It's critical that you get a VERY fresh skein of salmon or steelhead roe. Throw the sac into a 100F brine with 10% salt by weight for 30 minutes. Strain, reserving brine for later. Rinse eggs with warm water. Pull out ALL membranes, dipping in warm water as necessary, and using fine mesh strainer. There are membranes holding the skein together, but each egg also has a membrane. Shaking the eggs in a mesh strainer helps get their membranes to come off. Toward the end of this process, it helps to put all the eggs in a bowl and fill it with water, then swirl the water around. The loose membranes will float a bit, but the eggs will stay on the bottom, allowing you to skim the membranes off. Once all membranes are gone, return eggs to brine, stirring for a minute or two until transparent again. Strain well, then transfer to clean container. Refrigerate eggs for up to one week (two weeks tastes fine but the texture suffers).

If you want, it's pretty easy to flavor the brine (e.g. by smoking it) and the eggs will readily pick up the flavors. You can even use the normal brine for the main cure, then a flavored brine for the final soak.

Throw them on a piece of rye bread sauteed in butter and topped with creme fraiche. It's good garnished with a sprig of dill.

Posted by Barzelay on 2011/04/07 @ 1:08 | Comments (0) | Lazy Bear, Seafood