Well. Depends on age and type of fish. Sturgeon have to be females , 10 yrs old or older. I like cured salmon roe bit some are too young or too old but a good way to do an EZ CURE is:
1 Fresh Skein with Roe
1 gallon Hot water For rinsing
Salt Brine
1/2 cup Salt
3 cups cold water
Equipment
Large Bowl
Large holed sieve/colander
Glass Jar (for storage)
Set a large bowl in the sink, fill it with warm water and set a colander or sieve into it. Make one tear along 1 skein lengthwise exposing the roe inside.
Place the skein inside the colander and allow the warmth of the water help shrink the outside membrane of the skein and free up some of the fish eggs. The roe might become opaque in color, do not worry this is ok.
Gently, using your fingers continue freeing up more roe from the sack. When all of it is out, raise the sieve with the fish eggs up and down, rinsing out the impurities. Then pick out the rest of them by hand. You can drain the water and add more clean water to further clean out the roe. Remove the sieve with the roe to a clean dry bowl.
Meanwhile make the brine: in a bowl that would fit the sieve inside stir 3 cups water and 1/2 cup kosher salt until the salt is dissolved.
Lower the sieve with the cleansed roe into the brine. Allow to sit for several minutes or until it is salted to your liking. I kept the roe in the brine for about 3 minutes.
Raise the sieve from the brine and transfer the salmon caviar to a paper towel to absorb extra liquid. Then, transfer to a glass jar and refrigerate. I like a smoky flavor and am into smoking roe. Certain Trout and other types of roe are gross and some are prized! My favorite cheap roe is North Carolina or any Pacific NW trout roe. For expensive people used to love Beluga, they banned it for some time and I believe it still may be in place here. I have had it and I have to say, I like Osetra best. The biggest mistake is touching the eggs w metal. This is one time where plastic wins when handling the fish eggs. Of course the nice restaurants use creme fraiche and a blinis. I like to cure all the salmon meat and eggs.
Nothing like Salmon lox and Bagels w freshly smoked or cured roe. Heck, people eat Mullet Roe! It is a bright yellow/orange roe. They bread it and deep fry it of course. Someone offered it to me in Savannah!! Some crazy stuff. Smoked fish is great! Albacore tuna, Stugeon, salmon/artic char are some faves of mine.
I literally was booking my next trip to hit the Scandanavian Countries by Rail for 2022. They have some of the best fish/shellfish delicacies besides The USA. I could talk about this subject forever. When I was fishing in Soldotna Alaska for Kings/Red salmon last week in July years back and We had just got there. I caught a decent red and we were at the visitors center{they have a packed out area of fishermen side by side}. Well we were across from it at a RV Park and had a private little area. Let’s just say I got really lucky because all the fish were on my side. I drove over to the other side and cleaned a nice big, fat red salmon right on the decking area . I filetted the fish and made sushi, this group of like 20 Japanese tourists and some of my family devoted the whole fish in minutes. It was so fun. The Japanese went wild!! Literally!! They were so excited and were more affectionate than any kind of attention I get when over there. They were all chowing down {I brought wasabi and tamari but they just wanted it raw w nothing !! The best way. My uncles thought is was disgusting! Lol.
Max
Great story, great memories!!