Ever noticed that roe is a lot like opera? People either love or hate it. And most have made that decision having never experienced either.
As has been well documented in these tales, there are few things I won’t eat. My wife has way too many textural issues and subsequently misses out on a lot of tasty treats. Roe, in case you don’t know, is fish eggs. I am not talking about Beluga sturgeon caviar here, just plain old fish eggs. Or, as it reads in one restaurant’s menu we visited recently: ovum. YUM, give me some spaghetti with salty liquid filled pearls of ovum on top.
As I was saying, I happen to like roe. I like some kinds more than others. I frequently grab lunch at the little sushi shop around the corner. Usually I will get something called makisushi rolls. These are fifty-cent-piece sized pieces of rice wrapped in nori (seaweed – dried and dark black; not slimy and green) with a variety of things stuffed in the middle, usually some omelets style egg, some pickled bamboo, maybe some cucumber, and frequently a little roe. This variety is very small and has a reddish pink hue. My wife won’t eat these because they have the roe in them even though this particular kind of roe has almost no taste at all.
Currently, a larger roe, ikura or salmon roe is in season. These are nearly pearl size and have a translucent outside that has an orangish pinkish hue with a red dot on one side that makes them look a little like a bloodshot eye ball staring up at you. When you eat these, and smash them between your tongue and the roof of your mouth, you get a little squirt of salty goodness. I generally see these sprinkled on top of rice with crabmeat…also currently in season. Twice in the past week though, I have had this type of roe served as sushi. A small bit of vinegary rice, wrapped in nori, but with the sides extending up above the rice leaving a pocket for a slice of cucumber and some of these roe – quite tasty in this format with a touch of shoyu.
On Monday night, we ordered sushi. One of my most favorite things about Japan is that you can have fresh sushi delivered to your door the way you have pizza delivered in the States. And yes, I call the little sushi place on the corner Sushi Hut. The Sushi Hut on the corner is a McDonald’s grade sushi; fine for a quick lunch. For supper we order from a real sushi restaurant that is just two blocks away. We know what we like and usually order only those items. I was feeling adventuresome on Monday and ordered a mixed set. It had a rather unusal selection. There was a piece of squid. I have to admit that squid and octopus are acquired tastes; both depend on their respective tenderness. This always strikes me as a bizzarre comment since we are talking about cartilagenous animals. This place has good octopus, but thier squid is always a little chewier than I would like it to be. At least they don’t put a mint leaf on it like some places do. Textures I don’t mind; bizarre taste combinations are another issue though. (Yes I know, I am talking about things you wouldn’t even try and I am complaining about a little green leaf messing up my seafood.) There was a piece of salmon, two types of red tuna…always yummy! A lovely piece of snowcrab sushi. And a piece of sushi with two raw scallops on it. I love scallops. But I really prefer them cooked. My wife had ordered her usual tuna rolls and cucumber rolls. And then there were three more unusual items in the obento: the ikura as sushi – mentioned above; uni sushi – the roe of the sea urchin; and kazu no ko – the salted roe of herring.
The uni sushi came the same way the ikura sushi came – with a little pocket where the roe sat on a cucumber. Uni is a teaish orange color glob of paste. When really fresh, like on Monday, it has a very subtle, almost sweet taste to it. I have had crab roe presented this way also … more of a dark greenish bile type color, with a softer paste consistency and a pungent taste. The uni, I eagerly devour in season. Once was more than enough on the crab roe.
Then came the kazu no ko. Kazu no ko is traditionally eaten over New Years, and served with a bit a shoyu and something called katsu-bushi, a kind of relish (for lack of a better way to translate it) made with dried fish. When asking friends about this, a number of them replied that they were surprised that it was served in a sushi style. And the majority of our friends commented that it was disgusting tasting and they refuse to eat it. If only they had been around to warn me while I was having supper Monday night. Kazu no ko is herring roe, which can be purchased fresh or after it has been soaked in salt. Apparently the salt bath is needed to remove the sack from around eggs. My piece of sushi had undergone the latter method of preparation. My first thought was that someone had forgotten to paint a piece of plastic and accidentily dropped it on top of my rice. I poked with my chopsticks at the long thin conical shaped pale yellow piece of something that could only be made by some bizarre combo of plastic and rubber. There are certain things you expect when eating sushi. You expect firmness from the ones topped with fish; you expect a little crunch when your sushi has vegetables on or in it; you expect anything with roe to have some degree of saltiness; you expect the omelets style egg and the tofu crust to be a bit sweet. You do NOT expect your sushi that is actually roe, to taste and break apart in your mouth the way a paraffin seal inside a jar of homemade canned jelly would taste. Do I really need to tell you that it went in, and then after it broke apart in my mouth, it came right back out. I guess there are other benefits of ordering sushi at home.
Also, there is another kind of roe called tarako. This is a roe that is very popular on pasta. A large company in Japan, Kewpie, uses a doll as its label symbol. For their version of the tarako topping that you can buy in a bag, they have an interesting set of commercials including the tara, tara, tara, tarako song. The tune is just as catchy as the roe is tasty!
Originally posted on March 9, 2007