How to Serve and Eat Caviar

Caviar service is short on rules that matter and long on rules invented to sell accessories. These are the ones that change how the tin tastes.

Temperature

Store caviar at −2 to 0 °C (28–32 °F) — colder than a normal refrigerator setting, which is why the back of the bottom shelf is the right place. Serve it cold, in the tin, set into a bowl of crushed ice. Take it out of the fridge about ten minutes before serving: straight from the cold the aroma is closed, and warm caviar turns oily within twenty minutes.

Never freeze sturgeon caviar. Ice crystals rupture the membrane and the grain collapses into paste on thawing. Salmon roe survives freezing considerably better, which is the one exception worth knowing.

The spoon is not a gimmick

Use mother-of-pearl, bone, horn, glass, or gold. Avoid silver and stainless steel: reactive metals give the roe a distinct metallic edge, and silver in particular tarnishes on contact with the eggs. This is the one piece of caviar equipment that genuinely earns its place — a mother-of-pearl spoon costs very little and measurably changes what you taste.

Serve directly from the tin or from a glass bowl over ice. Do not decant into metal.

How much per person

For a tasting portion alongside other food, budget 15–30 g (½–1 oz) per person. For caviar as a course in its own right, 50 g per person. A 30 g tin is one person's serving; a 125 g tin comfortably serves four as a course.

When serving several varieties, taste from lightest and least salty to darkest and most intense, exactly as you would with wine. Cleanse with plain water or a neutral cracker between tins — not with lemon.

What to put it on

Blini and crème fraîche are the classic vehicle and they work: a warm buckwheat blini, a thin smear of crème fraîche, caviar on top. Unsalted toast points, plain boiled new potatoes, and thick unsalted potato chips all work for the same reason — a mild starch that carries salt and fat without competing.

The traditional garnishes of chopped egg, raw onion, and lemon are a legacy of the era when much of the product on sale was poor. They were designed to conceal, and with a good tin they only obliterate. If you are serving high-grade caviar, serve it on the back of your hand or on a neutral starch and leave it alone.

The hand test

Place a small spoonful on the soft skin between thumb and index finger, let it warm for a couple of seconds, then eat it straight off. Skin is close to body temperature and completely neutral, so the aroma opens and nothing competes. It is the standard way professionals assess a tin, and it is the fastest way to learn what a variety actually tastes like.

Opening and finishing a tin

Open the tin at the table, immediately before serving. Once opened, caviar should be eaten the same day — two days at the absolute limit, with the surface pressed flat, the lid replaced, and the tin sealed and kept at the coldest point of the fridge. Oxygen is the enemy: a half-empty tin left open overnight will taste noticeably duller.

Common questions

What temperature should caviar be served at?

Store at −2 to 0 °C (28–32 °F) and serve cold in the tin over crushed ice, taken out of the fridge about ten minutes beforehand. Never freeze sturgeon caviar.

Why can't you use a metal spoon for caviar?

Reactive metals — silver and stainless steel especially — impart a metallic taste and silver tarnishes on contact with the roe. Use mother-of-pearl, bone, horn, glass, or gold.

How much caviar per person?

15–30 g (½–1 oz) per person as part of a larger spread, or 50 g per person if caviar is its own course. A 30 g tin is a single serving.

Should you eat caviar with lemon and onion?

Not with good caviar. Chopped egg, onion, and lemon were introduced to mask poor-quality product. A fine tin is best eaten plain, on the hand, or on an unsalted neutral starch.