The book "Food and Cooking" says: "The ovaries or 'roe' of fish accumulate a large number of eggs to be produced, as many as 20,000 salmon alone, and millions of sturgeon, carp or anchovies, because a cell needs to develop into a small fish, all the nutrients in the eggs are available, so the nutrients of the eggs are more concentrated than the meat of the fish, contain higher fat, and a lot of delicious amino acids and nucleic acids." ”
Masago Yanagi Kagome (Masago)
Usually inexperienced people, it is easy to confuse flying fish eggs with willow leaf eggs, which are made from several species of fish under the courgfish family, including long-body oil courgette (willow leaf fish) in the area of Japanese waters, albacore oil courgette fish from the Pacific coast of the Americas, and mackerel from Iceland/Norway/Canada, etc. Commonly known as multi-spring (膥) fish, "ㄔㄨㄣ" means egg or egg, that is, fish eggs are very abundant.
The color of the multi-spring fish eggs is very similar to the flying fish eggs, but if you look closely, you will find that it is smaller in particles and has a different taste, it is not so crisp, and the flavor is slightly bitter in comparison.
In many countries, including Taiwan, the United States or Japan, it has become the norm for sushi restaurants to use willow leaf fish eggs instead of flying fish eggs, but some people have also used them as fakes. "Because flying fish roe is much more expensive, explains Masashi Ito, chef at Sushi Zo, a popular Japanese restaurant in New York.
Hawaiian rolls made of willow leaf fish eggs
In addition, the reason why many shrimp cloves are so cheap is actually replaced by willow leaf fish eggs, and even the local cheap sushi in Japan uses the same method, which is an open secret.
Kazunoko's Egg (Number Child)
Another type of fish roe often used in Japanese and European cuisine, herring eggs, are tender yellow or pink, firm and crisp, and squeaky when chewed. Usually with the salt-pickled method, the eggs stick to a ball after being pickled, which may seem like a normal slice of fish from a distance. Can be enjoyed as a grip sushi or directly as Sashimi.
Herring roe sushi
Obiko Egg
Flying fish eggs are common, measuring about 0.5 to 0.8 cm in size and are pale yellow in natural colour, but are often dyed orange-red, with a mild smoky or salty taste and a hint of sweetness, crisp and granular.
Flying fish roe is sometimes made from other ingredients to add rich color and flavor, such as black cuttlefish juice, yellow Japanese grapefruit, red beetroot, green wasabi, etc. In addition to being often used to decorate sushi rolls, such as California rolls, flying fish eggs are often made into warship rolls, or cucumber cuts into cup shapes, avocado cuts, and filled with fish eggs, which are also very refreshing and delicious.
Flying roe dyed black and orange-red
Ikura Egg (Salmon Roe)
Salmon eggs are certainly more familiar to everyone, their particles are much larger than the above two kinds of fish eggs, the color is bright orange, the surface layer is somewhat viscous, and it is fragile than the above fish eggs, and it can be pinched with a little force, and the egg juice full of seafood, salty and sweet is flowing. Most of them are made with salt, cooking sake, kelp stock and other condiments, and the recipes are different.
Salmon roe can also be used as a substitute for traditional luxury sturgeon caviar, usually paired with Russian crepes and yogurt. "The Russians pioneered the salmon caviar in the 1830s, a translucent caviar with large eggs and a bright pink hue, another delicious but relatively inexpensive alternative." The book Food and Cooking also includes a special explanation.
Salmon roe turns white during cleaning, and after marinating, it returns to its orange-red transparent color
Sujiko Sujiko
In fact, ikura and sujiko are also salmon eggs, the difference is whether it is coated with ovarian membranes. The above ikura is to remove the ovarian membrane while cleaning, leaving the granular fish eggs for pickling. Sujiko, on the other hand, is a string of salmon eggs that retain the entire ovarian membrane after being removed from salmon belly, and the whole string of pickles is attached.
Salmon roe clear
As a result, the appearance and taste are different, the raw tendons have a bright red to dark red color, while the granular salmon roe is a brighter orange-red color. In terms of taste, some people prefer raw tendons, saying that the taste is more fresh and sweet. In addition, raw tendons can be prepared with a film or scraped off fish eggs into a variety of dishes.
Tarako Egg
Tarako refers to the original version of cod roe made of salting, which means cod in Japanese, while ko refers to eggs or eggs, and must be made from the eggs of real cod to be called taroko. Most of these eggs are strips covered by ovarian membranes, with a yellowish, nude complexion and a light pink color. It is often eaten as bibimbap for breakfast in Japan, or as a classic Japanese foreign dish, cod roe pasta.
Original cod roe
Mentaiko Mentaiko
The popular Ming Taizi is also marinated with real cod roe, if tarako is the original version of cod roe, Ming Taizi is processed spicy version, made of a variety of condiments, chili sauce, according to the seasoning method, resulting in a finished product with different flavors.
Original (top), spicy (bottom) cod roe
In addition, in Korea, the real cod is called the Mingtai fish, and the Korean after the tide of the Mingtai fish has been transmitted to Japan through trade in the past, forming a foreign language usage. Fish eggs of various colors, ranging from pale pink to bright red, can be seen in the market due to the different processing methods of each manufacturer. Because it is a processed food, it is also necessary to pay attention to the use of pigments and other related additives. Also known in Japan as karashi mentaiko, karashi means spicy, giving it a more complete meaning.
The way to eat Prince Ming is changeable, roughly the same as tarako (original cod roe), and can also be made into Prince Ming rice balls, spicy Prince Ming Noodles, Ming Prince Tea Rice, etc., or simply with white rice to enjoy the refreshing spicy and delicious, and some people in Japan will enjoy it with sake.
Ming Prince Egg Roll
And no matter where, there will always be a "mixed version" of Prince Ming, that is, a small proportion of cod roe mixed with cheap willow leaf fish eggs, usually clearly marked but not a big problem, as long as you know that the taste of tarako and mentaiko is very delicate and smooth, the roe will spread out on the tip of the tongue, if you encounter a clear grain, bite up and crunch, it may be a mixed version.
Video of the whole process of removing the roe:
In addition, there are also counterfeit fish roe on the market.
The news mentioned that from the appearance point of view, the real crab roe and shrimp roe, fish roe is very similar, but also a granular shape, the layman is difficult to distinguish, but for the insider, want to distinguish the true and false is not difficult, the most intuitive feeling is that the size is different. Experts said that the size of real crab seeds is like mung beans, and the size of these crab seeds bought by the reporter is like a small grain of rice, which can be distinguished with the naked eye. So these crab seeds bought from Japanese restaurants are definitely not real crab seeds, and they can certainly be a complete cottage product.
In other words, the crab seed is actually crab yellow, that is, the eggs excreted by the mother crab, so the color should be consistent with the crab yellow, showing a pale yellow, as for the orange red crab seed used in many Japanese restaurants in Xi'an, it should be a fish roe product that has been artificially dyed.
The reporter inquired on the Internet, the price of a pound of flying fish roe is 35 yuan, and the price of a pound of crab roe is about 120 yuan, a price difference of four times, consumers with Japanese restaurants spent a high price, did not expect to be late is cheap fish roe, in the high-end environment, most consumers are unaware of this. In addition, the pigmented fish roe is very likely to affect the health of the human body, so the public is also invited to choose carefully when eating at Japanese restaurants, and do not use these dyed fake crab seeds.