What To Eat With Caviar – The 9 Best Accompaniments
Caviar is delicious, but you wouldn’t just eat it by the jarful on its own. It is much better when it is paired with something that brings out that smooth, rich, buttery taste.
In this post, we’re going to take a look at some of the best foods to eat caviar with. We’ll walk you through appetisers, mains and even drinks, so if you want to break out a jar of the black gold at your next dinner party or meal, you’ll know exactly what to serve it with.
Enjoy.
Serving Sizes For Caviar
Before you learn how to serve caviar, you need to know about serving sizes. Too much can be too overbearing and detract from the accompaniment, while too little means the caviar is overshadowed by everything else.
It’s all about finding the right balance, and we think the following serving guide is the best to follow:
| Number of Guests | TSP |
|---|---|
| 1 – 2 | 30g |
| 2 – 3 | 50g |
| 4 – 6 | 100g |
| 10 – 12 | 250g |
| 20 – 25 | 500g |
| 45 – 50 | 100g |
What Hors D’oeuvre To Eat With Caviar
Hors d’oeuvres are the perfect way to start any dinner party or event. They’re little mouthfuls of joy that add a touch of class and sophistication and warm the tastebuds up nicely for the mains. Caviar has been the king of hors d’oeuvre for as long as dinner parties have been a thing. Below are some of the best foods to serve caviar with:
Smoked Salmon Blini Topped With Caviar
A blini is a teeny tiny pancake that pairs beautifully with fish for the most tasty hors d’oeuvre. Heralding from Eastern Europe, this small pancake is similar to a crepe only in the size of a cracker and made mainly from buckwheat. It has a neutral flavour profile that lends itself to both sweet and savoury toppings. In this case, we’re going for the savouriness of smoked salmon and caviar.
It’s a match made in heaven – the softness of the blini goes so well with the fresh, smokiness of the salmon. On top of both you put a small serving of caviar that adds richness to the dish. The saltiness brings out more of the smoked salmon flavour without being too overpowering. It’s a fishy delight that can be eaten in one mouthful or savoured in a few bites.
Crostini With Caviar
Crostinis are the ideal way to make use of old loaves of French bread. Place them under a grill and get them nice and crusty, ready to be spread with caviar.
The butteriness of high-quality caviar means it can almost be spread atop a crostini like a tapenade. Its saltiness goes so well with the bread while the charred parts of the crostini to stop it from tasting too salty. More importantly, this pairing takes care of an underrated element of eating caviar; the texture. Mixing different textures helps you enjoy a more well-rounded eating experience and this provides some added crunch to go with the softness of your caviar.
Deviled Eggs With Caviar
We have a full recipe for caviar deviled eggs that’s well worth reading through if you want to serve this appetiser at your next event. It’s a go-to addition to any dinner party as you’re taking a classic appetiser and adding an element of class to it. The saltiness cuts through the tanginess of these eggs and sets your mouth abuzz with feelings. It’s a highly moreish taste sensation, so you may want to prepare more of these than expected as the guests will keep coming back for a second or third!
What to learn more about caviar? Then check out our post with 9 fun facts about caviar.
What Mains To Have With Caviar
People associate caviar with starters or appetisers, but it can be part of some excellent main courses too. Here are three stunning ways to serve your caviar with some mains:
Sushimi & Sashimi
Sushimi or Sashimi is a Japanese dish made up of fresh raw fish or meat. It’s often served as part of a sushi platter and can be dipped into various sauces. Caviar is eaten raw, so it makes a wonderful pairing here. You can play around with other elements of sashimi to make it taste right, but we think it pairs exceptionally well with raw salmon.
Get your rolled-up sushi rice, lay a thin chunk of salmon on top and then finish with a dab of caviar. The aim of the game with sashimi is to create freshness in your mouth and let the food’s natural flavours co-mingle. Throwing in some caviar elevates the freshness to new levels and brings out more salty flavours from the salmon and rice while adding a rich buttery goodness.
Grilled Halibut With A Dollop Of Caviar
Halibut is a tender and flaky fish that takes on flavours and is best enjoyed grilled. Ensure you get the proper grill lines on the fish so it has a charred aftertaste, then be sure to add a generous dollop of caviar either on the side or on top.
The beauty of this combo lies in halibut’s versatility. It’s always a fairly mild and sweet fish, so having extra saltiness from caviar brings the flavour profile together. When served with a dash of lemon for more acidity, you’re basically hitting all the main taste notes for a well-rounded dish.
Beef Tenderloin With A Dollop Of Caviar
Caviar is largely used alongside other fish or with quite plain bases to create a gorgeous dish. However, it goes surprisingly well with a top-quality beef tenderloin.
The fun thing here is that you can play around with how you cook and serve the beef. You can go down the traditional route and serve it raw as a tartar with the caviar. This has been a staple of high-end French cuisine for generations, and the richness of the raw beef and caviar mingle so well together.
Alternatively, lightly sear the beef tenderloin in a pan and cut it into thin slices to serve with a dollop of caviar. The residual heat from the beef almost makes it feel like the caviar is melting in your mouth when you have a bite. There’s no other way to describe it other than that it tastes like true luxury.
What Drinks To Have With Caviar
All good foods taste better when paired with the right drink. The unique flavour profile of caviar lends itself to a few specific drinks, such as the three below:
Champagne
You can’t have caviar without champagne; the two were simply made for one another. Aside from both being expensive treats, the acidity of champagne cuts through the buttery savouriness of caviar and makes both things taste better.
Chilled Vodka Martini
Caviar has a rich, fatty taste with an undercurrent of saltiness, making it a great counterpart to a chilled vodka martini. The drink’s high alcohol content merges with all the caviar flavours and prevents them from being too much. It accentuates the taste of caviar and makes you truly appreciate this delicacy.
Dry White Wine
Sometimes, you can’t beat a good dry white wine for your caviar pairing. It has to be dry as this provides more zing to the drink. The sourness works in tandem with caviar’s saltiness and you achieve a true taste balance.
Bon Appetit!
Finding the right caviar pairing is critical to getting the most from this expensive delicacy. If you’re spending a lot of money on something, you need to be sure it tastes amazing! We’ve run through loads of excellent pairing ideas, and the general rule is to pick things that balance out the salty richness of caviar. Find things that are sweet, fresh or offer a bit of acidity to stop caviar from being overpowering so you (and your guests) get the ultimate experience.