Word: caviar
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Some people spread it on lightly buttered toast as a holiday treat. Others wrap it in blinis with a dollop of sour cream. But purists insist that the best way to eat beluga caviar is straight off a golden or ivory spoon, followed by a shot of vodka or a sip of ice-cold champagne. For those who can afford to shell out $450 for a 125-gram tin, these precious salted sturgeon eggs are a taste of the true Western high life?a chance to indulge like the Russian czars and czarinas, who feasted regularly on fine caviar...
...demand for beluga caviar has led not just to illegal imports of what some call black gold but also to a rash of false labeling. Arkady Panchernikov, whose Caspian Star Caviar handled some 60% of the caviar imported into the U.S., pleaded guilty last month to six counts of fraud and trafficking without permits for falsely labeling inferior grades of caviar as beluga. "Most of the caviar in the country has been brought in illegally," says Edward Grace, the Wildlife Service special agent who investigated the case...
...Caspian caviar gets harder to come by, all sorts of alternatives are popping up. Scientists can't get their hands on enough beluga sturgeon to start breeding them in the U.S. (there are fewer than five in the 50 states), but America does have its own natural population of sturgeon and sturgeon-like fish. Roe from native white sturgeon and its close cousin, the paddlefish, is becoming increasingly popular. Stolt Sea Farm, near Sacramento, Calif., has boosted production of its Sterling-brand caviar from farmed white sturgeon from 50 lbs. in 1995 to more than 12,000 lbs. a year...
Persuading customers to give up the real thing has not been easy. Even at $30 to $75 an ounce, "it's perceived as cheaper and not as good," says Chuck Edwards, Stolt's sales and marketing manager. That perception is changing. As caviar snobbery gives way to environmental concerns, some top chefs are giving up not only on beluga but on the closely related osetra and sevruga caviars from the same region. More than 100 U.S. chefs and retailers have signed a letter to Interior Secretary Gail Norton supporting a beluga ban. Among them is Rick Moonen, former chef...
...always had Caspian caviar on my menus," says Moonen. "It was the benchmark of what caviar was supposed to be." But when Moonen noticed a decline in the quality of Caspian caviar a few years ago, he started shopping for alternatives. His menu currently features Blue Island oysters with cucumber sorbet and paddlefish roe. He also offers patrons sea-urchin custard with champagne foam and rainbow-trout caviar. Next up: buckwheat waffles with Sterling caviar. Purists would be appalled, but if that's what it takes to ensure the survival of an ancient sea creature, it may be worth...