Carp Roe

Carp has been a mainstay of human diet in many parts of the world - The Chinese, who were probably the first to seriously engage with the farming of carp are still the world leaders in production and consumption, although carp are farmed on most continents.

Carp vary in flesh quality depending on the species, but most produce very tasty pink roe, which is considered an important food in its own right. Carp roe is prepared in a range of styles - sometimes the entire roe sacs are cured whole, either by smoking or brining. Most Europeans are probably more familiar with it in the style of the Greek dish, Taramosalata. This smooth pink dipping sauce is a mix of fish roe, olive oil, lemon juice and herbs. Tarama being a generic term for fish roe (simply "fish eggs" in Greek) - It used to be reserved for the eggs of their favoured mullet, however these days, due to cost, it is generally carp or increasingly, imported cod roe.

There are a large number of carp species, several of which have been selected for farming- silver carp, grass carp, common carp, and bighead carp. The Silver carp (Hypopthalmichthys molitrix) is currently one of the most widely raised food fish in the world. Originally native to the colder waters of the northern Amur river basin in China (49°- 50° N). They have been widely introduced into European and Israeli waters for algae control and as a food source. The huge asset of the carp, which makes them a popular choice for aquaculture, is their ability to survive in shallow, muddy and low-oxygenated water, often surviving on the vegetarian diet of algae.

Recipe: tunny and carp roe omelette

Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, in his nineteenth century gourmet classic, La Physiologie du gout devoted several pages to the special merit of a particular tunny and carp roe omelette.

The recipe portion of this account, in the words of Anne Drayton's English translation is as follows:

"Take, for six persons, two soft carp's roes [i.e. the entire roe sac], wash well, and blanch for five minutes in slightly salted boiling water. Have ready a piece of fresh tunny, about the size of a hen's egg, and a small shallot, cut in pieces. Chop up and mix well the roes and the tunny, place the whole in a pan with a sizeable piece of the best butter, and fry until the butter is thoroughly melted. This is what gives the omelette its special flavour. Then take a second piece of butter, at discretion, mix parsley and chives into it, and place in the fish-shaped dish intended for the omelette; squeeze the juice of one lemon over it, and place on the fire. Next beat up twelve eggs (the fresher the better); add the fried roe and tunny, and mix thoroughly. Then cook the omelette in the usual way, taking care to make it long, thick and soft. Turn it out neatly into a dish prepared as above, and serve at once.

This dish is to be reserved for special breakfasts, gatherings of connoisseurs who know what they are about and eat deliberately; if it washed down with good old wine, wonders will be seen"

He ends with some "Theoretical Notes"

1. The roe and tunny should be fried lightly and not allowed to brown, or they will harden, which would prevent them from mixing well with the eggs.
2. The dish should be hollow [presumably, not flat], to allow the sauce to collect so that it can be served with a spoon.
3. The dish should be slightly warmed, for if it were cold the porcelain would draw the heat out of the omelette, leaving too little to melt the maitre d'hotel sauce on which it rests.

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