Curing Roe of Callipeva
Ingredients
Directions
Cure
Rub the roe well with coarse sea salt and a little nitre.
Stack the roe on top of each other and compress with a heavy weight.
Smoke
Make an altar of green boughs and cover the top with more green branches.
Fill the inside with straw and fresh leaves, then ignite them.
Place the roe on top and cover with green boughs.
Allow to smoke for six or seven days, ensuring the fire smolders.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Roe of callipeva
- Forms the main body of the dish, becoming firm and concentrated as it cures and smokes.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out moisture and firms the roe, helping preserve it during curing.
- Nitre
- Helps preserve the roe and gives it a stable, cured character during curing.
- Straw
- Provides the fuel base that smoulders to produce smoke for flavour and drying.
- Fresh leaves
- Adds aromatic smoke that flavours the roe as it smolders.
The step that matters
Keep the fire smouldering. Slow smouldering produces steady, cool smoke that dries and flavours the roe without cooking it. Flames or excess heat would char the roe and spoil the cure over the six or seven days.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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