Craving Caviar

Cocktail dresses and tuxedos, champagne bubbles and caviar — it's a black and white world when the holiday schmoozing season hits.

But this year even the best black-tie dinners may eschew the usual offerings of the Russian sturgeon's chic, salty roe. Because frankly Virginia, serving beluga caviar is not entirely PC.

Not only is the prehistoric fish that produces these coveted, glossy black eggs on the endangered species list, but the ongoing skullduggery in the caviar business means you might not be getting what you pay for when you shell out more than $100 an ounce for a bit of beluga for your blini.

The famous beluga sturgeon of the Caspian Sea — and related osetra and sevruga sturgeon — has all but disappeared due to pollution and over-fishing. But demand for their addictive eggs is as strong as ever, even as supplies dwindle and prices soar.

"The supply is extremely low for the very good beluga caviar and the price is very high," says Anthony Romans of Caviar Direct in Toronto's St. Lawrence Market.

"We sell the top caviar to customers in Europe for U.S. $11,000 a kilogram."

That kilogram is still a bargain in Canada at $5,000-$7,000. But with a 1-kg tin about the size of an extra-large hockey puck, it's no wonder there's a roaring business done in smuggling this precious commodity, or that poaching and adulterating caviar is rampant.

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union more than a decade ago, squabbles between the countries that border the Caspian Sea (Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan) and lack of regulation have led to an illegal traffic of Caspian caviar,

estimated to be ten times the $100 million legal trade. To stem the flow of illegal eggs, the UN's Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) stepped in to set quotas for caviar exports from these areas. While some countries, notably Iran, are following the CITES guidelines, others have been slow to meet CITES' management and reporting requirements. As a result, in September, CITES refused to issue 2004 export permits to several countries including Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

And the problems in the caviar business are not confined to the Caspian Sea. In the last four years, $121 million worth of illegal caviar has been seized in the U.S. and more than 30 individuals from 13 companies have been imprisoned on smuggling and fraud charges. In 2002, in that country's biggest wildlife trafficking case, Maryland-based Caviar & Caviar Ltd. was fined $10.4 million and its owner sentenced to 41 months in prison for selling cheap North American paddlefish eggs as pricey imported beluga caviar.

So while "legal" Caspian caviar is still available, conservation groups are asking consumers to give up Caspian Sea caviar altogether, at least until fish stocks recover. On their Caviar Emptor website (www.caviaremptor.org), The Natural Resources Defense Council, Wildlife Conservation Society and SeaWeb say the 27 species of Caspian sturgeon (including the famous caviar-producing beluga, osetra and sevruga) are on the brink of extinction and, they say, caviar from these fish should not be sold or consumed.

"It's absolutely in bad taste to eat the eggs of a fish that is in such dire straits, especially when there are alternatives," says SeaWeb President Vikki Spruill.

So what is a committed caviar lover to do? First, before you shell out a lot of money, make sure that the caviar you are buying is certified - bearing a CITES number and security stamp to insure that it comes from legally caught sturgeon.

Or, look for alternatives to imported caviar. The good news is that several companies, from California, Florida, Idaho and B.C., are getting into the sturgeon farming business, with the intent of creating a style of farmed caviar that rivals the best imports. Stolt Sea Farm in California has been getting positive reviews for its farmed caviar — its Sterling and Tzar Nicoulai brands available in the U.S. are half the price of imports.

In Canada, farming transmontanus sturgeon, or white sturgeon, is now underway in tanks or "raceways" in fresh water near Vancouver, so Canadian farmed caviar should be available soon.

In the meantime, there are other kinds of homegrown fish eggs to try.

Salmon roe, big red eggs that literally burst in the mouth, is a true West Coast Canadian sea product, available from B.C. suppliers. The smaller eggs of wild arctic char have a similar brilliant colour, while the crystal orange-coloured eggs of wild northern trout are a delicacy in Europe. The naturally bright yellow whitefish caviar — sold under the Arctic Caviar brand at $35/oz. — is a small, crisp and clean-tasting roe from northern Manitoba.

There's even a small annual supply of caviar from our own wild Canadian sturgeon — similar in size and colour to imported osetra — available through retailers like Caviar Direct (www.caviarforsale.com).

The crisis in the international caviar trade has had other positive fallout, too. Some caviar importers are taking extra steps to insure the imported caviar they sell is sustainable — including demanding DNA tests on the eggs to verify origin, and only buying caviar that's harvested without killing the fish.

Still, our taste for rare indulgences means connoisseurs will always pay for authentic beluga caviar, no matter what price or politics dictates. Caviar is one of the world's most luxurious foods, an indulgence first popularized by the Czars of Russia at the turn of the last century. It's said that the French Cristal champagne was created specifically for Tsar Alexander II to match this aristocratic nosh, the bubbles bursting like the briny eggs that pop on the tongue.

While Romans says the CITES ban has yet to affect caviar supplies in Canada, diminishing supplies will only make the best Beluga caviar even more expensive and rare as time goes by. Luckily, Caspian caviar is a delicacy we can do without, at least for awhile. So consider serving another fish roe with your bubbly — something festively red or strikingly yellow instead of the same old basic black. The sturgeon will thank you.

BLINIS
The blini is really nothing more than a tiny pancake made with buckwheat flour. Make these tiny, and cook them in a nonstick pan. They will freeze.

3/4 cup milk
1 package active dry yeast
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon sugar
Pinch of salt
2 large eggs, separated
3 tablespoons melted butter, divided

In a small saucepan, heat the milk over medium heat until just scalded (bubbles will appear around the edges). Remove from heat, cool to lukewarm and stir in the yeast. In a bowl, combine the flours, sugar and salt. Add the yeast mixture and stir to combine. Whisk in the egg yolks and 1 tablespoon of the melted butter. Set aside at room temperature for 1 hour.

In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold the egg whites into the batter to lighten it.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a nonstick pan over medium heat. Drop the batter, about a tablespoon at a time, onto the hot pan, forming tiny 1-2-inch pancakes. When bubbles start to break on top, flip the blinis and cook second side, about 1 minute. Remove blinis to a plate and continue cooking additional batches, adding more butter as needed.

Makes about 18 pancakes.

Crème Fraiche
Just a little more delicate than commercial sour cream, crème fraiche is simple to make.
2 cups (500 ml) heavy cream
1/2 cup sour cream

Whisk together in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 12 hours. Stir. When nicely thickened, place in a covered container and refrigerate up to two weeks.

Use a dollop on a blini, then top with caviar, egg and shallots.

Cinda Chavich is an award-winning wine, food, and travel wordsmith. Her work has appeared in major newspapers and magazines across North America. She's the author of several cookbooks, including High Plains, The Girl Can't Cook and The Guy Can't Cook. Her website is www.tastereport.com
This article originally appeared in the December 2004 issue of Wine Access.