Ikura

Œufs de saumon (ikura)

What it is

Ikura is a Russian word — икра means roe of any kind — taken into Japanese in the Taishō era, when producers in Hokkaido copied the Russian method of salting salmon eggs. In Japanese it narrowed to one meaning: eggs freed from the membrane, as opposed to sujiko, which is the whole sac salted intact.

In the kitchen

Free the eggs in hand-hot 3 % brine rather than cold water — the membrane relaxes and lets go in a minute — then cure them only two to four hours in soy, sake and mirin. Left overnight they toughen and turn flatly salty.

Goes with

Rice Nori Soy sauce Wasabi Shiso Cucumber Junmai sake Daikon

Same species

Mefun (salted salmon kidney) Trout roe Sujiko

Also used with

Northern sweet shrimp Koshihikari rice

In season alongside

Lobster coral Japanese abalone Bonito (katsuo) Scallop coral Brown crab Cuttlefish

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