Intro
You right it's not a dish per se and there is nothing about cooking here. But in Russia, it is always present at the biggest celebrations and treated as the fanciest appetizer on a table. You'll find here direction on putting this appetizer together.
What is it
It's as simple as piece of bread with butter and caviar on it. Caviar itself is salted roe of big fish. Red caviar pictured here is a salmon roe. Usually we buy ready-to-eat salted caviar from russian store. But my brother sometimes makes his own caviar from fish bought from local fisherman.
How it's served
Serve it as an appetizer. It would resemble a perfect snack for russian person. Unexplainable, but we russians like to enjoy caviar bootterbrod with a cup of strong prefferrably sweet black tea (is it sweet-salty appeal thingy going on here?)
It's as simple as piece of bread with butter and caviar on it. Caviar itself is salted roe of big fish. Red caviar pictured here is a salmon roe. Usually we buy ready-to-eat salted caviar from russian store. But my brother sometimes makes his own caviar from fish bought from local fisherman.
How it's served
Serve it as an appetizer. It would resemble a perfect snack for russian person. Unexplainable, but we russians like to enjoy caviar bootterbrod with a cup of strong prefferrably sweet black tea (is it sweet-salty appeal thingy going on here?)
Some side comments
Having caviar on a table would definitely certify your financial stability in general. I remember some joke about woman chasing single roe that fell under the table... Sorry, I don't remember details of this joke :)
Having caviar on a table would definitely certify your financial stability in general. I remember some joke about woman chasing single roe that fell under the table... Sorry, I don't remember details of this joke :)
Word "bootterbrod" is commonly used in Russia for open-face style sandwich and resembles german-origin words for butter and bread. Even if not butter was used for it, it still would be bootterbrod in Russia.
How to store it
Bought from reliable store, it can be stored in a fridge for a few days. Here in US, it's sold in russian stores packed in small cans or as bulk product by weight.
Bought from reliable store, it can be stored in a fridge for a few days. Here in US, it's sold in russian stores packed in small cans or as bulk product by weight.
Variations
You can serve any kind of caviar the way cased below: black sturgeon's caviar (the most expensive), red salmon caviar and of course lump fish caviar which is very weak replica of its "big brothers" mentioned above.
Caviar bootterbrod
1 slice of good quality white bread (baguette works very well for me here)
dab of nice unsalted butter
about 1 tsp of caviar (remember, quantity certifies your financial stability, but optimal amount would be such as to spread caviar in one free-style layer :))
- Spread butter onto your bread and carefully place caviar one by one trying not to drop single one (kidding.. again..but something like this)
- Close your eyes and enjoy chewing slowly and carefully. If caviar is superb quality one you'll feel how each roe drop pops-up under you teeth (I have to admit that often caviar is not this fresh but, no worries, it is still enjoyable.)
..I was playing around making caviar row arrangements on my bootterbrod.. From this picture you also may notice that this time caviar was not that perfect quality I would wish for, it's not that plum, some roe is "dented" and looking dry ( I get my satisfaction from it anyway!). Whenever I come across the caviar that is great, I will take new pictures and place here for comparison. Agree?
My favorite!
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