Caviar is salted sturgeon roe. If it is not from a sturgeon it is roe, not caviar - salmon roe, trout roe and lumpfish are different products and should not be priced like caviar.

How much caviar should a beginner buy?

A 20g tin, which is a tasting portion for one or two people in one evening. At Caviaro a 20g Huso Hybrid starts at HK$236. Buy less than you expect - an unopened tin keeps, an opened one lasts three days.

What does malossol mean on a caviar tin?

Malossol means lightly salted. Salt is how caviar is preserved, and using less of it lets the flavour of the roe come through instead of the cure. It is a description of the cure, not a grade or a brand.

Why should you not eat caviar with a metal spoon?

Steel reacts with the roe and leaves a tinny, metallic taste that people mistake for the caviar being off. Use mother-of-pearl, plastic, or the back of your hand.

How do you serve caviar at home?

A cold tin, a mother-of-pearl spoon, and something plain to put it on - a crisp, a boiled potato, a soft-boiled egg - or eat it neat. Set the tin on a small bowl of ice to keep it cold on the table. Blinis and crystal are optional.

New to Caviar? Here's the Beginner's Guide Nobody Gives You

Aurelia Lam

Aug 8

3 min read

Updated: 4 days ago

Most caviar guides are written for people who already eat caviar. They start at grades and vintages and lose you by the third paragraph.

This one starts where you actually are: you have never bought it, you are not sure what to ask for, and you do not want to spend real money on something you might get wrong.

First, the thing nobody says out loud

Caviar is salted sturgeon roe. That is the whole definition.

If it is not from a sturgeon, it is not caviar — it is roe, and it should be labelled as what it is. Salmon roe, trout roe and lumpfish are all perfectly good things. They are not caviar, and they should not be priced like it.

So the first question for any shop is simply: which sturgeon? If they cannot answer, you are not shopping for caviar.

The four names you need

That is it. Four. You can ignore everything else until you care.

Siberian Baerii — smaller, darker pearls. Mild and buttery. The gentlest introduction.
Huso Hybrid — a Kaluga and Amur cross. Large, glossy, amber-to-golden pearls. Creamy, buttery, nutty. The one most first-timers enjoy most.
Russian Ossetra — medium pearls, golden brown to mahogany. The classic nutty flavour. More pronounced.
Kaluga — from a 25-year fish. The prestige one, and priced for the years.

At Caviaro the first three start at HK$236 and Kaluga starts at HK$316. All of them come in 20g, 30g or 50g.

What "malossol" means

You will see it on tins and it sounds technical. It means lightly salted.

Salt is how caviar is preserved, and less of it means the flavour of the roe comes through instead of the cure. Malossol is the standard you want. It is not a grade or a brand — it is a description of how much salt went in.

Ignore the grade names

Imperial. Supreme. Premium. Royal.

None of these are regulated. There is no body that defines them. Every brand sets its own scale, which means a "Supreme" at one shop and a "Supreme" at another have no relationship to each other at all.

Species, the age of the fish, grain size, salt level and freshness are real. The adjective on the lid is marketing. You can stop worrying about it permanently.

How much to buy

20g is a tasting portion — one or two people, one evening.

30g is a small dinner, three or four people having a proper spoonful each.

50g is for people who will go back for seconds, or a table of six.

Buy less than you think. An unopened tin keeps; an opened one is on a clock. Running slightly short is a much better outcome than throwing some away.

The four mistakes that ruin a first tin

Metal spoons. This is the big one. Steel reacts and leaves a tinny, metallic taste. You will blame the caviar. Use mother-of-pearl, plastic, or the back of your hand.

Heat. Caviar and warmth do not mix at any point. Keep it cold until the moment you serve, and do not leave it sitting out while you finish cooking.

Fighting the tin. It is sealed firmly on purpose. Use a tin key. Do not attack it with a butter knife.

Burying it. Caviar on top of something strongly flavoured is caviar you cannot taste. Keep whatever it sits on plain.

How to serve it without any equipment

You do not need blinis, crystal, or a chilled serving stand.

Cold tin, a mother-of-pearl spoon, and one of: a plain crisp, a boiled potato, a soft-boiled egg, or nothing at all. Put the tin on a small bowl of ice if you want it to stay cold on the table and look deliberate.

That is a complete setup. The rest is theatre and you can add it later if you enjoy theatre.

Where to actually start

If you want one tin: a 20g or 30g Huso Hybrid at HK$236. Large pearls, creamy, forgiving. The highest chance of a good first experience.

If you would rather taste two things and have the right tools in the box: The Starter Culture at HK$472 — Baerii and Huso Hybrid, with a tin key and two mother-of-pearl spoons. It costs less than buying the two tins separately and you end up owning the spoons.

If you want the full comparison in one go: The Anthology Set at HK$1,024, all four species.

Or just look at everything and pick what appeals.

The one thing to take away

Caviar is a fresh food product with a long production cycle and a short serving window. It is not a test you can fail.

Buy a small tin, keep it cold, do not use a metal spoon. That is 90% of doing it right.