's post that they exist.

By: aubilenon

aubilenon — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:39:00 -0800

Tobiko is only orange because it's dyed that way, FWIW.

By: fixedgear

fixedgear — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:47:32 -0800

Herring roe looks like a grapefruit section. It's not the right time of year for shad roe. Sturgeon caviar?

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:51:48 -0800

Was it Paddlefish caviar? (Very yummy, salty and pretty big) That link has other caviar photos too.

By: qvtqht

qvtqht — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:16:17 -0800

CunningLinguist: Based on what I can gather from GIS, Paddlefish caviar is smaller than salmon? I only saw a few pictures of them side by side.

By: 6:1

6:1 — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:22:08 -0800

My bad--I thought you and/or your friend had the name of the restaurant. Sorry.

By: fan_of_all_things_small

fan_of_all_things_small — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:14:33 -0800

I did a search for black fish eggs in Japanese and I got a page that lists something called "Chorunaya Ikura" or "caviar." Sounds like it was the sturgeon type that we in the U.S. know as caviar.

Here's the page in Japanese: http://www.hokuyou1.co.jp/mentaiko.html

It says the name "Chorunaya Ikura" derives from the words for "black fish eggs" in Russian.

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 07:41:19 -0800

Based on what I can gather from GIS, Paddlefish caviar is smaller than salmon?

I've seen different sizes, some pretty large, but not sure I've seen bigger than salmon roe.

By: Rash

Rash — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:03:53 -0800

Tobiko is only orange because it's dyed that way, FWIW.

Really? Once I saw green tobiko, heavily wasabi-tasting, so I assumed the wasabi somehow tinted the orange green. If it's dyed orange, what color is natural tobiko?

As for the question, my guess is sturgeon cavier (but like sardines, bluefish and anchovy, I've never heard of that being served in a sushi bar, but sounds all right by me).

By: qvtqht

qvtqht — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:32:56 -0800

fan_of_all_things_small: "Chornaya Ikra", at least in Russian, generally refers to the smaller sturgeon roe.

I have since located, and even visited this place, and asked them about it. They said it was some kind of special salmon roe, but I couldn't get much more info due to the language barrier between me and the hostess. I could have asked the chef, but I had other things on my mind at the time.