Trout roe

Œufs de truite

What it is

The rainbow trout is a Californian fish, shipped to European hatcheries in the 1880s and now the backbone of freshwater farming from the Pyrenees to Denmark. Its roe is stripped from live females that go back in the water, which is the whole difference between this and caviar.

In the kitchen

The cure is light and holds far less salt than salmon roe, so spoon it in where ikura would be too oily — into a hot potato, over a soft-boiled egg, across a beurre blanc. Once opened it lasts about four days, and do not salt it further: it is already at the limit.

Goes with

Egg Potato Crème fraîche Chives Cucumber Butter Dill

Same species

Ikura Mefun (salted salmon kidney) Sujiko

In season alongside

Pauillac lamb Japanese tilefish (amadai) Clam Lily bulb Haddock Olive flounder (hirame)

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