Roe

[torakris]

pizza (from Domino's Japan)

ikura, smoked salmon, cream cheese and fresh basil

surprisingly good!

[peter_nyc]

An itamae at a local sushi restaurant here in New York offered me a sample of homemade ikura because he knew I was looking for sujiko to make my own (I still haven't found any ) What struck me was how much less salty it was compared to the stuff I'm used to (that comes from the fish monger the restaurant gets most of its fish from). Also, the eggs were much firmer and all still whole. Not chewy or viscous at all. I immediately tasted sake and verifed that indeed the chef had added sake to his marinade. I couldn't detect soy sauce and probably would have preferred a bit more.

Is it normal for good, fresh ikura to have a mild taste like this?

[torakris]

mine did!

Making it yourself really lets you play around with the flavor, mine wasn't salty at all. I like more of a sweeter soy taste which is why I added the mirin with quite a bit of soy sauce.

[peter_nyc]

Ok I know I've been really obsessive about the ikura thing lately, but today at my local sushi joint I was served something they called "nama ikura syuyuzuke" (or something close to that). The eggs were VERY MUCH tougher than I've ever had and seemed to be, well, al dente. Needless to say I found the experience a bit offputting; I absolutely love the standard run-of-the-mill packaged ikura that is much saltier and less firm. So was this a mistake in preparation or some other type of preparation I've never had? The "nama" makes me think that it's the latter since I'm under the impression that nama means unpasteurized.

[torakris]

Ok I know I've been really obsessive about the ikura thing lately, but today at my local sushi joint I was served something they called "nama ikura syuyuzuke" (or something close to that).  The eggs were VERY MUCH tougher than I've ever had and seemed to be, well, al dente.  Needless to say I found the experience a bit offputting; I absolutely love the standard run-of-the-mill packaged ikura that is much saltier and less firm.  So was this a mistake in preparation or some other type of preparation I've never had?  The "nama" makes me think that it's the latter since I'm under the impression that nama means unpasteurized. 

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It sounds like nama ikura shoyu-zuke. Shoyu is soy sauce and nama can have a couple meanings such as raw, fresh and even unripe.

I don't think I have ever eaten ikura that I would describe as tough or even al dente.

Could it have been sujiko?

[peter_nyc]

Could it have been sujiko?

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Actually, yes. The chef did mention it was sujiko, but I thought that just meant that he had prepared the ikura himself. Isn't all ikura made from sujiko? I think I'm a bit fuzzy on the relationship between sujiko and ikura.

[torakris]

I discussed ikura and sujiko on the Daily Nihongo thread a little while ago:

8/31:

筋子 sujiko

いくら ikura

These are both salmon roe. Sujiko are the eggs that are salted intact in the sac, while the ikura are removed from the sac, separated and then salted. The word ikura is from the Russian word for fish eggs, though in Russia apparently it is used to refer to all fish eggs. In Japan it is only used to refer to the eggs from salmon and trout.

While most people ar quite familiar with ikura, sujiko can be quite hard to find outside of Japan. It is also one of those foods that you tend to eat at home, I have rarely seen sujiko on a menu. Sujiko is quite different than ikura in that is is sold whole in the sac and is quite firm and somewhat sticky (for lack of a better word..), it often is cut into bite sized pieces with a knife before eating.

Though it is more common to purchase these already seasoned, sometimes you can find , 生筋子　nama sujiko (raw sujiko) and then you can make ikura at home.