Kitchen Dictionary: caviar

Fish eggs (roe). Sturgeon row is the most expensive and "true" caviar, which comes in three varieties, starting with the finest: beluga (large, pea-size silvery-black eggs), osetra (medium-sized grey-brown eggs)and sevruga (small grey eggs). There are other less-expensive varieties: lumpfish has tiny hard black eggs, whitefish has small yellow eggs, and salmon or red caviar is medium-sized with orange to red eggs.

Ingredient

Season: available year-round

How to store: Caviar is extremely perishable and must be refrigerated constantly from the moment it leaves the fish. Pasteurized caviar has been cooked, and would not require refrigeration.

How to prepare: Serve very cold, in a bowl set on ice, usually presented with toast points, lemon wedges, hard-boiled eggs, sour cream and minced onion. Classically accompanied by vodka or champagne.

Matches well with: black bread, blini, cream, hard-boiled eggs, lemon, parsley, potatoes, shallots, smoked salmon, sour cream, toast, vodka