Caviar

Know this

Caviar is sturgeon roe and nothing else; everything else is roe, however pretty the tin. Nearly all of it is farmed now, which is why there is no season any more, only an occasion. Osetra is nutty and golden-brown, Kaluga is big and buttery, white sturgeon is clean and mild, and malossol on the label means lightly salted, which is what you want. The eggs should be whole, glossy and separate, never mushy or milky. Chef secret: open the tin ten minutes early, set it on ice, and taste the first eggs off the back of your hand. Skin-warm is where the flavor opens up, and a tin that smells of anything but clean sea goes back.

Cook

A mother-of-pearl, bone or plastic spoon, because metal oxidizes the eggs and you taste it. Thirty grams a head is a proper taste, fifty is generous. Press the eggs to the roof of your mouth and let them break; chewing wastes them. Blini and crème fraîche are the classic, a good potato chip is the honest version.

Season

An occasion, not a month. Farmed sturgeon is harvested year-round, so buy it for the night. Keep the tin at the back of the coldest shelf and finish it within three days of opening.

Best pairings

Crème fraîche · Blini · Potato chips · Egg · Chive · Brioche

Also worth trying: butter, oysters, lemon, new potatoes, champagne, vodka.

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